A potential path to student loan repayment for medical school grads that gives back to the community

The National Health Service Corps (NHSC) was established 40 years ago by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to bring talented physicians-in-training to rural areas throughout the country that currently lack adequate healthcare options. Originally, doctors-in-training would be reimbursed and even paid handsomely if they relocated to “one-horse towns” in rural portions of the country after graduating from college. Today, however, with college debt at an all-time high for recent graduates, the NHSC has become a premier vehicle to provide assistance with student loan repayment.

Thanks to President Obama’s Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the NHSC has been able to more than double the number of primary care doctors, dentists and other clinicians working in underserved communities. Additionally, instead of being restricted to rural frontier towns, young medical professionals are now called upon to bring their expertise to underfunded inner-city neighborhoods and other poor or far-reaching communities.

The number of clinicians participating in the NHSC has increased markedly from 2008 to 2012. Four years ago, roughly 3,600 graduates participated in the program. Today, nearly 10,000 providers are serving 10.4 million people across the country

The reimbursement now offers graduates the opportunity to pay off up to $50,000 in college loans as a form of scholarship, which allows repayment of education loans in only a few years as opposed to decades like many recent graduates.

Upon graduation, scholarship recipients work as primary health care clinicians for between two and four years in a community-based site in a high-need Health Professional Shortage Area – a designation decided upon by HHS.

Not only does this program make paying for college easier, it also gives graduates the opportunity to complete necessary training in a field that might not otherwise be available to them.