Assistance program
Health Professions Student Loans, Including Primary Care Loans and Loans for Disadvantaged Students
$129.0 Million committed in FY2018–FY2026
- Agency
- Health Resources and Services Administration, Health and Human Services, Department of
- Assistance
- Project Grants (to Capitalize Loan Funds)
- CFDA number
- 93.342
- What it does
- To increase educational opportunities by providing long-term, low-interest loans to students in need of financial assistance and in pursuit of a course of study in an approved health discipline.
- Who benefits
- Student applicants must display financial need and be enrolled or accepted for enrollment in a health professions school to pursue a full-time course of study leading to a degree as specified above. Students must also be citizens, nationals or lawful permanent residents of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealths of Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Republic of Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, or the Federated States of Micronesia.
- Who applies
- Any accredited public or other nonprofit private school of medicine, dentistry, osteopathic medicine, optometry, podiatry, pharmacy, or veterinary medicine which provides a course of study leading to a degree of Doctor of Medicine or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine for PCL and LDS borrowers, Doctor of Dentistry (or an equivalent degree), Doctor of Optometry (or an equivalent degree), Doctor of Podiatric Medicine (or an equivalent degree), Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy (or an equivalent degree), Doctor of Pharmacy (or an equivalent degree), or Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (or an equivalent degree) for HPSL and LDS borrowers. Additionally, the school must be located in the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Republic of Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, or the Federated States of Micronesia. Federally Recognized Indian Tribal Government and Native American Organizations may apply if they are otherwise eligible.
- Authorized by
- Public Health Service Act, Title VII, Part C, Section 721-735, 42 U.S.C. 292q-292y; Health Professions Education Partnerships Act of 1998, Public Law 105-392; Section 5201(a)(1)(B) of the Affordable Care Act; Section 5201(b) of the Affordable Care Act.
- Program site
- https://bhw.hrsa.gov/funding ↗
Committed by fiscal year
* FY2026 is year-to-date — the fiscal year is still in progress, so its total is still filling in. The striped band and dashed line mark that provisional stretch.
How the money flows
Committed dollars by how this program's money is paid out.
Direct payments
$79.5K
<1%
Grants
$129.0M
100%
Top recipients
By dollars committed.
How to read these numbers
- Committed through this program
Money committed under this assistance listing (its CFDA program), counted in the year each action happened.
- How it's paid
Most programs pay out one way — a grant, or a direct payment to individuals; the flow bar only appears when a program genuinely mixes types.
- Some recipients aren't itemized
For entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare, the government reports one aggregate instead of naming tens of millions of people, so the recipient roster isn't part of the public record.
- Awards, counted once
An award count is the number of distinct awards with at least one action that year — each counted once, however many times it was amended.
- The colored bars
Every bar on this page splits by how the money moves:
Direct payments