Summary of Nurse Loan Forgiveness Act of 2007
"Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) to include, under HEA student loan forgiveness and cancellation programs, nurses who: (1) serve at least one calender year in an approved health care facility or setting; or (2) have a Masters of Science in Nursing and are nursing instructors in the school of nursing.
Limits the maximum amount of such loan repayment by the Secretary of Education to $2,000 after the first year of a nurse's employment, with incremental increases after the second through fourth years, up to $5,000 after the fifth year" (GovTrack, 2007).
To see complete Bill:
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/gpoxmlc110/h2572_ih.xml
The Need for the Nurse Loan Forgiveness Act
According to 2005 statistics from the American Hospital Association, “118,000 nurses are needed to fill vacancies at our nation's hospitals, and more than 75 percent of all hospital personnel vacancies are for nurses” (AHA.org, 2006).
According to a study by the Department of Health and Human Services in 2002, the United States will experience a 29 percent shortage in the number of nurses needed in the United States health care system by the year 2020, which translates into a shortage of more than 400,000 registered nurses nationwide (Schwarz 2003).
Research indicates that there is a great need for health care services, especially hospitals and prescription drugs, but there continues to be a 28 percent decrease in national licensure examination for all entry-level registered nurses (GovTrack, 2007).
The Department of Labor projects a 29 percent increase in the need for nurses nationwide from 2004 to 2014, compared with a 13 percent increase for all other occupations (GovTrack, 2007).
The General Accounting Office estimates that 40 percent of all registered nurses will be older than age 50 by the year 2010 (GovTrack, 2007).
The enactment of the Nurse Loan Forgiveness Act:
1. Will encourage individuals to enter and continue in
the nursing profession, and
2. Will encourage experienced nurses to instruct
nurses entering the profession, and
3. Will reward such individuals for their service in
the nursing profession by reducing the burden of
student debt.
Key Stakeholder Contacts
We were very fortunate to hear back from Merle E. Mast, phD, RN who is the head of James Madison University's Nursing Department. She offered suggestions for changes to this blog and she offered her encouragement and support for this issue. Changes for accuracy have been made in the above blogs.
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