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-lan-
guage pathologists. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Helping Our Students 
Communicate Act of 2009’’. 
SEC. 2. EXPANSION OF LOAN FORGIVENESS TO SPEECH- 
LANGUAGE PATHOLOGISTS. 
(a) FFEL LOANS.— 
(1) FORGIVENESS FOR SPEECH-LANGUAGE PA-
THOLOGISTS
AUTHORIZED.—Section 428J(b)(1) of 
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the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1078– 
10(b)(1)) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(1) has been employed for 5 consecutive com-
plete school years— 
‘‘(A) as a full-time teacher— 
‘‘(i) in a school or location that quali-
fies under section 465(a)(2)(A) for loan 
cancellation for Perkins loan recipients 
who teach in such schools or locations; and 
‘‘(ii) if employed as an elementary 
school or secondary school teacher, is high-
ly qualified as defined in section 9101 of 
the Elementary Secondary Education Act 
of 1965, or meets the requirements of sub-
section (g)(3); or 
‘‘(B) as a full-time speech-language pathol-
ogist— 
‘‘(i) to perform services principally in 
a school described in subparagraph (A)(i); 
and 
‘‘(ii) who has, at a minimum, a grad-
uate degree in speech-language pathology, 
or communication sciences and disorders; 
and’’. 
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(2) ADDITIONAL AMOUNTS FOR SPEECH-LAN-
GUAGE PATHOLOGISTS.—Section 428J(c)(3) of such 
Act (20 U.S.C. 1078–10(c)(3)) is amended— 
(A) in the header, by inserting before the 
period ‘‘, AND
SPEECH-LANGUAGE
PATHOLO-
GISTS’’; 
(B) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub-
paragraph (A); 
(C) by striking the period at the end of 
subparagraph (B) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(D) by adding at the end the following new 
subparagraph: 
‘‘(C) a speech-language pathologist who 
meets the requirements of subsection (b).’’. 
(b) DIRECT LOANS.— 
(1) FORGIVENESS FOR SPEECH-LANGUAGE PA-
THOLOGISTS
AUTHORIZED.—Section 460(b)(1) of 
the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
1087j(b)(1)) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(1) has been employed for 5 consecutive com-
plete school years— 
‘‘(A) as a full-time teacher— 
‘‘(i) in a school or location that quali-
fies under section 465(a)(2)(A) for loan 
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cancellation for Perkins loan recipients 
who teach in such schools or locations; and 
‘‘(ii) if employed as an elementary 
school or secondary school teacher, is high-
ly qualified as defined in section 9101 of 
the Elementary Secondary Education Act 
of 1965, or meets the requirements of sub-
section (g)(3); or 
‘‘(B) as a full-time speech-language pathol-
ogist— 
‘‘(i) to perform services principally in 
a school described in subparagraph (A)(i); 
and 
‘‘(ii) who has, at a minimum, a grad-
uate degree in speech-language pathology, 
or communication sciences and disorders; 
and’’. 
(2) ADDITIONAL AMOUNTS FOR SPEECH-LAN-
GUAGE PATHOLOGISTS.—Section 460(c)(3) of such 
Act (20 U.S.C. 1087j(c)(3)) is amended— 
(A) in the header, by inserting before the 
period ‘‘, AND
SPEECH-LANGUAGE
PATHOLO-
GISTS’’; 
(B) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub-
paragraph (A); 
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(C) by striking the period at the end of 
subparagraph (B) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(D) by adding at the end the following new 
subparagraph: 
‘‘(C) a speech-language pathologist who 
meets the requirements of subsection (b).’’. 
(c) NEW BORROWER ELIGIBILITY.—An individual 
who is a speech-language pathologist shall not qualify 
under the amendments made by this section unless such 
individual is a new borrower (as such term is defined in 
section 103 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 
U.S.C. 1003)) on or after the date that is 90 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act. 
Æ 
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