Section 20-3-374. Service cancelable loan fund; authorized types of service cancelable educational loans

   (a) The authority shall maintain a service cancelable loan fund to which shall be credited:

   (1) State funds appropriated for use by the authority for service cancelable loan purposes;

   (2) Unrestricted moneys received by gift or otherwise and other moneys available for and determined by the authority to be available for the purposes of the fund; and

   (3) Outstanding educational loans held by the authority under this subpart as to which the borrower has a right to repay in cash or cancel the obligation for cash repayment through service in designated fields.

(b) State funds appropriated for service cancelable loans shall be used by the authority to the greatest extent possible for the purposes designated in this subpart in accordance with the following:

   (1)  Paramedical and other medical related professional and educational fields of study.

      (A) The authority is authorized to make service cancelable educational loans to residents of Georgia enrolled in paramedical and other medical related professional and educational fields of study, including selected degree programs in gerontology and geriatrics. A student enrolled in a program leading to the degree of doctor of medicine shall not qualify for a loan under this paragraph. The authority shall, from time to time, by regulation designate the subfields of study that qualify for service cancelable loans under this paragraph. In determining the qualified subfields, the authority shall give preference to those subfields in which the State of Georgia is experiencing a shortage of trained personnel. Loans made under this paragraph need not be limited to students attending a school located within the state. However, any and all loans made under this paragraph shall be conditioned upon the student agreeing that the loan shall be repaid by the student either:

         (i) Practicing in the designated qualified field in a geographical area in the State of Georgia approved by the authority. For service repayment, the loan shall be repaid at a rate of one year of service for each academic year of study or its equivalent for which a loan is made to the student under this paragraph; or

         (ii) In cash repayment with assessed interest thereon in accordance with the terms and conditions of a promissory note that shall be executed by the student.

      (B) The authority is authorized to make service cancelable loans to residents of this state enrolled in a course of study leading to a degree in an educational field that will permit the student to be employed as either a licensed practical nurse or a registered nurse. Service cancelable loans can also be made available under this paragraph for students seeking an advanced degree in the field of nursing. The maximum loan amount that a full-time student may borrow under this paragraph shall not exceed $10,000.00 per academic year. Any and all loans made under this paragraph shall be conditional upon the student agreeing that the loan shall be repaid by the student either:

         (i) Practicing as a licensed practical or registered nurse in a geographical area in the State of Georgia that has been approved by the authority. For service repayment, the loan shall be repaid at a rate of one year of service for each academic year of study or its equivalent for which a loan is made to the student under this paragraph; or

         (ii) In cash repayment with assessed interest thereon in accordance with the terms and conditions of a promissory note that shall be executed by the student;

   (2)  Georgia National Guard members. The authority is authorized to make service cancelable educational loans to residents of Georgia who are eligible members of the Georgia National Guard and who are enrolled at the undergraduate level in a private or public college or public postsecondary technical or vocational school located in the state. Members of the Georgia National Guard who are in good standing according to applicable regulations of the National Guard shall be eligible to apply for a loan. Such loans shall be on the terms and conditions set by the authority in consultation with the Department of Defense, provided that any such loan shall not exceed an amount equal to the actual tuition charged to the recipient for the period of enrollment in an educational institution or the tuition charged by the University of Georgia for the period of enrollment at the university, whichever is less. Students eligible for the HOPE scholarship or HOPE grant at an eligible public or private postsecondary institution are not eligible to receive this loan during a school term in which they are receiving HOPE scholarship or HOPE grant funds. A loan recipient shall not be eligible to receive loan assistance provided for in this paragraph for more than five academic years of study. Educational loans may be made to full-time and half-time students. Upon the recipient's attainment of a baccalaureate degree from an institution or cessation of status as an active member, whichever occurs first, the loan provided by this paragraph shall be discontinued. The loan provided by this paragraph may be suspended at the discretion of the authority for a recipient's failure to maintain good military standing as an active member or failure to maintain sufficient academic standing and good academic progress and program pursuit. Loans made under this paragraph shall be repayable in cash, with interest thereon, or, upon satisfactory completion of a quarter, semester, year, or other period of study as determined by the authority; graduation; termination of enrollment in school; or termination of this assistance with approval of the authority, shall be canceled in consideration of the student's retaining membership in the Georgia National Guard during the period in which the loan is applicable. The adjutant general of Georgia shall certify eligibility and termination of eligibility of students for educational loans and eligibility for cancellation of educational loans by members of the Georgia National Guard in accordance with regulations of the authority;

