Starting in the 2026 academic year, the Board of Education left off Speech Language Pathology and Audiology from the list of professionals.
For Speech Language Pathology and Audiology they are not just majors that students can get from a bachelor’s degree then go and work. They require a master’s degree, have to pass a practice exam, require a state license, along with numerous requirements around a licensure which fits the category of professional degree.
Since being removed from the list of professional fields there is a cap on the amount of money that students pursuing Speech Language Pathology, Audiology, Nursing, or Mental Health Professions. Their cap is $100,000 of borrowing money through the student loan system. What this means for students is that if they were to go beyond that $100,000 they would not be able to borrow money from Bloomsburg University’s student loaning system. This leads to students going to private lenders which can be considered very predatory.
“The data that I have found disproportionately harm people who are already in poverty or have low means because to borrow money from private lenders you need land, things to borrow against. Which is very harmful for Pennsylvania citizens to pursue these degrees, it can make it harder,” Dr. Lawton said.
To try to reach out to the students’ representatives, the senators and congressmembers, National Student Speech Language Hearing Association (NSSLHA) students created an Advocacy Day to submit letters through American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) by putting in
their information which automatically sends letters that was believed to be drafted by the leaders of National NSSLHA.
It is not completely clear why the Board of Education left off these fields outside of the potential of cost savings. This reclassification which is part of a broader shift affecting nursing and other fields.
A NSSLHA student got a response from the advocacy letter that went out from Senator McCormick’s office. His office touted the need to reduce spending and control money as one of the reasons why.
Advisor Dr. Patricia Lawton said, “It really doesn’t make sense especially for speech language pathology because the requirements for a professional degree are advanced training and testing that leads to a license. Which is exactly what we are.”
When you look at the types of degrees that are left it is things like lawyers and doctors.
