Chapter 2 INSTITUTIONAL PARTICIPATION IN THE PROGRAM
Chapter 2 INSTITUTIONAL PARTICIPATION IN THE PROGRAM
Institutions must meet certain criteria in order to be eligible to participate in the SDS program, which fall into the following categories:
Any public or other nonprofit institution that offers degrees to full-time students in disciplines as specified below may apply for SDS funds:
At least sixteen percent of total allocations available are directed to schools that provide SDS awards to nursing students.
[Section 737(d)(1)(A) of the Public Health Service Act]
The health professions or nursing school must be located in a State, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa or the Trust Territory of the Pacific.
[Section 799(9) of the Public Health Service Act]
Health professions and nursing schools that are interested in participating in the SDS program must be accredited by an appropriate accrediting body that is recognized by the Secretary of Education. If a new school has not been operating for a sufficient time to be accredited, the Department of Health and Human Services will consider the school accredited if the Secretary of Education finds, after consultation with the appropriate accreditation body or bodies, that there is reasonable assurance that the school will meet the specified accreditation standards prior to the beginning of the academic year following the normal graduation date of the first entering class in such school or program.
The approved accrediting bodies for health professions and nursing schools are as follows:
|
Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the American Medical Association, and the Association of American Medical Colleges |
|
American Osteopathic Association |
|
Commission on Dental Accreditation |
|
American Veterinary Medical Association |
|
Council on Optometric Education of the American Optometric Association |
|
Council on Education of the American Podiatric Association |
|
Council on Chiropractic Education |
|
American Council on Pharmaceutical Education |
|
Council on Education for Public Health |
|
American Medical Association Committee on Allied Health Education and Accreditation |
|
as appropriate for the discipline |
|
Committee on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs |
|
National League for Nursing, or the regional higher education accrediting associations |
[Section 799 of the Public Health Service Act]
Health professions and nursing schools must enter into an agreement with the Secretary of Health and Human Services as a criterion for obtaining SDS funds. The agreement is incorporated into the application for SDS funds.
Participating health professions and nursing institutions must adhere to statutes and regulations addressing non-discrimination. These include:
In addition, institutions may not discriminate on the basis of religion in the admissions process.
Participating schools must comply with the requirements in 45 CFR Part 76, Subpart F. This section of the regulations stipulates that institutions must certify that they will provide and maintain a drug-free workplace.
The Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act Amendments of 1989 and its implementing regulations 34 CFR Part 86 apply to any public or private institution of higher education (including independent hospitals conducting training programs for health care personnel), State educational agency, or local educational agency. As a condition of funding from Federal financial assistance programs, the statute requires these entities to certify to the Secretary of Education that they have adopted and implemented a drug prevention program. These provisions also apply to subgrantees of Federal funds whether or not the primary grantee is an institution of higher education, a State educational agency, or a local educational agency.
Participating institutions must comply with non-delinquency on Federal debt requirements. Examples of Federal debt or possible sources include delinquent taxes, audit disallowances, FHA loans, and other unpaid administrative debts. Specific examples include:
Institutions must adhere to restrictions on lobbying and provide a disclosure statement about lobbying activities for each Federal award to the institution in excess of $100,000. The Office of Management and Budget periodically publishes guidance in Federal Register that describes restrictions on lobbying.
According to regulations in 45 CFR Part 76, an institution must certify that neither it nor any of its principals are debarred, suspended, proposed for debarment, declared ineligible, or voluntarily excluded from covered transactions by any Federal dependent or agency. Subawardees (e.g., other corporations, partnerships, or other legal entities) also must provide the same certification to the institution.
In addition to the eligibility criteria cited above that the SDS program has in common with other programs, institutions must meet this requirement to take part in SDS: carrying out a program for recruiting and retaining disadvantaged students, including students who are members of racial and ethnic minority groups.
To qualify for participation in the SDS program, schools must carry out a program for recruiting and retaining students from disadvantaged background.
An individual from a disadvantaged background is defined as someone who:
The Department of Health and Human Services publishes the requisite income levels in the Federal Register periodically.
Schools must have recruitment and retention programs for students from disadvantaged backgrounds in place at the time of the first application for SDS funds. Standards will be determined as to which schools have complied with the requirement to be carrying out a program for recruiting and retaining students from disadvantaged backgrounds by using outcome-based measures that provide an indication of the success of the program. The existence of a recruitment and retention program for students from disadvantaged backgrounds does not, in itself, result in the eligibility of a school, if the school is unable to demonstrate that the programhas achieved success, based on the number and/or percentage of disadvantaged students who are enrolled and graduated from the school. Note that funds awarded to a school under the SDS program may not be used to carry out the required activity. In addition, a school must continue to carry out the activity as long as the SDS program is in operation at the school.
