Nearly two-thirds of registered nurses practicing in the U.S. still had student debt as of 2021, according to the most recent federal data available.
The Health Resources and Services Administration and U.S. Census Bureau released the National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses in March. The report includes responses from 49,234 registered nurses polled in 2022 and early 2023 about their education, workplace satisfaction and other topics.
Three findings to know:
- In total, 2.2 million registered nurses — about half of the workforce — indicated they borrowed money to finance their education.
- Nearly 65% of these nurses still had student debt to pay off as of Dec. 31, 2021.
- About 45% of registered nurses reported using federally assisted student loans, up from approximately 38.3% the previous year. Nearly 17% indicated they used nonfederal loans.
In March, the Biden administration released an additional $5.8 billion in student loan debt relief for 77,700 public service workers, including nurse and nurse practitioners in clinical settings.
View the full report here.