Establishing a loan repayment program and fund for eligible individuals in high-demand jobs, including certified nurse aides, child care workers, and direct care workers, to be administered by the college student aid commission, and making an appropriation

This bill establishes a loan repayment program for eligible individuals in high-demand jobs, including certified nurse aides, child care workers, and direct care workers.1B(14), as well as certified nurse aides, child care workers, and direct care workers. “Child care” and “direct care worker” are defined in the bill. The bill establishes a high-demand jobs loan repayment program (program) that is administered by the college student aid commission (commission) for purposes of repaying the federal student loans of qualified applicants who have worked in the state for a minimum of consecutive months in a high-demand job after graduation from a postsecondary institute. 9. Applicants for the program must submit an application to the commission, be a resident of Iowa, and have graduated from a postsecondary institute. An applicant cannot be eligible for, or participating in, any other state of Iowa student loan repayment program. The commission is required to establish by rule the criteria to be used in evaluating applications. An individual must file a new application annually and submit any information as required by the commission in order for the commission to make a determination regarding the applicant’s continued eligibility for the program. The annual loan repayment funds awarded to an individual cannot exceed the lesser of $6,000 and the total amount of the individual’s total qualified student loan. The total aggregate amount an individual may be awarded is $12,000 and an individual cannot be eligible for the program for more than two consecutive years. The bill creates a high-demand job loan repayment fund (fund) for deposit of moneys appropriated to or received by the commission for use under the program. For the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2020, $5 million is appropriated from the general fund of the state to the commission for deposit in the fund. Moneys deposited in the fund do not revert to any other fund of the state at the end of any fiscal year but remain in the fund and are continuously available for loan repayments under the program. Interest or earnings on moneys deposited in the fund are credited to the fund. The commission is required to adopt rules to administer the program.