With the economy still taking a big bite out of government revenues, the state has suspended a college loan program that helped keep nurses and other professionals in Georgia after they graduated.
It’s called the Service Cancellable Loan Program, and it generally requires one year of service in the state for each year of school the loan helps pay for. Before the program was suspended in August, some 4,000 students across the state were taking advantage of the loans each year, and those loans averaged about $2,500 a year per student, according to the Georgia Student Finance Commission that oversees the program.
Initially, the state had hoped to spend even more on the program this year, putting nearly $3.2 million in the budget for the program. But that money is being held back to help balance the budget, which has been cut by more than $3 billion over the past year.
The commission hopes the program might get back in gear after the first of the year, said Tracy Ireland, vice president of financial aid operations. But for the money to be restored, the state Legislature would have to make the program a priority when it begins meeting again in January.
“We looked at the impact (of potential cuts) on students and felt like this (cut) would impact the fewest,” Ireland said.
Larger state cancellable loan programs, which are funded by state lottery funds and assist students who want to become teachers, remain in place, according to the commission.
Colleges initially were told that the loans would be there for students, then had to work as fall classes began to get students into other loan programs, said Dee Minter, Macon State College’s associate vice president of enrollment services. Twenty-seven Macon State students had been expecting the forgivable loans, and instead they’ll use more money from the federal Stafford loan program to pay for school, Minter said.
“Of course, the Stafford loans would have to repaid in dollars as opposed to ... service,” she said.
Shauna Collins, a 26-year-old single mother working on a respiratory therapy degree at Macon State, said she had to take on more debt to keep her classes, and that’s “a little bit scary.”
“It’s kind of like a heavier responsibility on yourself that you know you’re going to pay back,” Collins said. “I guess it’s just kind of daunting to see the tally of loans going up.”
Some of the Macon State students affected by the change are in the respiratory therapy field, but most of them are studying to become nurses, Minter said. Georgia has had a shortage of nurses, and suspending the cancellable loan program does away — at least temporarily — with one of the incentives for nurses to stay in the state, Minter said.
“I certainly hope that our newly licensed nurses will stay in Georgia, but there’s not as much incentive to do so now,” Minter said.
To contact writer Travis Fain call 744-4213.
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