To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish a graduate degree loan repayment program for nurses who become nursing school faculty members.

Summary: Nurses' Higher Education and Loan Repayment Act of 2008 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), to enter into an agreement with eligible individuals for the repayment of education loans in exchange for working as a full-time member of the faculty of an accredited school of nursing.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Nurses' Higher Education and Loan 
Repayment Act of 2008''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Health Resources and Services Administration 
        estimates there is currently a shortage of more than 200,000 
        registered nurses nationwide and projects the shortage will 
        grow to over 1 million nurses by 2020, 36 percent less than 
        needed to meet demand for nursing care.
            (2) The shortage of qualified nursing faculty is the 
        primary factor driving the inability of nursing schools to 
        graduate more registered nurses to meet the nation's growing 
        workforce demand.
            (3) There continues to be strong interest on the part of 
        young Americans to enter the nursing field. The National League 
        for Nursing estimates that 88,000 qualified applications, or 
        one out of every three submitted to basic registered nurse 
        programs in 2006, were rejected due to lack of capacity.
            (4) The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (in 
        this Act referred to as the ``AACN'') estimates that 40,285 
        applicants were turned away specifically from baccalaureate and 
        graduate schools of nursing in 2007 and over 70 percent of the 
        schools responding to the AACN survey reported a lack of nurse 
        faculty as the number one reason for turning away qualified 
        applicants. Likewise, nearly 70 percent of the associate's 
        degree registered nurse programs responding to the most recent 
        American Association of Community Colleges Nursing Survey 
        reported a lack of faculty to teach as the number one reason 
        for turning away qualified applicants.
            (5) Large numbers of faculty members at schools of nursing 
        in the United States are nearing retirement. According to the 
        AACN, the average age of a nurse faculty member is 55 years old 
        and the average age at retirement is 62.
            (6) The current nationwide nurse faculty vacancy rate is 
        estimated to be as high as 8.8 percent, including 767 vacant 
        positions at schools of nursing offering baccalaureate and 
        advanced degrees and, in 2006, as many as 880 in associate's 
        degree programs.
            (7) Market forces have created disincentives for 
        individuals qualified to become nurse educators from pursing 
        this career. The average annual salary for an associate 
        professor of nursing with a master's degree is nearly 20 
        percent less that the average salary for a nurse practitioner 
        with a master's degree, according to the 2007 salary survey by 
        the journal ADVANCE for Nurse Practitioners.
            (8) The most recent Health Resources and Services 
        Administration survey data indicates that from a total of more 
        than 2 million registered nurses, only 143,113 registered 
        nurses with a bachelor's degree and only 51,318 registered 
        nurses with an associate's degree have continued their 
        education to earn a master's degree in the science of nursing, 
        the minimum credential necessary to teach in all types of 
        registered nurse programs. The majority of these graduates do 
        not become nurse educators.
            (9) Current Federal incentive programs to encourage nurses 
        to become educators are inadequate and inaccessible for many 
        interested nurses.
            (10) A broad incentive program must be available to willing 
        and qualified nurses that will provide financial support and 
        encourage them to pursue and maintain a career in nursing 
        education.

SEC. 3. NURSE FACULTY LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM.

    Part E of title VIII of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 
297a et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 846A the following 
new section:

``SEC. 846B. NURSE FACULTY LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM.

    ``(a) Establishment.--The Secretary, acting through the 
Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, may 
enter into an agreement with eligible individuals for the repayment of 
education loans, in accordance with this section, to increase the 
number of qualified nursing faculty.
    ``(b) Agreements.--Each agreement entered into under subsection (a) 
shall require that the eligible individual shall serve as a full-time 
member of the faculty of an accredited school of nursing for a total 
period, in the aggregate, of at least four years during the six-year 
period beginning on the later of--
            ``(1) the date on which the individual receives a master's 
        or doctorate nursing degree from an accredited school of 
        nursing; or
            ``(2) the date on which the individual enters into an 
        agreement under subsection (a).
    ``(c) Agreement Provisions.--Agreements entered into pursuant to 
subsection (a) shall be entered into on such terms and conditions as 
the Secretary may determine, except that--
            ``(1) not more than ten months after the date on which the 
        six-year period described under subsection (b) begins, but in 
        no case before the individual starts as a full-time member of 
        the faculty of an accredited school of nursing, the Secretary 
        shall begin making payments, for and on behalf of that 
        individual, on the outstanding principal of, and interest on, 
        any loan of that individual obtained to pay for such degree;
            ``(2) for an individual who has completed a master's degree 
        in nursing--
                    ``(A) payments may not exceed $10,000 per calendar 
                year; and
                    ``(B) total payments may not exceed $40,000; and
            ``(3) for an individual who has completed a doctorate 
        degree in nursing--
                    ``(A) payments may not exceed $20,000 per calendar 
                year; and
                    ``(B) total payments may not exceed $80,000.
    ``(d) Breach of Agreement.--
            ``(1) In general.--In the case of any agreement made under 
        subsection (a), the individual is liable to the Federal 
        Government for the total amount paid by the Secretary under 
        such agreement, and for interest on such amount at the maximum 
        legal prevailing rate, if the individual fails to meet the 
        agreement terms required under subsection (b).
            ``(2) Waiver or suspension of liability.--In the case of an 
        individual making an agreement for purposes of paragraph (1), 
        the Secretary shall provide for the waiver or suspension of 
        liability under such paragraph if compliance by the individual 
        with the agreement involved is impossible or would involve 
        extreme hardship to the individual or if enforcement of the 
        agreement with respect to the individual would be 
        unconscionable.
            ``(3) Date certain for recovery.--Subject to paragraph (2), 
        any amount that the Federal Government is entitled to recover 
        under paragraph (1) shall be paid to the United States not 
        later than the expiration of the 3-year period beginning on the 
        date the United States becomes so entitled.
            ``(4) Availability.--Amounts recovered under paragraph (1) 
        shall be available to the Secretary for making loan repayments 
        under this section and shall remain available for such purpose 
        until expended.
    ``(e) Eligible Individual Defined.--For purposes of this section, 
the term `eligible individual' means an individual who--
            ``(1) is a United States citizen, national, or lawful 
        permanent resident;
            ``(2) holds an unencumbered license as a registered nurse; 
        and
            ``(3) has either already completed a master's or doctorate 
        nursing program at an accredited school of nursing or is 
        currently enrolled on a full-time or part-time basis in such a 
        program.
    ``(f) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to the Secretary such sums as may be necessary for each of 
fiscal years 2009 through 2013 to carry out this Act. Such sums shall 
remain available until expended.''.