FASHP Letter on Reauthorization
of the Higher Education Act
Federation of Associations of Schools of
the Health Professions
1400 Sixteenth Street, NW,
Suite 410
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 265-9600
December 22, 2002
The Honorable John A. Boehner
Chairman
Committee on Education and the Workforce
U.S. House of Representatives
2181 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-6100
The Honorable George Miller
Ranking Member
Committee on Education and the Workforce
The Honorable Howard P. "Buck" McKeon
Chairman, Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness
Dear Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member, Subcommittee Chairman
In response to the September 20, 2002 request from the House
Committee on Education and the Workforce leadership, the undersigned
members of the Federation of Associations of Schools of the
Health Professions (FASHP) submit for your consideration a
summary of our priorities for the reauthorization of the Higher
Education Act of 1965. We will provide more details in the
coming weeks and months and look forward to working with you
as the legislation moves forward.
FASHP provides a forum for representatives of health professions
education institutions to address education's role in organizational
patterns of health care, to encourage effective collaboration
among the professions in education and practice, to prepare
health professions education for the future and to serve as
liaison with other organizations sharing an interest in health
professions education.
Some FASHP member will join American Council on Education
when it submits recommendations on behalf of the higher education
community, and this letter is intended to highlight some of
the issues specific to the education of health professionals.
Additionally, some of the undersigned organizations will submit
letters with recommendations specific to our individual discipline's
priorities and goals.
The following priorities have been developed through a consensus-building
process of FASHP members and, consequently, represent the
collective recommendations of our organizations. They include:
1) Increase Loan Limits for Stafford Loans
Congress should increase annual and aggregate loan limits
for both subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford Loans for all
student borrowers from freshmen through professional education.
Loan limits have not increased since 1992, and if they are
not increased during this reauthorization it is likely to
be several more years before they can be adjusted. The cost
of education, as for nearly everything else, has increased.
We urge the Congress to consider increasing the subsidized
Stafford Loan limits to at least keep pace with inflation.
2) Economic hardship deferment (EHD) throughout residency
training
Because of their high debt-to-income ratio, many health professions
borrowers are eligible to defer repayment of their federal
student loans during their residency training programs through
the economic hardship deferment. However, many residency training
programs are longer than the three years for which the economic
hardship deferment is available.
While lenders are required to offer forbearance to medical,
dental and veterinary medical residents throughout their required
training, this can be a very expensive option for the borrower
as interest may be capitalized. We support extending the economic
hardship deferment to the length of a medical, dental or veterinary
medical internship or residency that must be successfully
completed before the borrower may begin professional practice
or service, or for the length of time they are in a medical,
dental or veterinary medical internship or residency leading
to a degree or certificate awarded by a hospital or health
care facility which offers postgraduate training. This extends
the economic hardship deferment for the same time that medical,
dental and veterinary medical residents are currently eligible
for mandatory forbearance.
FASHP urges Congress to include all educational loans, including
private or alternative loans, in the calculation for determining
eligibility for the economic hardship deferment.
Additionally, we support clarification that lenders may use
the maximum interest rate in the calculation to determine
eligibility for the economic hardship deferment. This will
not only increase the number of borrowers eligible for the
deferment but also improve parity and consistency within and
between the FFEL and DL programs.
3) Consolidation of Student Loans
Lenders should be discouraged through federal regulation
from predatory harvesting of cohorts of borrowers; particularly
while a student borrower is in school or residency training
and therefore has the most to lose in terms of borrower benefits.
Also, FASHP strongly urges Congress to establish parity between
federal and private consolidation programs.
4) Preserve the Perkins Loan Program, Increase Loan Limits
FASHP recommends that the Federal Perkins Loan Program be
preserved and the annual limits for graduate/professional
students raised to $10,000, with the aggregate limit raised
accordingly to $67,500, a level supported by the American
Council on Education and the National Association Student
Financial Aid Administrators. The Perkins program is unique
in that only student borrowers that demonstrate financial
need are eligible to borrow under this program. Because the
program traditionally offers a lower interest rate, the total
repayment amount on identical principal borrowed is less than
under the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) or
the Federal Direct Student Loan Program (Direct Loans). The
Perkins program has more liberal repayment terms, deferment
and cancellation provisions which are important for needy
student borrowers.
5) Increase flexibility for financial aid officers to
adjust a student's aid award package for costs associated
with dependent children beyond day care outside the home.
The Higher Education Act of 1965 was written with traditional
students in mind, 18 years old, single, and primarily financially
dependent upon their parents. Today's students come from a
multitude of backgrounds and a myriad of life experiences.
Very often, at the graduate and professional levels and increasingly
at the undergraduate level, students have significant family
obligations that they must meet while undertaking their educations.
Student aid regulations must embrace family values and better
recognize the needs of students with children. Certainly students
with dependents, other than a spouse, ought to be able to
borrow more resources to assist with living expenses associated
with having a family.
We look forward to working with you and others to reduce
and remove barriers students face in fulfilling the American
dream of obtaining an affordable and high quality education
whether at the undergraduate or graduate-professional levels.
On behalf of the following associations:
American Association of Colleges of Nursing
American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine
American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy
American Association of Colleges of Podiatric Medicine
American Dental Education Association
American Podiatric Medical Association
Association of Academic Health Centers
Association of American Medical Colleges
Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges
Association of Chiropractic Colleges
Association of Physician Assistant Programs
Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry
Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions
National League of Nursing
|
