PRIA, Government Policy, Made Personal

Summary

The Secretary must create a program that will pay up to $30,000 a year toward the principal and interest on educational loans for people who agree to join the faculty of eligible health schools. People from disadvantaged backgrounds can qualify if they already have a health degree, are in an approved graduate training program, or are full-time students in the final year of an approved program at an eligible school. Eligible schools include medical, nursing, osteopathic, dental, pharmacy, allied health, podiatry, optometry, veterinary, public health, physician assistant, and behavioral or mental health graduate programs. To get the federal loan payments, the person must sign a contract to teach for at least 2 years. The school must match the federal loan payments each year, add those payments to the person’s regular pay (not replace pay), and set the person’s salary without counting the federal payments. The Secretary can waive the school-match requirement if it would cause serious financial hardship. The program follows the same rules as the National Health Service Corps loan repayment program, including rules about taxes and bankruptcy. The Secretary may also give grants or contracts to groups that will increase the number of underrepresented minority faculty at these schools. Grant applicants must promise that fellowships will go only to eligible trainees and that each fellowship will include a stipend no greater than 50 percent of a similar faculty salary for up to 3 years, plus money for travel and special training. Applicants must show they can recruit and train minority candidates for teaching, research, and administration, provide counseling and career preparation, and serve rural or underserved patients. Applicants must match Federal funds dollar for dollar, commit equal institutional support in years two and three as in year one, make the fellow a faculty member, and ensure the fellow has an advanced degree and needed skills. “Underrepresented minority individuals” means racial or ethnic groups underrepresented in the health professions, including nursing.

Title 42, §293b

The Public Health and Welfare, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Loan repayments

(1)Establishment of program

The Secretary shall establish a program of entering into contracts with individuals described in paragraph (2) under which the individuals agree to serve as members of the faculties of schools described in paragraph (3) in consideration of the Federal Government agreeing to pay, for each year of such service, not more than $30,000 of the principal and interest of the educational loans of such individuals.

(2)Eligible individuals

The individuals referred to in paragraph (1) are individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds who—

(A)have a degree in medicine, osteopathic medicine, dentistry, nursing, or another health profession;

(B)are enrolled in an approved graduate training program in medicine, osteopathic medicine, dentistry, nursing, or other health profession; or

(C)are enrolled as full-time students—

(i)in an accredited (as determined by the Secretary) school described in paragraph (3); and

(ii)in the final year of a course of a study or program, offered by such institution and approved by the Secretary, leading to a degree from such a school.

(3)Eligible health professions schools

The schools described in this paragraph are schools of medicine, nursing (as schools of nursing are defined in section 296 of this title), osteopathic medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, allied health, podiatric medicine, optometry, veterinary medicine, or public health, schools offering physician assistant education programs, or schools offering graduate programs in behavioral and mental health.

(4)Requirements regarding faculty positions

The Secretary may not enter into a contract under paragraph (1) unless—

(A)the individual involved has entered into a contract with a school described in paragraph (3) to serve as a member of the faculty of the school for not less than 2 years; and

(B)the contract referred to in subparagraph (A) provides that—

(i)the school will, for each year for which the individual will serve as a member of the faculty under the contract with the school, make payments of the principal and interest due on the educational loans of the individual for such year in an amount equal to the amount of such payments made by the Secretary for the year;

(ii)the payments made by the school pursuant to clause (i) on behalf of the individual will be in addition to the pay that the individual would otherwise receive for serving as a member of such faculty; and

(iii)the school, in making a determination of the amount of compensation to be provided by the school to the individual for serving as a member of the faculty, will make the determination without regard to the amount of payments made (or to be made) to the individual by the Federal Government under paragraph (1).

(5)Applicability of certain provisions

The provisions of section 254m, 254p, and 254q–1 of this title shall apply to the program established in paragraph (1) to the same extent and in the same manner as such provisions apply to the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program established in subpart III of part D of subchapter II, including the applicability of provisions regarding reimbursements for increased tax liability and regarding bankruptcy.

