Urge Your Senator to Sponsor a Manager’s Amendment to Classify Social Work as a Professional Degree

Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) supports language for a Manager’s Amendment that would put clinical social workers, licensed marriage and family therapists, and licensed professional counselors back in the “professional” degree category and keep federal loan limits at the higher level for these groups. The Department of Education’s Reimagining and Improving Student Education (RISE) rule put social workers and other mental health professionals in the “graduate” degree category, effectively limiting federal loans for these professions.

It would be very helpful if your Senator supported the Manager’s Amendment, which Senator Murray is planning to put forward:

Manager’s Amendment — None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to administer Title IV federal student aid programs in a manner that does not designate advanced behavioral health programs as professional degree programs. For purposes of this section, the term “advanced behavioral health program” means having completed a Master’s program in social work, marriage and family therapy, or professional counseling; having successfully completed at least two years of supervised experience; and passing a national examination or alternative path to licensure to prepare graduates to provide behavioral health services in independent mental health practice.

Now is the time to contact your Senators and urge them to reach out to Senator Murray’s staff, Jules Sproul, to support Senator Murray’s Manager’s Amendment.

The key Senators to reach out to are Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Jon Husted (R-OH), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), and John Boozman (R-AR).