   (3) Reserved; and

   (4)  Critical shortage fields. The authority is authorized to make service cancelable educational loans to residents of the State of Georgia enrolled in any field of study that the authority, from time to time, designates by regulation as a field in which a critical shortage of trained personnel exists in the State of Georgia. Loans made under this paragraph need not be limited to students attending schools located within the State of Georgia. However, any and all loans made under this paragraph shall be conditional upon the student agreeing that the loan shall be repaid by the student either:

      (A) Practicing in the designated field in a geographical area in the State of Georgia approved by the authority. For service repayment, the loan shall be repaid at a rate of one year of service for each academic year of study or its equivalent for which a loan is made to the student under this paragraph; or

      (B) In cash repayment with assessed interest thereon in accordance with the terms and conditions of a promissory note that shall be executed by the student.

The authority is authorized to place other conditions and limitations on loans made under this paragraph as it may deem necessary to fill the void that has created the critical shortage in the field.

(c) All students receiving loans under this Code section shall execute, prior to the disbursement of any loan proceeds to or for the benefit of that student, a promissory note containing the terms and conditions of the service repayment and cash repayments. Except as prohibited by federal or other state laws, individuals that fail to fulfill the terms and conditions of cash repayment may, without judicial action, be subject to garnishment of their pay, loss of a professional license, offset of lottery winnings, and offset of a state tax refund in accordance with rules and regulations promulgated by the authority not inconsistent with the provisions of this part.

(d) The total sum of service cancelable loans made by the authority in any fiscal year from state appropriations shall not exceed the amount of funds for such loan purposes specified in annual appropriations Acts. Funds in the service cancelable loan fund account that are not expended by the authority for service cancelable loans during any fiscal year shall become a part of the general loan fund account.

(e) If the corporation, pursuant to Code Section 20-3-273, pays or has paid interest to the authority on a service cancelable loan made under this Code section, and if the borrower repays all or a portion of the loan through services rendered as provided for in this Code section, then the authority shall, in accordance with its regulations and in consideration of the services rendered by the borrower, repay to the corporation on behalf of the borrower all or a portion of the interest paid to the authority by the corporation under Code Section 20-3-273. To the extent that this subsection does not apply to all service cancelable loans made to a borrower pursuant to this Code section, the authority is authorized, for purposes of this subsection, to consider the loans made that are the subject of this subsection as being the earlier loans made to the borrower.

Ga. L. 1964, p. 699, §§ 1, 2; Ga. L. 1965, p. 210, §§ 1, 2; Ga. L. 1966, p. 465, § 1; Ga. L. 1971, p. 520, § 1; Ga. L. 1974, p. 461, § 1; Ga. L. 1977, p. 739, § 1; Code 1933, § 32-3750, enacted by Ga. L. 1980, p. 835, § 3; Ga. L. 1981, p. 735, §§ 41, 42; Ga. L. 1986, p. 499, § 1; Ga. L. 1987, p. 378, § 3; Ga. L. 1992, p. 6, § 20; Ga. L. 1992, p. 1058, § 1; Ga. L. 1994, p. 588, § 1; Ga. L. 1998, p. 748, § 2; Ga. L. 2003, p. 158, § 8; Ga. L. 2004, p. 631, § 20; Ga. L. 2005, p. 1134, § 4/HB 298; Ga. L. 2011, p. 333, § 1/HB 60.