The expected first graduating class data will be used in determining eligibility as mentioned above for newly established schools or programs which have full-time enrollments but do not yet have a graduating class for the specified reporting year.
The following pages contain more detailed information about these requirements.
[Section 737(d)(1)(B) of the Public Health Service Act]
Priority will be given to eligible schools based on:
[Section 737(c) of the Public Health Service Act]
Primary Care fields are limited to Allopathic Medicine, Osteopathic Medicine, Dentistry, Graduate Nursing and Physician Assistants. Following are the Definitions of Primary Care:
Please note that OB/GYN is an unacceptable primary care residency/practice.
For the above disciplines, a school or program may qualify for the primary care priority if at least 50 percent of its graduates from the specified year are practicing primary care.
Underrepresented minorities include any individual who is American Indian or Alaska Native, specific Asian populations, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. Definitions of these populations appear below:
For purposes of granting priority based on the proportion of underrepresented minority, the Secretary gives priority to any school for which underrepresented minority enrollment is above the national average for the discipline.
[Section 737(b)(1) of the Public Health Service Act]
"Underserved Areas" means any geographic area and/or population served by any of the following practice sites:
Information on Community Health Centers, Migrant Health Centers, Health Care for the Homeless Grantees, Public Housing Primary Care grantees, National Health Service Corps Sites, and Health Professional Shortage Areas is available on HRSA's Web Site under BPHC Databases on the Internet: http://www.bphc.hrsa.dhhs. gov/databases/newhpsa/newhpsa.cfm.
The Secretary gives schools a priority in funding based on a proportion of graduates working in medically underserved communities during a specified year as outlined annually in the application instructions.
Schools must give preference to former Exceptional Financial Need (EFN) and Financial Assistance for Disadvantaged Health Professions Students (FADHPS) recipients at levels comparable to what they would have received prior to phase out of these programs in Section 101(a) of P.L. 105-392. This provision assures that EFN and FADHPS recipients will continue to have access to scholarship funding at levels comparable to what they would have received ifthe EFN and FADHPS programs had been continued, until they complete their educational program.
In implementing this provision, the Secretary will allocate SDS funds for former EFN and FADHPS program recipients, based on school identification of the number of such students enrolled and the total amount needed to provide awards to these students. Funding for former EFN and FADHPS recipients will be awarded to schools separate from, and prior to, awarding any general SDS funds to schools.
Applications and instructions for schools seeking to receive SDS funds are available from the Division of Student Assistance. Forward email request to dpolicy@hrsa.gov.
The Division reviews the eligibility of the school and determines the amount of support an institution will receive. The Division requires the applicant to submit an SDS Application via the Internet for these purposes.
Any school applying for SDS funds must provide statistical information to show it meets the institutional eligibility criteria. If a school does not meet all the criteria, the Department of Health and Human Services will deny participation in the program. For example, the existence of a recruitment and retention program for students from disadvantaged backgrounds does not, in itself, result in the eligibility of a school, if the school is unable to demonstrate that the program has achieved success, based on the number and/or percentage of disadvantaged students who graduate from the school. Further, any school that does not provide the data required on the application to support its request for funds through the SDS program will not be considered eligible to obtain these funds.
The SDS program is governed by the terms and conditions set forth in the application for funds, the Notice of Award, the PHS Grants Administration Manual, and in Title 45 CFR
Part 74.
The program contact person is the individual who will be responsible for distributing DSA program mailings to the appropriate offices and individuals within the institution and will be responsible for ensuring the return of material. Any changes to the contact person refer to Appendix I.
Based on the school's application data, awards to eligible schools and programs will be calculated by comparing the weighted number of eligible students in each eligible school and program with the total weighted number of eligible students in all eligible schools and programs.
The base number of students for each school or program will be the lesser of: (1) The number of economically disadvantaged (Part 2 of the definition) graduates for the academic year being reported, multiplied by the number of years required to complete the program; or (2) the total number of economically disadvantaged (Part 2 of the definition) students enrolled for the academic year being reported. After determining the base number of students for each school or program, this number will be adjusted to reflect the added weighting associated with the funding priorities. This reflects a change from the past procedures, under which the total number of disadvantaged students and/or disadvantaged graduates (both Part 1 and Part 2 of the definition) was used to determine the base number of students.
The Department sends a Notice of Award to the contact person notifying the school of the amount of Federal funds awarded for the SDS program.
Schools that receive SDS funds must complete Financial Status Reports (FSR-available on the Internet) annually. Schools that fail to complete the FSR or fail to use prior year allocations are not eligible to receive future funds.
