Physical Therapist Student Loan Repayment Eligibility Act

Started by Litlwarrior08
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Thanks for posting this! DPT students and graduates need to really understand how important this type of legislation could be in assuaging the growing debt issue for physical therapy students. I will definitely be exhausting every possibility to do my part.
 
Great post!

Our student government has really been making a point that each one of us at least send an email.
 
I just sent a letter to the legislators. Please, everyone, do the same. It only takes 30 seconds. We need this bill to pass...
 
This needs to stay at the top... Does anyone have an "example"/template letter to send?

That may be helpful... I know some people who would gladly copy, paste & send!
 
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I read the legislation but i'm still a bit confused, what exactly will this bill do in terms of the loans and debt of physical therapy school?
 
BASuperman said:
I read the legislation but i'm still a bit confused, what exactly will this bill do in terms of the loans and debt of physical therapy school?
Click to expand...

My understanding was that the bill would allow PT to be added to the approved list of healthcare programs for which federal reimbursement of tuition expenses is possible. If you comitted to work for at least 2 years in an "underserved" geographic area, you could have up to $30K of student loan debt forgiven each year (so possibly $60K total).
 
Nailey13 said:
My understanding was that the bill would allow PT to be added to the approved list of healthcare programs for which federal reimbursement of tuition expenses is possible. If you comitted to work for at least 2 years in an "underserved" geographic area, you could have up to $30K of student loan debt forgiven each year (so possibly $60K total).
Click to expand...

Oh wow! thats incredible!
 
Lets keep it going. I know the PT programs are pushing the students on this, but those of us waiting in the wings need to be on board - proactive- it's our future.!!
Nailey did "nail it" The best part is you could committ to more than two years. Very rewarding - personal experiences come from working in underserved communities. Somewhere there is a list posted for approved programs / locations. If I come across it again I will post.
 
It was "introduced" and then sent to committee. Many bills are intro and never acted upon. Try this site and do bill searches from here. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:s.975: Think the Gov currently has more issues on their plate. May be possible they don't even cover discuss it for awhile. I believe each new session the bills change numbers. Makes it hard to track. I guess we could also check out the web site for Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. But I didn't see anything last week when I checked.
 
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I sent it to all of my sentator, reps, and congressman! Have your parents or spouse do it too!
 
Litlwarrior08 said:
It was "introduced" and then sent to committee. Many bills are intro and never acted upon. Try this site and do bill searches from here. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:s.975: Think the Gov currently has more issues on their plate. May be possible they don't even cover discuss it for awhile. I believe each new session the bills change numbers. Makes it hard to track. I guess we could also check out the web site for Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. But I didn't see anything last week when I checked.
Click to expand...

I went back and used this link and it is not user friendly. If you click on it, then click "all ways to connect" it takes you to the library of congress. Remember that this bill was brought up in the 112th session. So in the search box type 112 S 975 then click on the bill. or try this link. S.975 - Physical Therapist Student Loan Repayment Eligibility Act of 2011
then you can get to the house bill from that page. Again, nothing has changed.
 
This is exciting! So far I've only heard of PSLF, with a ten year commitment, as the only other debt forgiveness for PTs. (Other than military programs). This could serve as a tremendous offset to the rising costs of PT school!
 
Can anyone give any insight as to why this is not getting more attention on this forum? I realize most bills don't make it past committee, and there hasn't been any action with this bill for months, but it's not dead. In fact it just acquired three new co-sponsors in the last week and a half:

http://www.govtrack.us/users/events.xpd?monitors=bill:h112-1426

I wonder if very many people are taking action. Sending an email to your rep/senator has been mentioned on here, and there are even helpful links posted in this thread for anyone unsure how to approach writing such an email. But beyond that, can anyone give their two cents as to other ways to support this bill?

Thanks!
 
I keep trying to bump it up. Think maybe congress has too many other issues (elections) that they think are more important. At least it isn't dead. The schools and PT clubs need to be doing letter writing crusades. I wrote twice.
 
  • I am writing as your constituent in the 5th Congressional district of Connecticut. I support H.R.1426 - Physical Therapist Student Loan Repayment Eligibility Act of 2011, and am tracking it using OpenCongress.org, the free public resource website for government transparency and accountability.


 
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Hey, does anyone (who is more well versed in politics than myself) know who we can contact about this bill to show support BESIDES our representatives? Does it help to contact senators even though this bill is not at the point of being reviewed by the senate? Thanks!!!
 
You have house and senate reps. The site or bill info should tell you who is on the commitee (also congressmembers) I will try locating that info .. it was updated again after it was sent through last April, the bill changes numbers for each legislature.
 
mackaroo said:
Support The Student Loan Forgiveness Act of 2012


http://signon.org/sign/support-the-student-loan.fb1?source=s.fb&r_by=3262470
Click to expand...

