Foreign Medical School Accountability Fairness Act of 2026

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3757 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3757

    To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish fair and 
   consistent eligibility requirements for graduate medical schools 
            operating outside the United States and Canada.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            February 2, 2026

  Mr. Durbin introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish fair and 
   consistent eligibility requirements for graduate medical schools 
            operating outside the United States and Canada.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Foreign Medical School 
Accountability Fairness Act of 2026''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

    The purpose of this Act is to establish consistent eligibility 
requirements for graduate medical schools operating outside of the 
United States and Canada in order to increase accountability and 
protect United States students and taxpayer dollars.

SEC. 3. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Three for-profit schools in the Caribbean have 
        historically received nearly \3/4\ of all Federal funding under 
        title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070 et 
        seq.) that goes to students enrolled at foreign graduate 
        medical schools, despite those 3 schools being exempt from 
        meeting the same eligibility requirements as the majority of 
        graduate medical schools located outside of the United States 
        and Canada.
            (2) The National Committee on Foreign Medical Education and 
        Accreditation and the Department of Education recommend that 
        all foreign graduate medical schools should be required to meet 
        the same eligibility requirements to participate in Federal 
        funding under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 
        U.S.C. 1070 et seq.).
            (3) The attrition rate at United States medical schools 
        averaged 3.2 percent between 1998 and 2018, while rates at for-
        profit Caribbean medical schools have been known to reach 30 
        percent.
            (4) In 2025, residency match rates for foreign trained 
        graduates averaged 67.8 percent compared to 93.5 percent for 
        graduates of allopathic medical schools in the United States 
        and 92.6 percent for graduates of osteopathic medical schools 
        in the United States.
            (5) On average, students at for-profit medical schools 
        operating outside of the United States and Canada amass more 
        student debt than students at medical schools in the United 
        States.

SEC. 4. REPEAL GRANDFATHER PROVISIONS.

    Section 102(a)(2) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
1002(a)(2)) is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking clause (i) and 
        inserting the following:
                            ``(i) in the case of a graduate medical 
                        school located outside the United States--
                                    ``(I) at least 60 percent of those 
                                enrolled in, and at least 60 percent of 
                                the graduates of, the graduate medical 
                                school outside the United States were 
                                not persons described in section 
                                484(a)(5) in the year preceding the 
                                year for which a student is seeking a 
                                loan under part D of title IV; and
                                    ``(II) at least 75 percent of the 
                                individuals who were students or 
                                graduates of the graduate medical 
                                school outside the United States or 
                                Canada (both nationals of the United 
                                States and others) taking the 
                                examinations administered by the 
                                Educational Commission for Foreign 
                                Medical Graduates received a passing 
                                score in the year preceding the year 
                                for which a student is seeking a loan 
                                under part D of title IV;''; and
            (2) in subparagraph (B)(iii), by adding at the end the 
        following:
                                    ``(V) Expiration of authority.--The 
                                authority of a graduate medical school 
                                described in subclause (I) to qualify 
                                for participation in the loan programs 
                                under part D of title IV pursuant to 
                                this clause shall expire beginning on 
                                the first July 1 following the date of 
                                enactment of the Foreign Medical School 
                                Accountability Fairness Act of 2026.''.

SEC. 5. LOSS OF ELIGIBILITY.

    If a graduate medical school loses eligibility to participate in 
the loan programs under part D of title IV of the Higher Education Act 
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087a et seq.) due to the enactment of the 
amendments made by section 4, then a student enrolled at such graduate 
medical school on or before the date of enactment of this Act may, 
notwithstanding such loss of eligibility, continue to be eligible to 
receive a loan under such part D while attending such graduate medical 
school in which the student was enrolled upon the date of enactment of 
this Act, subject to the student continuing to meet all applicable 
requirements for satisfactory academic progress, until the earliest 
of--
            (1) withdrawal by the student from the graduate medical 
        school;
            (2) completion of the program of study by the student at 
        the graduate medical school; or
            (3) the fourth June 30 after such loss of eligibility.
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