[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3058 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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116th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 3058
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish fair and
consistent eligibility requirements for graduate medical schools
operating outside the United States and Canada.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
December 16, 2019
Mr. Durbin introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish fair and
consistent eligibility requirements for graduate medical schools
operating outside the United States and Canada.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Foreign Medical School
Accountability Fairness Act of 2019''.
SEC. 2. PURPOSE.
To establish consistent eligibility requirements for graduate
medical schools operating outside of the United States and Canada in
order to increase accountability and protect American students and
taxpayer dollars.
SEC. 3. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Three for-profit schools in the Caribbean have
historically received nearly \3/4\ of all Federal funding under
title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070 et
seq.) that goes to students enrolled at foreign graduate
medical schools, despite those three schools being exempt from
meeting the same eligibility requirements as the majority of
graduate medical schools located outside of the United States
and Canada.
(2) The National Committee on Foreign Medical Education and
Accreditation and the Department of Education recommend that
all foreign graduate medical schools should be required to meet
the same eligibility requirements to participate in Federal
funding under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20
U.S.C. 1070 et seq.).
(3) The attrition rate at United States medical schools
averaged 3.3 percent between 1993 and 2013, while rates at for-
profit Caribbean medical schools have been known to reach 30
percent.
(4) In 2019, residency match rates for foreign trained
graduates averaged 59 percent compared to 94 percent for
graduates of allopathic medical schools in the United States.
(5) On average, students at for-profit medical schools
operating outside of the United States and Canada amass more
student debt than those at medical schools in the United
States.
SEC. 4. REPEAL GRANDFATHER PROVISIONS.
Section 102(a)(2) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
1002(a)(2)) is amended--
(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking clause (i) and
inserting the following:
``(i) in the case of a graduate medical
school located outside the United States--
``(I) at least 60 percent of those
enrolled in, and at least 60 percent of
the graduates of, the graduate medical
school outside the United States were
not persons described in section
484(a)(5) in the year preceding the
year for which a student is seeking a
loan under part D of title IV; and
``(II) at least 75 percent of the
individuals who were students or
graduates of the graduate medical
school outside the United States or
Canada (both nationals of the United
States and others) taking the
examinations administered by the
Educational Commission for Foreign
Medical Graduates received a passing
score in the year preceding the year
for which a student is seeking a loan
under part D of title IV;''; and
(2) in subparagraph (B)(iii), by adding at the end the
following:
``(V) Expiration of authority.--The
authority of a graduate medical school
described in subclause (I) to qualify
for participation in the loan programs
under part D of title IV pursuant to
this clause shall expire beginning on
the first July 1 following the date of
enactment of the Foreign Medical School
Accountability Fairness Act of 2019.''.
SEC. 5. LOSS OF ELIGIBILITY.
If a graduate medical school loses eligibility to participate in
the loan programs under part D of title IV of the Higher Education Act
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087a et seq.) due to the enactment of the
amendments made by section 4, then a student enrolled at such graduate
medical school on or before the date of enactment of this Act may,
notwithstanding such loss of eligibility, continue to be eligible to
receive a loan under such part D while attending such graduate medical
school in which the student was enrolled upon the date of enactment of
this Act, subject to the student continuing to meet all applicable
requirements for satisfactory academic progress, until the earliest
of--
(1) withdrawal by the student from the graduate medical
school;
(2) completion of the program of study by the student at
the graduate medical school; or
(3) the fourth June 30 after such loss of eligibility.
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