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The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 6138, a bill that would extend the current law of the Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1998 through June 30, 2007. The Senate is expected to pass similar legislation before it recesses for the fall elections. A number of factors have prevented Congress from completing its consideration of the HEA reauthorization this year. It will be up to the 110th Congress, which begins in January of 2007, to start the process all over again by having to re-introduce bills, send them to committee, pass them through the legislative process, and send a bill to the President for his signature.
Earlier this year, the House passed H.R. 609, the College Access and Opportunity Act, that would have reauthorized HEA. However, the Senate did not complete work on its version of the legislation. Contained in H.R. 609 were student loan forgiveness provisions that would establish a program that identifies school-based speech-language pathologists as a profession of national need and a priority for loan forgiveness (Title IV, Section 428 k). The loan forgiveness provisions are aimed at attracting and retaining new professionals to school-based speech-language pathology by forgiving up to $5,000 of a student's loan after:
- Obtaining, at a minimum, a master's degree in speech-language pathology from an accredited academic program;
- Meeting the Medicare criteria for a qualified SLP provider (i.e., successfully completing a clinical fellowship and national exam); and
- Having been employed full-time for five consecutive school years.
ASHA will continue to urge Congress for expanded loan forgiveness opportunities for both speech-language pathologists and audiologists next year with the 110th Congress. The ASHA Web site contains a list of existing sources of student aid. For further information on the Higher Education Act, please contact Neil Snyder, ASHA’s Director of Federal Advocacy, via e-mail at nsnyder@asha.org, or by phone at 800-498-2071, ext. 4257.
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