Rehab

House committee recognizes speech therapy as national need

Rehab Regs, August 11, 2005

The U.S. House of Represenatives Education and Workforce Committee passed a bill in late July that identifies school-based speech-language pathologists as a profession of national need and a priority for loan forgiveness, according to a press release from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). Known as the College Access and Opportunity Act (H.R. 609), the legislation would forgive up to $5,000 of a student's loan after he or she obtained at least a master's degree in speech-language pathology from an accredited program, met the Medicare criteria for a qualified speech-language pathology provider, and has been employed full-time for five consecutive school years. The individual would also have to be a "new borrower" after the enactment date of the Higher Education Act reauthorization, according to the press release.

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