The federal government has plenty of relief options for lowering medical students’ loan debts nationwide, but Gov. Terry Branstad and Shady Henien, student body president at University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, are focused on lowering medical students’ loan debt right here in Iowa.

Iowa was ranked third in the nation for student loan debt coming behind Maine and New Hampshire in 2011, according to The Gazette.

“I have always wanted to become a doctor. I will say that knowing how much I will be in debt to pursue this career field frightened me. My family was middle class, and I knew that I had to take out plenty of loans just to put me through medical school,” said Dr. Lance Knowell, a doctor who travels around the world assisting hospitals lacking physicians.

“I was so fortunate that my professors and the people I came to know put me in a position that when I graduated I had a high-paying job. I was able to pay my loans off in four years, which equaled to about $275,000 when I graduated from medical school.”

Branstad and Henien see that for Iowa to lower the medical students’ loan debt, they need to attract more doctors to Iowa.

Henien came up with a proposal to lower University of Iowa students’ federal interest rates by at least half. He is starting small with the university, but his overall proposal covers the state of Iowa.

Henien said there is expected to be a shortage of over 160,000 physicians nationwide by 2025. The proposal from three years ago was to bring in the private sector to help decrease interest rate loans and be offered a long- or short-term investment return.

“It is not charity! It is an investment opportunity for investors,” Henien said.

Henien met with Branstad to pitch his plan, and Branstad is hoping to implement the proposal in his legislative agenda next year.

“The growing dollar amount for national medical students is concerning for the future of U.S. medicine. The average national medical student graduate’s loan debts are greater than $170,000, not including undergraduate debt and time commitment,” Henien said. 

“According to [the Association of American Medical Colleges], by the year 2033, the average medical student will have to pay back close to $750,000. This is unsustainable and will scare the future bright minds from a career in medicine in addition to proposed Medicare and Medicaid budget cuts with growing regulations on physician care.”

Heinen got a lot of adversity for his proposal, but has now received support from Branstad, Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds and some U.S. senators and congressman.