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ACS Advocacy and Health Policy Staff Interim Director Assistant Director, Regulatory Affairs and Quality Improvement Programs Manager, State Affairs General Information |
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| The Honorable Judd Gregg United States Senate Washington, DC 20510 |
The Honorable Edward Kennedy United States Senate Washington, DC 20510 |
Dear Chairman Gregg and Ranking Member Kennedy:
On behalf of the 66,000 Fellows of the American College of Surgeons, I would like to bring to your attention two issues that we hope you will address during the Higher Education Act reauthorization process: extending the economic hardship deferment and increasing the subsidized Federal Stafford loan limit.
As you know, the federal economic hardship deferment allows graduates to defer repayment of their student loans for up to three years if they exceed a federally defined debt-to-income ratio. Many physicians qualify for this deferment during the initial years of their medical residency. However, surgeons, depending on their specialty, must complete between four to seven years of residency training.
We believe the economic hardship deferment should be extended to "the length of a medical or dental internship or residency that must be successfully completed before the borrower may begin professional practice or service, or for the length of time they are in a medical or dental internship or residency leading to a degree or certificate awarded by a hospital or health care facility which offers postgraduate training." This would make the economic hardship deferment consistent with the current guidelines regulating mandatory forbearance for medical residents and remove an obstacle facing aspiring surgeons.
In addition, we urge you to consider increasing the annual limit on subsidized Federal Stafford loans to $12,000 per year. This modest increase would approximately account for the cost of inflation since the limits were last raised in 1992. Most importantly, it will help lower loan interest costs for indebted medical students who are currently graduating with an average student loan debt of $109,457.
We look forward to working with you on these issues throughout the reauthorization process. If you have any additional questions, please contact Jennette Lawrence in our Washington office at 202-672-1517.
Sincerely,
Thomas R. Russell, MD FACS
Executive Director
cc: Members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee
Revised March 7, 2005
ACS Views on Legislative, Regulatory, and Other Issues
