Loan nursing program repayment student

Nursing Student Scholarship Program changes considered House Bill no. 2014

HB 2014 makes changes to the professional service scholarships administered by the Kansas Board of Regents.

The following summarizes the current service requirements, applicable bill sections, and changes to the service requirements for the Nursing and ARNP Scholarship under the bill.

Nursing Scholarship

(Bill sections 10-18) Work full-time for sponsoring health care facility one year for each year of scholarship assistance or the proportional equivalent if working less than full-time.

Add a licensed home health agency to the list of approved sponsoring health care facilities.

Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner Scholarship (ARNP)

(Bill sections 41-48). Practice full-time or the equivalent to fulltime as an advanced registered nurse practitioner in a medically underserved area by specialty or a critically medically underserved area by specialty as defined by KSA 76-375 or in a county with a population of not more than 20,000 one year for each year of scholarship assistance.

Practice one year for each year of scholarship assistance in a medically underserved area as defined by the State Board of Regents or in a county other than Douglas, Johnson, Sedgwick, Shawnee, or Wyandotte; allow part-time practice to qualify for proportional compliance.

Scholarship Amounts

The value of the current maximum award available under professional scholarships varies between the programs, ranging from tuition waivers (ROTC) to $15,000 per year (Osteopathic and ARNP). HB 2014 would standardize the maximum award for the undergraduate programs (Teacher, Nursing, and ROTC) at 70.0 percent of the cost of program attendance at an institution under the control of the State Board of Regents. Cost of attendance includes tuition, fees, books, supplies, room, board, and miscellaneous expenses. For FY 2000, 70.0 percent of cost of attendance for an average undergraduate program at a Board of Regents institution was $6,823. For the graduate school programs the maximum award would be 100.0 percent of the cost of attendance for the Ethnic Minority Fellowship program and 70.0 percent of the cost of attendance for the ARNP program.

Penalties

For most of the scholarships, a recipient who fails to complete the service commitment is required to repay the financial assistance with interest. Under current law, the interest rate is set by statute at 15.0 percent. HB 2014 would change the applicable interest rate to a variable rate tied to the interest rate for the federal Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students (PLUS) program plus five percentage points. Currently this equates to approximately 14.0 percent.

Advisory Committee.

The bill creates a new eight member Professional Service Scholarship Advisory Committee, appointed by the Board of Regents. Committee members are to include a representative of osteopaths, dentists, teachers, optometrists, ethnic minority graduate students, reserve officer candidates, nurses, and the Chairperson of the Nursing Scholarship Review Committee or a designee of the Chairperson. The Professional Service Scholarship Advisory Committee will provide recommendations to the Board of Regents regarding budget requests for and administration of professional service scholarships.

Other Provisions

In addition, HB 2014:

* Standardizes the grace period to begin service after graduation or licensure at six months (except ROTC);

* Adds "family leave", as determined by the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, and "extenuating services", as determined by the Board of Regents, to the list of reasons why the service obligation could be deferred;

* Gives the Board of Regents the option of serving as the collecting agent for scholarships which enter repayment status or contacting for collection services from an outside entity;

* Expands the definition of "Asian" in the Ethnic Minority Fellowship program to include the Pacific Islands and other Asian countries in addition to Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Korea.