New Bill Would Ease Debt for Nursing Students

Iowa Congressman Tom Latham and Wisconsin Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin introduced a bill on Thursday aimed at easing the debt burden on nursing students and combating America's nursing shortage.

According to a release from Congressman Latham's office:

"Nurses who enter the program would be eligible to receive a loan repayment of up to $40,000 to obtain a master's degree, which is the basic requirement to become a nurse educator, or up to $80,000 to obtain a doctorate nursing degree."

Last year over 118,000 nursing jobs in the U.S. were left unfilled, and the Department of Health and Human Services has projected the nursing shortage could exceed 1 million by 2020. SEIU, with over 80,000 nurses and more than a million health care workers, has signed on as an early supporter of the bill.

"[The] legislation helps to address the faculty shortage by providing a loan repayment program for current students enrolled in graduate nursing programs and advanced degree nurses who have recently graduated," said SEIU International Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger in a letter to Latham and Baldwin. "We commend this much-needed endeavor to offset high educational debt in order to become nurse faculty."

You can hear Congressman Latham answering questions about the proposed legislation here.

Originally posted by John Vandeventer on SEIU.org