AAPHD opposes Department of Education’s Proposed Definition of “Professional Degree Programs"

December 15, 2025

The American Association of Public Health Dentistry (AAPHD) strongly opposes the Department of Education’s preliminary proposal—developed during the recent RISE Committee Session 2—to exclude public health degrees from the federal definition of “professional degree programs” under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA).

This exclusion is both alarming and unacceptable. For decades, the Master of Public Health (MPH), Doctor of Public Health (DrPH), and related public health–focused dental degrees have been recognized as essential professional credentials that prepare practitioners to protect, promote, and advance the health of communities. Public health dentistry is an integral part of the broader public health workforce, addressing disease prevention, oral health equity, and population-level interventions that directly impact overall health outcomes.

At a time when the nation continues to face widening health disparities, rising oral disease burdens, and systemic challenges intensified by recent public health emergencies, excluding public health degrees from the professional degree category is short-sighted and detrimental to the nation’s health infrastructure. Public health— including public health dentistry—requires advanced professional training grounded in science, policy, management, and leadership. To ignore this reality is to overlook the very workforce responsible for safeguarding the health of populations.

The implications of this proposal are profound. By jeopardizing students’ access to higher federal loan limits, the policy threatens to make public health education less attainable. Such barriers will narrow and weaken the pipeline of future public health dental leaders at a moment when the country urgently needs more skilled professionals trained to address complex oral health challenges and advance health equity in underserved communities.

AAPHD urges the Department of Education to reconsider this proposal and include all public health degrees within the definition of “professional degree programs.” We also encourage our academic partners, members, and the wider public health community to actively participate in the forthcoming public comment period following the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.

We stand firmly with our colleagues across the public health disciplines in asserting that public health education is not optional—it is foundational to the nation’s health, resilience, and preparedness.

AAPHD will continue to advocate vigorously for a definition that fully and accurately reflects the essential role of public health and dental public health within the broader healthcare system. Dental public health is a formally recognized specialty of dentistry, with educational programs accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA), an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.