I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1394 

To expand the teacher loan forgiveness provisions of the Higher Education 

Act of 1965 to include speech-language pathologists. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 7, 2007 

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 2007’’. 

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 


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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 that qualifies under 

7 section 465(a)(2)(A) for loan cancellation 

8 for Perkins loan recipients who teach in 

9 such schools; and 

10 ‘‘(ii) if employed as an elementary 

11 school or secondary school teacher, who is 

12 highly qualified as defined in section 9101 

13 of the Elementary Secondary Education 

14 Act of 1965, or meets the requirements of 

15 subsection (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’’. 


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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)(A) of 

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

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

20 ‘‘(A) has been employed for 5 consecutive 

21 complete school years— 

22 ‘‘(i) as a full-time teacher— 

23 ‘‘(I) in a school that qualifies 

24 under section 465(a)(2)(A) for loan 


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1 cancellation for Perkins loan recipi2 ents who teach in such schools; and 

3 ‘‘(II) if employed as an elemen4 tary school or secondary school teach5 er, who is highly qualified as defined 

6 in section 9101 of the Elementary 

7 Secondary Education Act of 1965, or 

8 meets the requirements of subsection 

9 (g)(3); or 

10 ‘‘(ii) as a full-time speech-language 

11 pathologist— 

12 ‘‘(I) to perform services prin13 cipally in a school described in clause 

14 (i)(I); and 

15 ‘‘(II) who has, at a minimum, a 

16 graduate degree in speech-language 

17 pathology, or communication sciences 

18 and disorders; and’’. 

19 (2) ADDITIONAL AMOUNTS FOR SPEECH-LAN20 GUAGE PATHOLOGISTS.—Section 460(c)(3) of such 

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

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

23 period ‘‘, AND SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLO24 GISTS’’; 


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1 (B) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub2 paragraph (A); 

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

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

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

6 subparagraph: 

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

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

9 (c) NEW BORROWER ELIGIBILITY.—An individual 

10 who is a speech-language pathologist shall not qualify 

11 under the amendments made by this section unless such 

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

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

14 U.S.C. 1003)) on or after October 1, 2007. 

Æ 


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