(6)Waiver regarding school contributions

The Secretary may waive the requirement established in paragraph (4)(B) if the Secretary determines that the requirement will impose an undue financial hardship on the school involved.

(b)Fellowships

(1)In general

The Secretary may make grants to and enter into contracts with eligible entities to assist such entities in increasing the number of underrepresented minority individuals who are members of the faculty of such schools.

(2)Applications

To be eligible to receive a grant or contract under this subsection, an entity shall provide an assurance, in the application submitted by the entity, that—

(A)amounts received under such a grant or contract will be used to award a fellowship to an individual only if the individual meets the requirements of paragraphs (3) and (4); and

(B)each fellowship awarded pursuant to the grant or contract will include—

(i)a stipend in an amount not exceeding 50 percent of the regular salary of a similar faculty member for not to exceed 3 years of training; and

(ii)an allowance for other expenses, such as travel to professional meetings and costs related to specialized training.

(3)Eligibility

To be eligible to receive a grant or contract under paragraph (1), an applicant shall demonstrate to the Secretary that such applicant has or will have the ability to—

(A)identify, recruit and select underrepresented minority individuals who have the potential for teaching, administration, or conducting research at a health professions institution;

(B)provide such individuals with the skills necessary to enable them to secure a tenured faculty position at such institution, which may include training with respect to pedagogical skills, program administration, the design and conduct of research, grants writing, and the preparation of articles suitable for publication in peer reviewed journals;

(C)provide services designed to assist such individuals in their preparation for an academic career, including the provision of counselors; and

(D)provide health services to rural or medically underserved populations.

(4)Requirements

To be eligible to receive a grant or contract under paragraph (1) an applicant shall—

(A)provide an assurance that such applicant will make available (directly through cash donations) $1 for every $1 of Federal funds received under this section for the fellowship;

(B)provide an assurance that institutional support will be provided for the individual for the second and third years at a level that is equal to the total amount of institutional funds provided in the year in which the grant or contract was awarded;

(C)provide an assurance that the individual that will receive the fellowship will be a member of the faculty of the applicant school; and

(D)provide an assurance that the individual that will receive the fellowship will have, at a minimum, appropriate advanced preparation (such as a master’s or doctoral degree) and special skills necessary to enable such individual to teach and practice.

(5)Definition

For purposes of this subsection, the term “underrepresented minority individuals” means individuals who are members of racial or ethnic minority groups that are underrepresented in the health professions including nursing.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Subpart III of part D of subchapter II, referred to in subsec. (a)(5), is classified to section 254l et seq. of this title.

Prior Provisions

A prior section 293b, act

July 1, 1944, ch. 373, title VII, § 738, as added Pub. L. 102–408, title I, § 102, Oct. 13, 1992, 106 Stat. 2025, related to loan repayments and fellowships regarding faculty positions, prior to the general amendment of this part by Pub. L. 105–392. Another prior section 293b, act

July 1, 1944, ch. 373, title VII, § 722, as added Sept. 24, 1963, Pub. L. 88–129, § 2(b), 77 Stat. 168; amended Aug. 16, 1968, Pub. L. 90–490, title I, §§ 102(a), 104(a), 82 Stat. 773, 774; Nov. 18, 1971, Pub. L. 92–157, title I, § 102(b), (j)(4), (7), 85 Stat. 431, 436, 437; Oct. 12, 1976, Pub. L. 94–484, title III, § 304, 90 Stat. 2255; Aug. 13, 1981, Pub. L. 97–35, title XXVII, § 2723(e), 95 Stat. 916, related to amounts of grants and grants for multipurpose facilities, prior to the general revision of this subchapter by Pub. L. 102–408. A prior section 738 of act

July 1, 1944, was classified to section 294k of this title prior to the general revision of this subchapter by Pub. L. 102–408.

Amendments

2010—Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 111–148, § 5402(a), substituted “$30,000” for “$20,000”. Subsec. (a)(3). Pub. L. 111–148, § 10501(d), inserted “schools offering physician assistant education programs,” after “public health,”.

§293b Loan Repayments and Fellowships Regarding Faculty Positions