261.111 Teacher shortage forgivable loan program.

1. A teacher shortage forgivable loan program is established to be administered by the college student aid commission. An individual is eligible for the forgivable loan program if the individual is a resident of this state who is enrolled as a sophomore, junior, senior, or graduate student in an approved practitioner preparation program in a designated area in which teacher shortages are anticipated at an institution of higher learning under the control of the state board of regents or an accredited private institution as defined in section 261.9.

2. The director of the department of education shall annually designate the areas in which teacher shortages are anticipated. The director shall periodically conduct a survey of school districts, accredited nonpublic schools, and approved practitioner preparation programs to determine current shortage areas and predict future shortage areas.

3. Each applicant shall, in accordance with the rules of the commission, do the following:

a. Complete and file an application for a teacher shortage forgivable loan. The individual shall be responsible for the prompt submission of any information required by the commission.

b. File a new application and submit information as required by the commission annually on the basis of which the applicant’s eligibility for the renewed forgivable loan will be evaluated and determined.

4. Forgivable loans to eligible students shall not become due until after the student graduates or leaves school. The individual’s total loan amount, including principal and interest, shall be reduced by twenty percent for each year in which the individual remains an Iowa resident and is employed in Iowa by a school district or an accredited nonpublic school as a practitioner in the teacher shortage area for which the loan was approved. If the commission determines that the person does not meet the criteria for forgiveness of the principal and interest payments, the commission shall establish a plan for repayment of the principal and interest over a ten-year period. If a person required to make the repayment does not make the required payments, the commission shall provide for payment collection.

5. The annual amount of a teacher shortage forgivable loan shall not exceed the resident tuition rate established for institutions of higher education governed by the state board of regents, or the amount of the student’s established financial need, whichever is less.

6. The commission shall prescribe by rule the interest rate for the forgivable loan.

7. A teacher shortage forgivable loan repayment fund is created for deposit of payments made by forgivable loan recipients who do not fulfill the conditions of the forgivable loan program and any other moneys appropriated to or received by the commission for deposit in the fund. Notwithstanding section 8.33, moneys deposited in the fund shall not revert to the general fund of the state at the end of any fiscal year but shall remain in the forgivable loan repayment fund and be continuously available to make additional loans under the program. Notwithstanding section 12C.7, subsection 2, interest or earnings on moneys deposited in the fund shall be credited to the fund.

8. For purposes of this section, unless the context otherwise requires, “teacher” means the same as defined in section 272.1.

9. The commission shall submit in a report to the general assembly by January 1, annually, the number of students who received forgivable loans pursuant to this section, which institutions the students were enrolled in, and the amount paid to each of the institutions on behalf of the students who received forgivable loans pursuant to this section and the total amount of loans outstanding, including a schedule of years remaining on the outstanding loans.

98 Acts, ch 1215, §39; 99 Acts, ch 205, §41; 2006 Acts, ch 1180, §21, 22; 2007 Acts, ch 214, §29, 30

Referred to in §261.110, 261.112