ACR Comments on Federal Student Loan Proposal

ACR® submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Education on its proposed rule, “Reimagining and Improving Student Education,” which would set new loan limits for graduate and “professional” students, and create new repayment plans.

The College urged the Department to preserve a long-standing federal loan exception that allows medical students and other health professions students to borrow additional Unsubsidized Direct Loans, supplementing statutory limits. ACR also urged the Department to reconsider its approach regarding the “professional” category and include critical health professions that were omitted from the proposed rule.

The proposed rule would maintain the current annual borrowing limit of $20,500 for graduate students but cap total borrowing at $100,000. For students in professional degree programs, loans would be capped at $50,000 annually and $200,000 in aggregate. The proposal also narrows the meaning of “professional” to degrees in pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, chiropractic, law, medicine, optometry, osteopathic medicine, podiatry, theology, and clinical psychology.

Highlighting the impact these changes will have on an already strained health care workforce, ACR emphasized the critical role of other health professions — including medical physicists — in patient care. ACR detailed the extensive training and education of medical physicists to demonstrate that the limited definition of “professional” will exclude many health professions students from being able to afford necessary schooling.

It is essential that federal student loan options remain to sustain a skilled health care workforce and maintain patient access to care. For questions, contact Ashley Walton, ACR Government Affairs Director.