Foreign Medical School Accountability Fairness Act of 2017

Foreign Medical School Accountability Fairness Act of 2017

This bill amends title I (General Provisions) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to revise institutional eligibility criteria for a foreign graduate medical school to participate in federal student aid programs.

Current law requires a foreign graduate medical school to meet certain requirements—a minimum pass rate threshold on the medical licensing exam and a minimum percentage of foreign students—to participate in the Federal Direct Loan (DL) program, unless the Department of Education (ED) establishes alternative standards or the school has a grandfathered clinical training program. This bill terminates ED's authority to establish alternative standards and eliminates the exemption for a school with a grandfathered clinical training program (i.e., it requires all foreign graduate medical schools to meet minimum requirements to participate in the DL program).