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Med school calls for another rescue By Jeffrey Young
In 1983, the U.S. armed forces invaded the tiny Caribbean island of
Grenada, in part to rescue American students studying at the St.
George's University School of Medicine. Present-day students at the
school and two others are now the target of an obscure provision
tucked into the budget- reconciliation bill that would cut off their
student loans. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) offered the language as
part of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee's
contribution to the massive budget bill. As House and Senate
negotiators inch toward a conference agreement on the legislation, the
three foreign-based medical schools are furiously working to protect a
lucrative stream of federal funding. According to DeVry Inc., the
for-profit education company that owns Ross University School of
Medicine on the island of Dominica, St. George's, Ross and the
American University of the Caribbean on St. Maarten provide medical
education to more than 3,500 American students who return to the
United States after their studies to practice medicine. According to
Sessions, these schools are tantamount to diploma mills that were
"created to serve American students who cannot get into American
medical schools." Americans choose to study in the islands because
there are too few open spaces in domestic medical schools to
accommodate them, countered Sharon Thomas Parrott, DeVry's senior vice
president for government and regulatory affairs. Sessions emphasized
that he is not trying to target unfairly these Caribbean medical
schools but instead wants to transfer the loan money that their
students currently receive to students at medical schools on U.S.
soil. "We are working desperately to maintain a strong student-loan
program," Sessions told The Hill. "You need to ask yourself what your
priorities are," he said. "I'm of the strong view that we need to be
thinking about how to improve our own, world-class medical schools,"
Sessions said. Both Sessions and Thomas Parrott cited a looming
shortage of doctors in the United States to support their cases. The
American students who study at the Caribbean schools continue their
education in residency programs in the United States and must pass
American certification exams to practice medicine, Thomas Parrott
said. "We're about to reduce our healthcare capability" if the
language is included in the final bill, she said. Sessions suggested
that the current situation weakens the quality of healthcare in the
United States. Because of the shortage of available residents,
teaching hospitals are "so desperate to get bodies, they'll take them
from any school." He further observed that the for-profit owners of
these three Caribbean schools stand to lose a large amount of their
tuition if his language is adopted. "That's big money to them," he
said. Thomas Parrot said that more than 90 percent of Ross
University's medical students are American and that about 80 percent
of the students receive federal financial aid. The school processed
$53 million in federal loans during the 2004-2005 school year, she
said. The legislative language is in flux as the conferees debate the
budget bill, Sessions said. House members have made the lion's share
of the objections, he noted. Thomas Parrott identified Rep. Howard
"Buck" McKeon (R-Calif.), chairman of the Education and the Workforce
Committee's 21st Century Competitiveness Subcommittee, as a supporter
of DeVry's position. Meanwhile, final action could come as early as
today on the appropriations conference report for labor- health and
human services, which would slash programs funding the education of
doctors and other medical professionals by more than half.
Med school calls for another rescue
http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/Business/121405_med.html
In 1983, the U.S. armed forces invaded the tiny Caribbean island of
Grenada, in part to rescue American students studying at the St.
George's University School of Medicine. Present-day students at the
school and two others are now the target of an obscure provision
tucked into the budget- reconciliation bill that would cut off their
student loans. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) offered the language as
part of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee's
contribution to the massive budget bill. As House and Senate
negotiators inch toward a conference agreement on the legislation, the
three foreign-based medical schools are furiously working to protect a
lucrative stream of federal funding. According to DeVry Inc., the
for-profit education company that owns Ross University School of
Medicine on the island of Dominica, St. George's, Ross and the
American University of the Caribbean on St. Maarten provide medical
education to more than 3,500 American students who return to the
United States after their studies to practice medicine. According to
Sessions, these schools are tantamount to diploma mills that were
"created to serve American students who cannot get into American
medical schools." Americans choose to study in the islands because
there are too few open spaces in domestic medical schools to
accommodate them, countered Sharon Thomas Parrott, DeVry's senior vice
president for government and regulatory affairs. Sessions emphasized
that he is not trying to target unfairly these Caribbean medical
schools but instead wants to transfer the loan money that their
students currently receive to students at medical schools on U.S.
soil. "We are working desperately to maintain a strong student-loan
program," Sessions told The Hill. "You need to ask yourself what your
priorities are," he said. "I'm of the strong view that we need to be
thinking about how to improve our own, world-class medical schools,"
Sessions said. Both Sessions and Thomas Parrott cited a looming
shortage of doctors in the United States to support their cases. The
American students who study at the Caribbean schools continue their
education in residency programs in the United States and must pass
American certification exams to practice medicine, Thomas Parrott
said. "We're about to reduce our healthcare capability" if the
language is included in the final bill, she said. Sessions suggested
that the current situation weakens the quality of healthcare in the
United States. Because of the shortage of available residents,
teaching hospitals are "so desperate to get bodies, they'll take them
from any school." He further observed that the for-profit owners of
these three Caribbean schools stand to lose a large amount of their
tuition if his language is adopted. "That's big money to them," he
said. Thomas Parrot said that more than 90 percent of Ross
University's medical students are American and that about 80 percent
of the students receive federal financial aid. The school processed
$53 million in federal loans during the 2004-2005 school year, she
said. The legislative language is in flux as the conferees debate the
budget bill, Sessions said. House members have made the lion's share
of the objections, he noted. Thomas Parrott identified Rep. Howard
"Buck" McKeon (R-Calif.), chairman of the Education and the Workforce
Committee's 21st Century Competitiveness Subcommittee, as a supporter
of DeVry's position. Meanwhile, final action could come as early as
today on the appropriations conference report for labor- health and
human services, which would slash programs funding the education of
doctors and other medical professionals by more than half.
Med school calls for another rescue
http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/Business/121405_med.html
