2023 Oklahoma Statutes › Title 70. Schools › §70-625.10a. Cost-sharing scholarships and loan fund programs - Administration.

The Health Care Workforce Training Commission is hereby authorized and empowered to establish and administer cost-sharing scholarships and loan fund programs which shall provide for state assistance to and participation with community physician education and scholarship trust funds which are selected and approved by the Commission. Said state assistance and participation shall be on a state and community matching formula basis for the funding of the educational costs, fees and charges of a selected and qualified student in good standing and who is duly enrolled in an accredited college of medicine or college of osteopathic medicine and pursuing a course of study leading to the degree of Doctor of Medicine or to the degree of Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine. Said student shall be a bona fide resident of the State of Oklahoma who desires and agrees to practice his profession on completion of the course of study and training required for licensure and certification in the community providing the initial funds to be matched by the state funds. Communities shall deposit the initial trust funds with the Health Care Workforce Training Commission to be administered and matched by the Commission for the education of selected and qualified students to serve and to practice in the communities with trust funds so established for that purpose with the Commission. The Commission shall aid and advise communities in the selection of qualified students to participate in a given community scholarship program and the Commission shall approve the selection of a given student for a particular community physician education scholarship trust fund matching program. The Commission shall determine the percentage share for the state in the scholarship matching program with a given community to educate a given and duly selected student on the basis of the extent of need of the community and its surrounding area for the services of a practicing physician, the amount of the initial trust funds the community has raised and deposited in the physician education scholarship trust fund that is duly established and the matching funds schedule developed by the Commission and based upon both the population of the community determined by the latest Federal Decennial Census and the estimated median family annual income level as determined on the basis of the estimates of the Oklahoma Department of Commerce. The state matching assistance and participation in a given scholarship trust fund program shall not exceed seventy-five percent (75%) of the total amount calculated to be necessary to fund the costs of a course of study for the degree of Doctor of Medicine or the degree of Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine as determined annually by the Commission. Repayment of the total amount of the scholarship by the student on completion of the student's course of study and on the establishment of the student's practice in the community shall be made to the state fund and to the community trust fund in accordance with the percentage and total amounts contributed by the state and by the community to the matching scholarship trust fund program and in accordance with the provisions of Section 625.5 of this title and contract requirements of Section 625.6 of this title which shall apply in all cases to students participating in said community physician education scholarship trust fund programs administered by the Commission with the exception of the maximum amount allowable in payment to the student which shall be based on an annual review of the costs, fees and charges of the school of medicine or school of osteopathic medicine in which the student is enrolled and participating which shall be made by the Commission.
The procedures, terms and conditions governing the scholarships and how they are administered shall be as prescribed and formulated by the Health Care Workforce Training Commission but shall include the following:
1. Communities desiring to participate in a loan and scholarship program shall select a student who meets the requirements for participation and give notice to the Commission.
2. The Commission shall aid and advise communities in the selection of qualified students to participate in a given community loan and scholarship program.
3. The communities shall deposit with the Commission the initial year scholarship funds provided by the community which funds shall be a percentage of the total educational and associated costs of the student in the course of study in an accredited college of medicine or college of osteopathic medicine and which funds are to be used in the education of the selected student.
4. The Commission shall review and approve the selection of a given student and shall then match the initial community funds with state funds from the Oklahoma Community Physician Education Loan and Scholarship Program Fund in the amount needed to meet the total cost for educating the student for one (1) year as agreed by the Commission and the community in each particular case.
5. The Commission shall determine the percentage share for the state in the loan and scholarship program with a given community to educate a selected student on the basis of:
a.
the extent of need of the community and its surrounding area for the services of a practicing physician,
b.
the amount of the initial trust funds the community has raised and deposited with the Commission for the education of a selected student, and
c.
the population of the community which shall be determined on the basis of the current estimates made by the Oklahoma Department of Commerce.
6. The state matching assistance and participation by the Commission in a given loan and scholarship program for a particular student shall not exceed seventy-five percent (75%) of the total amount calculated to be necessary to fund one (1) year of study for the degree of Doctor of Medicine or the degree of Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine as determined annually by the Commission at the school of medicine or osteopathic medicine in which the selected student is enrolled.
7. Each scholarship recipient, upon completion of the recipient's course of study, shall repay the recipient's loan and scholarship to the state and to the community and receive forgiveness on repayment of the funds from the state and from the community by practicing his or her profession in the community in Oklahoma providing the initial funds at a minimum for one (1) year for each Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) the community and the state financed the scholarship program for the student; provided, however, that the recipient will be given no credit for payment, repayment and reduction of said obligation to the community and the state by serving the given community for a period less than two (2) years or, when approved by the Commission in agreement with the community and terms of the contracts involved, repayment may be made in cash with interest at the rate of twelve percent (12%) per annum, said interest to accrue from the date each payment of funds pursuant to the loan and scholarship program is made. In addition, should a recipient who accepts financial assistance after July 1, 1977, elect not to perform his obligated service in the sponsoring community, the agreed upon sum denoted as liquidated damages in the contract shall be assessed the recipient. No interest shall accrue on the principal during any one period of time that the recipient thereof is required to serve in the Armed Forces of the United States, or during his internship or residency, if in a primary care area and the required service, internship or residency does not exceed four (4) years. Provided that no interest shall accrue for six (6) months following each of the above exceptions.
Each student who applies to participate in a community and state matching loan and scholarship program shall enter into a contract administered by the Commission on behalf of the state and a given community which has provided the initial scholarship funds to educate a selected student. The contract shall be between the State of Oklahoma and the selected student by which contract the student agrees to return to the community which provided the initial loan and scholarship funds and to practice his profession, on completion of the course of study and training required for licensure and certification, for the number of years for which the student received assistance from the community and the state and in accordance with the conditions specified in the contract agreed to by the student and the given community which selected the student. Any repayment of the total amount of the scholarship or any portion thereof as provided in this act and in the contract between the state and the student shall be made to the state deposited into the Community Matching Loan and Scholarship Repayment Revolving Fund hereby created in the State Treasury. The community portion of any repayment monies deposited in said fund shall be withdrawn from the revolving fund and returned to the community on request or, if the community so chooses, said repayment monies shall be held available in said fund for reallocation by the community and the state to the Community Physician Education Loan and Scholarship Program Fund to educate another student selected by the community and approved by the Commission. The form of the contracts shall be prepared and approved by the Attorney General. The Commission is hereby vested with full and complete authority and power to sue in its own name any applicant for any balance due the Commission for repayment of the scholarship on any contract or for failure by the applicant to fulfill the terms of his contract in any way. Said contracts shall be signed by the Chair of the Commission and by the student for and by a representative of the community which selected the student. The Commission shall have authority to cancel the contract it makes between the Commission and any recipient of a scholarship upon cause deemed sufficient by the Commission.
Added by Laws 1976, c. 212, § 19, emerg. eff. June 7, 1976. Amended by Laws 1977, c. 220, § 3, emerg. eff. June 14, 1977; Laws 1982, c. 96, § 2, operative Oct. 1, 1982; Laws 1986, c. 207, § 63, operative July 1, 1986; Laws 2022, c. 407, § 12.
NOTE: In accordance with Article VI, Section 11, of the Oklahoma Constitution, House Bill 2776 became law without the Governor's signature. It was filed with the Oklahoma Secretary of State on May 27, 2022.