President Clinton signed legislation which amends the health profession and nursing student assistance programs. These new regulations became effective November 13, 1998. The full text of the regulations can be found at http://www.hrsa.dhhs.gov/bhpr/dsa/pages/1754memo.htm.

The regulation changes necessitated new promissory notes. These may be found at http://www.hrsa.dhhs.gov/bhpr/dsa/promdown.htm. They are available in Microsoft Word, Corel Wordperfect or Adobe Acrobat format. You will need one of these applications to view the new promissory notes.

Some of the notable changes in nursing are:

• The school may grant an extension in the ten-year repayment if the borrower is delinquent but has made twelve consecutive payments during the last twelve month repayment period. Repayment can extend beyond the original ten years.
• The minimum monthly payment has been increased from fifteen to forty dollars per month. Applies to loans made on or after November 13, 1998.
• Revises the NSL statute to state that no state or federal statute of limitations applies to the collection of nursing student loans. A school can pursue any legal remedies available to collect on a nursing student loan regardless of the age of the debt and applies to those loans for which the statute of limitation had not already expired prior to November 13, 1998.

Some of the notable changes in Health Profession, Loans for Disadvantaged Students and Primary Care loans are:

• The length of the repayment period has been modified to allow loans to be repayable over a period of not less than ten years nor more than twenty-five years at the discretion of the institution. Primary care borrowers who extend their repayment period beyond ten years must also extend their service obligation, as well, for the same time period.
• Schools must use the new promissory note for loans made on or after November 13, 1998.
• The minimum monthly payment has been increased from fifteen to forty dollars per month. Applies to loans made on or after November 13, 1998.
• Revises the statute of limitation to state that no state or federal statute of limitations applies to the collection of nursing student loans. A school can pursue any legal remedies available to collect on a nursing student loan regardless of the age of the debt and applies to those loans for which the statute of limitation had not already expired prior to November 13, 1998.

These items apply only to Primary Care loans:

• On loans issued on or after November 13, 1998, where the borrower drops out of primary care, the school no longer has to recompute the interest to the original date of the loan at twelve percent interest compounded annually. The loan will now begin to accrue interest at the rate of eighteen percent per year beginning on the date of noncompliance.
• Repeals the requirement that service defaulters must repay their PCL loan in three years. These borrowers now have the same amount of time as non-defaulters, which is ten to twenty-five years at the discretion of the institution.