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Q1. |
Why was the Nursing Education Loan Forgiveness Program
created?
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A. The program was created to provide recruitment and
retention incentives in the form of education loan forgiveness to Nursing
Educators and Registered Nurses (RN) in order to reduce the shortage of Register
Nurses in Iowa communities.
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Q2. |
Who will benefit from the program?
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A. Nursing Educators and RNs will benefit through the
forgiveness of their education loans and the citizens of Iowa will benefit
through an increase in health care services provided by RNs.
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Q3. |
Who is eligible to apply for the program?
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A. Students who are enrolled in registered nursing programs
or post-baccalaureate nursing educator programs at an accredited Iowa
university, college, or other similar educational institution can apply.?
Nursing educators who are enrolled in non-nursing doctoral programs that qualify
them to teach nursing are also eligible to apply.
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Q4. |
Who will be eligible for the forgiveness of their education
loans?
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A. All Nursing Educators and RNs who graduate from an
accredited Iowa college or university and who are employed full-time in Iowa and
have a qualifying education loan will be eligible to apply for forgiveness
benefits.?RNs must be providing direct patient care in order to qualify for
loan forgiveness benefits.
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Q5. |
How is €œfull-time employment defined?
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A. Full-time employment is defined by the individual
employer.?Individuals employed part-time by more than one employer must work a
total of 35 hours per week to meet the full-time employment definition.
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Q6. |
When must an applicant submit the application for loan forgiveness?
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A. Applicants must submit their applications prior to the
completion of the academic program in which they are enrolled by the annually
published priority deadline.
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Q7. |
When is the application priority deadline?
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A. Students applying for loan forgiveness must submit their
applications annually by the September 1 priority deadline.
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Q8. |
If students are approved during one year do they need to reapply for the loan
forgiveness program each year that they remain in school?
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A. No, once students are approved they do no need to
reapply.?However, a student who is not approved can reapply for consideration
the following year.
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Q9. |
Can individuals apply for forgiveness once they have completed their academic
program?
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A. Individuals who complete their academic program by July 1
proceeding the annual application year will not be eligible for
consideration.
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Q10. |
Can students who are already practicing RNs qualify for consideration if they
are working on another non-nursing degree program?
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A. Only practicing RNs who are enrolled in educational
programs that are part of a defined nursing degree program at a college or
university in Iowa qualify for consideration.?For example, a student who has a
RN from a 2 year ADN program and is working on a BSN would qualify for
consideration while a student who has a BSN and is working on a MBA would not
quality for consideration.
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Q11. |
How soon after completing their educational programs do individuals have to
begin employment in Iowa?
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A. Individuals must be employed full-time, as defined by
their employer, within 12 months of the completion of their educational
program.
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Q12. |
What happens if an approved applicant changes her/his projected program
completion date or continues on for a BSN after completing an
ADN?
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A. Individuals who change their program completion dates or
degree goals can request an extension of their forgiveness approval to coincide
with those changes.
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Q.13 |
What happens if an approved applicant does not practice in the shortage area
for which she/he was approved??For example they were approved for long-term
care nursing but eventually work in a hospital in a rural county?
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A. Individuals who go into areas of service that are
different than the areas for which they were originally approved can have their
awards adjusted a maximum of one level (area of service) up or down, but only if
awards were made to other applicants in that level (area of service) during the
year in which they received their awards.
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Q14. |
What is a €œqualifying education loan?
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A. Qualifying education loans include loans held by Iowa
Student Loan (ISL) that are made by Iowa lenders through the Federal Family
Education Loan Program (FFELP), Federal Consolidation Loans (including Federal
Direct Loans), or loans made directly by ISL through its Partnership Loan
Program.
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Q15. |
When do students have to secure qualifying loans?
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A. All qualifying loans that students have received prior to
the completion of their degree programs are eligible for
forgiveness.
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Q16. |
When will students be notified of the approval decision regarding their
forgiveness application?
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A. Applicants will be notified by October 31 regarding their
status.
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Q17. |
How will recipients be selected?
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A. If funding is not sufficient for all qualified
applicants, prioritization will be based on the following criteria: (i) the
applicant's intended area of employment; (ii) date of graduation; (iii) time of
application.
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Q18. |
How much of a forgiveness benefit will be available?
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A. Over the entire life of the program, Iowa Student Loan
estimates that as many as 2,000 nurses will benefit, depending on the amount of
loans forgiven for each nurse.?This amount will vary according to the type and
area of employment.?The highest amounts are in the most critical need areas
with Nursing Educators qualifying for up to $20,000 in benefits, RNs working in
long-term care facilities qualifying for up to $15,000, RNs working in rural
counties qualifying for up to $10,000 and RNs working in urban counties
qualifying for up to $5,000.
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Q19. |
How long does the individual have to work in Iowa to qualify for the
forgiveness benefit?
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A. Partial forgiveness is made after one year of service
building to 100% forgiveness after four years of service.
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Q20. |
Who is providing the funding for this program?
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A. Iowa Student Loan is providing the funding for this
program.
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Q21. |
Who is Iowa Student Loan and how are they paying for this?
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A. Iowa Student Loan is the private, non-profit secondary
market for student loans is Iowa.?It owns most of the student loans made in
Iowa, and it generates resources for programs such as the Nursing Forgiveness
Program by running an efficient operation, by issuing lower cost tax-exempt
bonds, and through the receipt of government subsidies on its student
loans.
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Q22. |
Where will interested students be able to find information about this
program?
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A. Complete application information has been provided to
Iowa colleges and universities and is available on the Iowa College Student Aid
Commission's web site and on Iowa Students Loan's web site.
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Q23. |
Who administers the program?
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A. The program is administered by the Iowa College Student
Aid Commission in cooperation with Iowa Student Loan.
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Q24. |
If an individual has questions about the program who should they
contact?
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A. They should contact the Iowa College Student Aid
Commission at 800-383-4222 or 515-242-3344 or Iowa Student Loan at 800-243-7552
or 515-243-5626 (Press Option 3). |
