Teachers and other select professionals would lose their licenses if they fall behind on repaying their student loans, under a bill that passed in the state House of Representatives today.
The loans in question are guaranteed and administered by the Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation, a state agency.
The bill passed by the House would require the state to cancel professional licenses for athletic agents, lobbyists and teachers who fail to repay their loans.
Frankin Republican Charles Sargent is the bill’s sponsor. He says his aim is to get former students to meet their responsibilities, so that the student loan program doesn’t disappear as an option for new students.
“I think it will put responsibilities also, that the students know there’s going to be enforcement, some enforcement, a little stricter enforcement, if they do not pay their student loans back.”
House Democratic Leader Craig Fitzhugh says the bill unfairly singles out teachers, especially those who might be out of work because of school budget cuts.
That was a concern I had, that you didn’t want to have a double whammy, because of a teacher getting laid off, getting behind, and then getting the double whammy of losing his or her license. So I thought we needed to think through those things a little more.
This isn’t the first bill to threaten professionals and others if they stop repaying student loans. Sargent says the Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation works with former students who are in default. He says, in past years, they’ve gotten about one-third of the students they worked with back on a payment schedule.
WEB EXTRA
Read the bill here:
http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/default.aspx?BillNumber=SB0551&GA=107
Sargent says he’s worried about the possibility that banks will stop loaning money to students if his bill doesn’t pass.
TSAC administers the student loan program so if we get to the point that the student loan program is not out there, and we just have a federal loan program, it would have a great effect on our students in the future.
The Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation (http://www.tn.gov/tsac/) runs programs authorized by the state – grants, as well as loans. The agency has 45 employees.
This from their website:
The Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation is Tennessee’s designated federal guaranty agency responsible for the administration of post secondary educational loan programs authorized by the Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, and further authorized by Tennessee Code Annotated Section 49-4-404. TSAC also administers other state and federal student assistance programs as authorized.
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