American College of Radiology criticizes administration’s push to make higher education more affordable
The American College of Radiology is criticizing a proposed rule from the Trump administration, which is aimed at reducing the cost of higher education.
In January, the Department of Education released a proposed rule seeking to simplify federal student loan repayment. This after Congress passed changes to the program aimed at “equipping institutions with tools to address over-borrowing.” Updates included implementing “commonsense loan caps” and “streamlining repayment options.”
The department’s Jan. 29 proposed rule is the next step in implementing these changes. ACR recently weighed in during the 30-day comment period, expressing concern about some of the changes.
“The college respectfully urges the Department of Education to preserve the long-standing federal loan exception that allows medical students and other health professions’ students to borrow additional unsubsidized direct loans,” ACR CEO Dana Smetherman, MD, MBA, wrote March 2. “ACR also urges the department to reconsider its approach regarding the ‘professional’ category and explicitly include critical health professions programs that were omitted from the proposed rule.”
Smetherman noted that, as the population continues to age while increasing in size, demand for physicians and other healthcare providers will grow. There already is a nationwide shortage of such professionals, which could reach 86,000 by 2036, according to the AAMC. The college is concerned the department’s proposal would exclude other health professions’ degree programs, including medical physicists, from eligibility of certain loan limits.
“The expertise of medical physicists, of which there is also a significant shortage, is critical to patient care, quality and safety,” the ACR wrote. “As the department considers the impact of the ‘professional’ designation and eligibility for loan limits, we encourage engaging health professions’ education organizations for their knowledge of the shortage of different members of the workforce, among other topics.”
ACR believes the proposal to amend annual and aggregate loan limits for graduate and “professional” loan borrowers will negatively impact student’s ability to afford additional schooling. This could potentially exacerbate staffing shortages across the U.S. and “especially in rural areas.” Aggregate limits of $100,000 for graduate students and $200,000 for students enrolled in professional degree programs “are concerning,” the college contends.
“Also, subjecting medical physicist students to the graduate level borrowing limits does not reflect the level of specialized education and training these students must undergo,” Smetherman wrote.
You can read the full letter to the Department of Education here. ACR also highlighted the issue in a news update published Thursday. You can also read the Department of Education’s announcement and the proposed rule.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.