Higher Education committee advances student loan changes, debt‑free transfer pilot, nursing and paramedic aid, and campus contraception grants

The Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee, chaired by Rep. Greg Haddad, advanced a slate of bills Wednesday that the committee’s chairs said aim to expand access to higher education, clarify eligibility for an existing student‑loan reimbursement program and create narrowly targeted workforce supports.

The committee sent a substituted student‑loan reimbursement bill (H.B. 6074) to the floor, voted to refer a bill on emergency contraceptive vending‑machine grants for campuses (H.B. 6078) to the Appropriations Committee, and gave joint favorable reports or floor referrals to measures expanding a debt‑free pathway for community college transfers, creating a nursing student loan reimbursement program, funding limited journalism fellowships for recent public‑college graduates and directing the Office of Workforce Strategy to study financial aid for paramedic certificate students. Committee leaders placed four other bills — including a Title IX participant‑immunity clarification and a task force on Promise programs — on a consent calendar and moved them together.

Why it matters: The items the panel moved affect students’ costs and the state’s workforce pipeline. Several measures would change program eligibility or expand who may compete for limited state funds; committee members repeatedly flagged the fiscal limits of the programs and the need to send measures to Appropriations for funding decisions.

Student loan reimbursement (H.B. 6074)

Rep. Greg Haddad, chair of the committee, described the bill as changes to the student‑loan reimbursement program that launched Jan. 1 of this year. “It reimburses student loan borrowers who apply for the program on a first come, first served basis for up to $5,000 provided they meet certain qualifications and volunteer ... for at least 50 hours,” Haddad said. The substitute language removes a Department of Consumer Protection registration requirement (narrower than the universe of federally registered 501(c)(3) nonprofits) and clarifies that certain unpaid practicum or student‑teaching hours and military documentation can qualify as volunteer service. The substitute also adds Stone Academy attendees to the population eligible for hardship waivers.

Sen. Derek Slapp moved the substitute…