I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 209 

To expand the teacher loan forgiveness provisions of the Higher Education 

Act of 1965 to include speech-language pathologists. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 6, 2009 

Mr. WILSON of South Carolina introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To expand the teacher loan forgiveness provisions of the 

Higher Education Act of 1965 to include speech-language pathologists. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Helping Our Students 

5 Communicate Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. EXPANSION OF LOAN FORGIVENESS TO SPEECH7 LANGUAGE PATHOLOGISTS. 

8 (a) FFEL LOANS.— 

9 (1) FORGIVENESS FOR SPEECH-LANGUAGE PA10 THOLOGISTS AUTHORIZED.—Section 428J(b)(1) of 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with BILLS
2 

•HR 209 IH

1 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1078– 

2 10(b)(1)) is amended to read as follows: 

3 ‘‘(1) has been employed for 5 consecutive com4 plete school years— 

5 ‘‘(A) as a full-time teacher— 

6 ‘‘(i) in a school or location that quali7 fies under section 465(a)(2)(A) for loan 

8 cancellation for Perkins loan recipients 

9 who teach in such schools or locations; and 

10 ‘‘(ii) if employed as an elementary 

11 school or secondary school teacher, is high12 ly qualified as defined in section 9101 of 

13 the Elementary Secondary Education Act 

14 of 1965, or meets the requirements of sub15 section (g)(3); or 

16 ‘‘(B) as a full-time speech-language pathol17 ogist— 

18 ‘‘(i) to perform services principally in 

19 a school described in subparagraph (A)(i); 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(ii) who has, at a minimum, a grad22 uate degree in speech-language pathology, 

23 or communication sciences and disorders; 

24 and’’. 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with BILLS
3 

•HR 209 IH

1 (2) ADDITIONAL AMOUNTS FOR SPEECH-LAN2 GUAGE PATHOLOGISTS.—Section 428J(c)(3) of such 

3 Act (20 U.S.C. 1078–10(c)(3)) is amended— 

4 (A) in the header, by inserting before the 

5 period ‘‘, AND SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLO6 GISTS’’; 

7 (B) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub8 paragraph (A); 

9 (C) by striking the period at the end of 

10 subparagraph (B) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

11 (D) by adding at the end the following new 

12 subparagraph: 

13 ‘‘(C) a speech-language pathologist who 

14 meets the requirements of subsection (b).’’. 

15 (b) DIRECT LOANS.— 

16 (1) FORGIVENESS FOR SPEECH-LANGUAGE PA17 THOLOGISTS AUTHORIZED.—Section 460(b)(1) of 

18 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

19 1087j(b)(1)) is amended to read as follows: 

20 ‘‘(1) has been employed for 5 consecutive com21 plete school years— 

22 ‘‘(A) as a full-time teacher— 

23 ‘‘(i) in a school or location that quali24 fies under section 465(a)(2)(A) for loan 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with BILLS
4 

•HR 209 IH

1 cancellation for Perkins loan recipients 

2 who teach in such schools or locations; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) if employed as an elementary 

4 school or secondary school teacher, is high5 ly qualified as defined in section 9101 of 

6 the Elementary Secondary Education Act 

7 of 1965, or meets the requirements of sub8 section (g)(3); or 

9 ‘‘(B) as a full-time speech-language pathol10 ogist— 

11 ‘‘(i) to perform services principally in 

12 a school described in subparagraph (A)(i); 

13 and 

14 ‘‘(ii) who has, at a minimum, a grad15 uate degree in speech-language pathology, 

16 or communication sciences and disorders; 

17 and’’. 

18 (2) ADDITIONAL AMOUNTS FOR SPEECH-LAN19 GUAGE PATHOLOGISTS.—Section 460(c)(3) of such 

20 Act (20 U.S.C. 1087j(c)(3)) is amended— 

21 (A) in the header, by inserting before the 

22 period ‘‘, AND SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLO23 GISTS’’; 

24 (B) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub25 paragraph (A); 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with BILLS
5 

•HR 209 IH

1 (C) by striking the period at the end of 

2 subparagraph (B) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

3 (D) by adding at the end the following new 

4 subparagraph: 

5 ‘‘(C) a speech-language pathologist who 

6 meets the requirements of subsection (b).’’. 

7 (c) NEW BORROWER ELIGIBILITY.—An individual 

8 who is a speech-language pathologist shall not qualify 

9 under the amendments made by this section unless such 

10 individual is a new borrower (as such term is defined in 

11 section 103 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 

12 U.S.C. 1003)) on or after the date that is 90 days after 

13 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with BILLS