04/24/1998 09:08 AM Senate HES

                                                                               
               HB 407 - TEACHER SCHOLARSHIP LOANS                              
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE GARY DAVIS, sponsor of the HB 407, gave the                     
following description of the measure.  Alaska established the                  
Teacher Scholarship Loan Program to provide an incentive to Alaska             
students to return to teach in rural Alaska after completing a                 
teaching degree program.  After teaching in a rural area for four              
years, Alaska student loan borrowers can get up to 100 percent of              
their loans forgiven.  HB 407 simply provides the same loan                    
forgiveness provision to a very small group of student loan                    
borrowers who have contracted an illness that requires them to                 
remain in urban areas to receive special medical attention.  Those             
borrowers must be teaching in the urban areas.  In the specific                
case Representative Davis was made aware of, a student loan                    
borrower contracted a degenerative disease that requires continual             
physical therapy and doctor's visits.  Current statute contains a              
provision allowing loan forgiveness if a borrower becomes disabled,            
but in this instance, the borrower does not want to file for                   
disability.  This woman wants to continue to teach.                            
                                                                               
CHAIRMAN WILKEN asked Representative Davis if a constituent brought            
this problem to his attention.                                                 
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE DAVIS explained he was approached by the father of              
a student from the Soldotna area.                                              
                                                                               
Number 087                                                                     
                                                                               
GARY REED testified via teleconference from Soldotna.  He is the               
father of the student who prompted this legislation.  He asked the             
committee to support HB 407.  He explained that his daughter                   
graduated from high school with a high GPA and went to college with            
the intent of returning to teach in rural Alaska.  During the first            
semester of her senior year, she was diagnosed with a disease that             
is progressively degenerative and has no cure, but is treatable.               
At this time his daughter is capable of teaching full-time, and she            
is not interested in qualifying for a disability.  Stress is a                 
factor that increases the degeneration, and the fact that she could            
not teach in rural Alaska added to her stress, as well as the                  
hardship the student loan payments cause her.  He noted the House              
passed this bill unanimously.                                                  
                                                                               
MRS. REED also urged the committee to support HB 407.                          
                                                                               
Number 146                                                                     
                                                                               
SENATOR LEMAN moved to pass HB 407 from committee with individual              
recommendations. There being no objection, the motion carried.