Signed

Let's hope Obama will show support for these school loan related issues. The Budget Control Act he signed last year was not a good sign:

... the Budget Control Act "will eliminate Subsidized Stafford loans for graduate students as of July 1, 2012....Currently, up to $8,500 of [graduate students' yearly allowable federal Stafford Loans] is subsidized by the federal government so the borrower does not accrue interest while attending school, during the six month grace period following graduation, and while in any deferment periods..."

So this deferred interest will no longer be available to grad students. One more way we, as students, are paying the price for the budget crisis.
 
I am putting all the links and notes I have found on one post here- this should make it easier than scrolling through the various postings.......


House Bill # HR 1426 (Senate Bill # S975) Physical Therapist Student Loan Repayment Eligibility Act of 2011
112th Congress: 2011-2012
""To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for the participation of physical therapists in the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program, and for other purposes.""
(Sorry about the length but maybe cut and paste to a word page so you can refer to it as needed. I hope all the links work-they did for me. Let me know if one does not work-the timed searches won't)

HR 1426 Latest Major Action: 4/11/2011 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health

S 975
Latest Major Action: 5/12/2011 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

I believe anyone can call the office of, or email any of these congress (house or senate) people directly (don't have to use the links-go directly to the reps page
HOUSE REPS
http://www.house.gov/representatives/
SENATE Rep contacts
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

APTA advocacy info
http://www.apta.org/advocacy/
APTA Federal Advocacy Forum
http://www.apta.org/FederalForum/

TEMPLATE LETTER…….TALKING POINTS
http://app3.vocusgr.com/WebPublish/Controller.aspx?SiteName=APTA&Definition=ContactLegislators&IssueID=7021&submit=Take+Action If you are not a member of APTA you can still use the suggested letter in the box…copy / paste to you congress person.

Library of Congress search just about anything………..noting new as of today type in HR 1426 or S 975 in search bill # space - from here you can click on the cosponsors for each one. I could not link the search results.
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/thomas.php
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/thomas

Tracking site for HR 1426 as of March 2012 - list the newly signed on co-sponsors to the bill. THERE IS A LINK ON THIS SITE FOR WRITING TO YOUR CONGRESSPERSON
http://www.govtrack.us/users/events.xpd?monitors=bill:h112-1426

HOUSE ENERGY AND COMMERCE Committee assignments BE SURE TO SCROLL DOWN TO SEE INFO
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h112-1426&tab=committees

US House of Reps Committee on Appropriations-Labor, Health and Human Services, Education provides name / phone / email for chairman of this committee-but most will only take email comments from constituents
http://appropriations.house.gov/Subcommittees/Subcommittee/?IssueID=34777

Related bill S. 1976. A bill to authorize educational assistance under the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship program for pursuit of advanced degrees in physical therapy and occupational therapy; to the Committee on Armed Services. I believe this one passed......
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/R?r112:FLD001:S08463
 
Kepania said:
Hey, does anyone (who is more well versed in politics than myself) know who we can contact about this bill to show support BESIDES our representatives? Does it help to contact senators even though this bill is not at the point of being reviewed by the senate? Thanks!!!
Click to expand...

No Expert but I love social studies....... here is a link that explains the process......senate can take longer......and drag it out. This appears to have passed the house .......... if the language of the bill is changed in the senate committee it can end up going back to the house and starting over....this is really just an amendment to the current law adding PT to the repayment.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_does_a_bill_get_passed_in_congress

You can contact both your congress and senators.

Hope this helps
 
Litlwarrior08 - thanks for all the info! And good job compiling all the posts and links. I hope that helps others get involved!
 
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Is this for undergrad loans as well or simply DPT program loans? Personally I have a crazy amount of undergrad loans but none for DPT. I purposely went to a school that's as cheap as possible for pt. I don't think my brain could've handled another loan letter every month lol
 
JCDPT14 said:
Is this for undergrad loans as well or simply DPT program loans? Personally I have a crazy amount of undergrad loans but none for DPT. I purposely went to a school that's as cheap as possible for pt. I don't think my brain could've handled another loan letter every month lol
Click to expand...

I believe its only for DPT student loans
 
You have to be a member to use the legislature action button. I registered as a non member and could not access this. Thank you for posting the updated info. I will write another letter. Noticed none of my AZ reps are on board. :-(
 
Everyone, I e-mailed the Florida Physical Therapy Association and asked about HR1426. The CEO contacted the APTA and definitely encourage student involvement. The FPTA CEO has asked me to write an article, about HR1426, that will be featured in Florida Physical Therapy's Weekly Update publication. If you want to give me any input of things that you think are important, I will try to include your thoughts into my article. This is a great opportunity to let your voice be heard.
 
No one on my campus is talking about it............how can we get more acadamia involved in getting letter writting campaigns going on their campuses? Are practicing PTs writing letters? sure they still have loans.
In reality, being a campaign year............I don't think anyone at fed level is looking at this issue.

Has anyone who wrote letters received a response? I haven't.
 
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