AOA Backs Rep. Ehlers Bill (HR 1615/S. 646) to Aid Optometry Residents. Co-sponsors needed.
HR 1615/S. 646 would help defer interest on student loan payments
The AOA is backing a new effort in Congress led by Rep. Vern Ehlers (R-MI) aimed at retaining the 20/220 pathway for optometry and other residents to defer their payment of student loans. Rep. Ehlers’s bill, the Medical Economic Deferment or “MEDS” Act (HR 1615), seeks to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 with respect to the meaning of economic hardship under the Federal Family Education Loan (FEEL) or Perkins Loan and related loan insurance programs. Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) is the sponsor of an identical bill introduced in the
For optometry graduates in residency training, the bill would allow for deferment of payment on subsidized loans for the length of their residency training without accruing interest. Borrowers under FEEL and Perkins programs are considered to be suffering economic hardship if they are working full-time, have a federal educational debt burden equal to at least 20% of their adjusted gross income, and the difference between their adjusted gross income minus such debt burden is less than 220% of the greater of: (1) the annual earnings of an minimum wage earner; or (2) 150% of the poverty line applicable to their family size. This provision, known as the 20/220 pathway, is critically important to optometry residents and other health professional students who, as part of their education, serve a requisite number of years in residency prior to licensure.
The 20/220 pathway allows deferment of payment on student loans until residency completion. However, in 2007, the 20/220 pathway was eliminated by The College Cost Reduction and Access Act (Public Law 110-84), and was replaced by an income based repayment program that requires health professions residents to begin repaying student loans while still in residency training. Following an immediate outcry from the AOA, the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry, the American Optometric Students Association, podiatry, dentistry and organized medicine group, the U.S. Department of Education took action to keeps the 20/220 pathway intact until July 1, 2009, when the income based repayment program is due to take effect. The MEDS Act would fully and permanently reinstate the 20/220 rule.
For HR 1615 / S. 646 to be considered as a priority by Congress, a number of Congressional co-sponsors will need to be added to both bills.