SPARC Act

Loan relief for rural specialty clinicians

If enacted, the bill would create a loan repayment program to recruit specialty physicians and non‑physician specialists to rural shortage areas. For each year you serve, the Secretary would pay one‑sixth of eligible loan principal and interest and after six years would pay the remainder, with total payments to any one participant capped at $250,000. Eligible loans would include Direct Stafford, Direct PLUS, Direct Unsubsidized, Direct Consolidation, Perkins, and other federal loans the Secretary allows. You would need to work full time as the specialist in a rural community with a shortage for six years, with no more than one year between covered years. Non‑physician awards would be limited to 15 percent of program funds each fiscal year, and participants could not get loan forgiveness for the same service from this program and another federal program. The Secretary would be able to set a liquidated damages formula for breaches, but not finishing the full period would not alone be a breach if you completed in good faith the years you were paid for. The bill would authorize such sums as may be necessary for fiscal years 2025 through 2034, and Congress would need to appropriate funds.