110 HR 2621 IH: Teacher and Nurse Support Act of
U.S. House of Representatives
2007-06-07
text/xml
EN
Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
1.This Act may be cited as the
Teacher and Nurse Support Act of
2007
.
2.
(a)Congress
finds the following:
(1)According to the
National Center for Education Statistics, over the next 10 years, the United
States will need more than 2,000,000 new teachers to replace the teachers who
are retiring or leaving the classroom for other careers.
(2)The Hart-Rudman
National Security Report on education recommended that the President direct the
Department of Education to work with the States to devise a comprehensive plan
to avert a looming shortage of high-quality teachers.
(3)According to the
National Center for Education Statistics, 20 percent of all new teachers leave
the teaching profession within 3 years. Providing loan forgiveness or loan
cancellation is one step that would help retain high-quality teachers in
schools that need teachers.
(4)The American Hospital Association has
reported more than 118,000 unfilled registered nurse positions in hospitals in
the United States. Additionally, the National Commission on Nursing Workforce
for Long-Term Care released a report in May, 2005, stating that there are
nearly 100,000 vacant nursing positions in long-term care facilities on any
given day, and the nurse turnover rate exceeds 50 percent. The shortage is
costing long-term care facilities an estimated $4 billion a year in recruitment
and training expenses.
(5)College loans are
more of a burden than ever for students and families. According to a recent
United States Public Interest Research Group report, average student loan debt
almost doubled from $9,200 in 1992–1993 to $16,928 in 1999–2000.
(b)The
purpose of this Act is to improve access to, and the delivery of, high-quality
educational and health services throughout the United States by reducing the
shortage of qualified teachers and nurses.
3.
(a)Section 428J of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
1078–10) is amended to read as follows:
428J.Loan
forgiveness for teachers and nurses
(a)It is the purpose of this section to encourage
individuals to enter and continue in the teaching and nursing professions.
(b)
(1)The Secretary shall carry out a program to forgive, in
accordance with this section, the student loan debt of any borrower who has one
or more loans described under
paragraph (2) made on or after October
1, 1998, and who—
(A)has been
employed—
(i)as
a full-time teacher—
(I)in a school that
qualifies under section 465(a)(2)(A) for loan cancellation for Perkins loan
recipients who teach in those schools;
(II)if employed as a
secondary school teacher, is teaching a subject area that is relevant to the
borrower’s academic major as certified by the chief administrative officer of
the public or nonprofit private secondary school in which the borrower is
employed; and
(III)if employed as
an elementary school teacher, has demonstrated, as certified by the chief
administrative officer of the public or nonprofit private elementary school in
which the borrower is employed, knowledge and teaching skills in reading,
writing, mathematics, and other areas of the elementary school curriculum;
or
(ii)as a full-time
eligible nurse—
(I)in a clinical
setting; or
(II)as a member of
the nursing faculty at an accredited school of nursing (as those terms are
defined in section 801 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 296));
and
(B)is not in default
on a loan for which the borrower seeks forgiveness.
(2)Method of loan
forgivenessTo provide the
loan forgiveness authorized in
paragraph (1), the Secretary shall,
subject to
paragraph (3), carry out a
program—
(A)through the holder
of the loan, to assume the obligation to repay a qualified loan amount (as
determined under
subsection (c)) for a loan made under
section 428 or 428H of this part; and
(B)to cancel a qualified loan amount (as so
determined) for a Federal Direct Stafford Loan or a Federal Direct Unsubsidized
Stafford Loan made under part D of this title;
(3)Treatment of
consolidation loansA loan
amount for a loan made under section 428C or section 455(g) may be a qualified
loan amount for the purposes of
paragraph (2) only to the extent that
such loan amount was used to repay a loan made under section 428 or 428H, a
Federal Direct Stafford Loan, or a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loan
for a borrower who meets the requirements of
paragraph (1), as determined in
accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary.
(c)
(1)
(A)The Secretary shall, in installments in accordance with
subparagraph (B), forgive under
this section not more than $17,500 in the aggregate of the student loan
obligation of a borrower.
