Dean Azita Emami, PhD, MSN, BSN, RNT, FN, FAAN, in collaboration with Dean Megan L. Ranney at the Yale School of Public Health and Deputy Dean for Education Jessica Illuzzi at the Yale School of Medicine, has written an opinion editorial in The Hartford Courant about the “Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act.”
In “Yale deans: Congress shouldn’t help one set of students by denying essential aid to others,” Dean Emami and her Yale colleagues advocate for fully supporting the new program without removing access to federal loans for students attending private universities like Yale that pay federal tax on endowments.
“It doesn’t make sense to help one set of students by denying essential aid to others — especially health workers in short supply,” the administrators write.
They go on to point out that in 2022, more than 1,000 professional and graduate students at Yale studying to be doctors, nurses, physician associates, and public health practitioners borrowed a total of $26.8 million.
“We applaud Congress for its determination to create a new source of financial aid for Americans seeking to acquire or refine the skills that will provide a better living and income security for themselves and their families,” Emami, Ranney, and Illuzzi say. “But it should not take essential aid away from other students, particularly those training to work to advance our country’s health. The act should be funded outright, in the same way Congress has agreed to finance Pell Grants and other programs that foster economic opportunity. Our shared well-being depends on it.”