(B)The Secretary
shall forgive the student loan obligation of a borrower in annual installments
after each of 5 years of service described in
clause (i) or (ii) of subsection (b)(1)(A)(i)
in an amount not to exceed the lesser of the remaining
outstanding obligation of the borrower or—
(i)$2,000 at the
completion of the first year of such service;
(ii)$2,500 at the
completion of the second year of such service;
(iii)$3,500 at the
completion of the third year of such service;
(iv)$4,500 at the
completion of the fourth year of such service; and
(v)$5,000 at the
completion of the fifth year of such service.
(2)Forbearance on
qualified loan amountA holder of a loan on which a borrower is
seeking forgiveness under this section—
(A)shall grant
forbearance, at the request of the borrower, in annual increments for each of
the years of qualifying service if the holder believes, at the time of the
borrower’s annual request, that the amount expected to be forgiven under this
section at the completion of the period of qualifying service will satisfy the
anticipated remaining outstanding balance on the loan; and
(B)may offer other
forbearance options to the borrower.
(d)The
Secretary is authorized to issue such regulations as may be necessary to carry
out the provisions of this section.
(e)Nothing
in this section shall be construed to authorize any refunding of any repayment
of a loan.
(f)If the list of schools in which a teacher may perform
service pursuant to
subsection (b)(1)(A)(i) is not
available before May 1 of any year, the Secretary may use the list for the year
preceding the year for which the determination is made to make the service
determination.
(g)Additional
eligibility provisions
(1)Continued
eligibility for teachersAny teacher who performs service in a
school that—
(A)meets the
requirements of
subsection (b)(1)(A)(i)(I) in
any year during such service; and
(B)in a subsequent
year fails to meet the requirements of that subsection,
may
continue to teach in the school and shall be eligible for loan forgiveness
pursuant to
subsection (b).(2)Prevention of
double benefitsNo borrower may, for the same service, receive a
benefit under both this subsection and—
(A)subtitle D of
title I of the National and Community Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12571 et
seq.); or
(B)section 846 of the
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C.
297n).
(h)In
this section:
(1)The term eligible nurse means a nurse who
meets all of the following:
(A)The nurse graduated
from—
(i)an
accredited school of nursing (as those terms are defined in section 801 of the
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C.
296));
(ii)a
nursing center; or
(iii)an academic
health center that provides nurse training.
(B)The nurse holds a
valid and unrestricted license to practice nursing in the State in which the
nurse practices in a clinical setting.
(C)The nurse holds 1
or more of the following:
(i)A
graduate degree in nursing or equivalent degree.
(ii)A
nursing degree from a collegiate school of nursing (as defined in section 801
of the Public Health Service Act (42
U.S.C. 296)).
(iii)A nursing degree
from an associate degree school of nursing (as defined in section 801 of the
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C.
296)).
(iv)A
nursing degree from a diploma school of nursing (as defined in section 801 of
the Public Health Service Act (42
U.S.C. 296)).
(2)The term year, where applied
to service as a teacher (or service as a member of the nursing faculty at an
accredited school of nursing (as those terms are defined in section 801 of the
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C.
296))), means an academic year as defined by the
Secretary.
.
(b)Repeal of loan
cancellation provisionSection 460 of the
Higher Education Act of 1965 (20
U.S.C. 1087j) is repealed.
4.Phase out of
current programAn individual
who began the required period of teaching described in section 428J(b)(1) or
460(b)(1)(A) of the Higher Education Act of
1965 (20 U.S.C. 1078–10 and 1087j) as such sections were in effect
on the day before the date of enactment of this Act, shall—
(1)be eligible to
receive loan forgiveness or loan cancellation in the amount described in, and
in accordance with the requirements of, such sections as in effect on the day
before the date of enactment of this Act; and
(2)not be eligible to
receive loan forgiveness under section 428J of the
Higher Education Act of 1965 as in
effect on the date of enactment of this Act.