	Background

Congress has authorized student loan repayments for highly qualified General Schedule (GS) and non-GS (including Foreign Service) employees in the executive branch. Repayments also are authorized for employees in the House of Representatives, the Senate, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Government Printing Office (GPO), the Library of Congress, and the U.S. Capitol Police. In the executive branch, and in GAO, GPO, and the Library of Congress, the repayments may be up to $10,000 annually and up to $60,000 in the aggregate. At the time that student loan repayments were authorized by Congress, the issues of the attractiveness of government service to and the large amount of student loan indebtedness of new graduates were of particular interest. The legislative history, statutory authority, status of executive and legislative branch implementation, issues for consideration, and oversight of student loan repayments are examined in the next sections of the report. Other programs, such as the Perkins Loan Program in the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 101-510 . 106-398 . Regulations to implement the broadened student loan repayment program established by the law were proposed by OPM on March 16, 2001, and finalized on July 31, 2001. 107-68 , enacted on November 12, 2001, authorized Senate employing offices to establish a program for Senate employees and authorized appropriations to fund the program. 108-7 also granted authority to the U.S. Capitol Police to establish a student loan repayment program as part of an educational and tuition reimbursement assistance program for employee career development. 108-123 and P.L. 108-136 were published on April 20, 2004. 108-123 and P.L. Proposed Changes to the Regulations

OPM published proposed regulations to revise the rules governing student loan repayments in the Federal Register on January 9, 2007. Among the changes under consideration are the following:
agencies would need to document just the actions taken in approving a student loan repayment; student loan repayments could not be used "to recruit an individual from outside the agency who is currently employed in the Federal service"; a job candidate who will be receiving a student loan repayment could sign the service agreement before he or she begins serving in the position; agency plans for student loan repayments could specify "that only student loans made within a certain time-frame are eligible for repayment"; the full gross amount of the repayment (before taxes) would "count toward the benefit cap"; the service agreement could address the possibility that it could be modified to provide additional repayments because of contingencies or other conditions that would be stated in the agreement; by mutual agreement between the agency and the employee, a service agreement could be modified to provide additional repayments for additional service, thereby removing the need for a new service agreement; periods during which an employee is "not in a pay status would not count toward completion of the required service period"; service agreements would include a provision stating whether an employee would need to repay a student loan repayment if he or she transferred to a different agency during the service period; service agreements would have to expressly state that a violation of a condition would result in the employee's loss of eligibility for a repayment; when a service agreement is modified to provide additional repayments for additional service, reimbursement, if the employee failed to complete the additional service period, would cover just the repayments received during that additional period; agencies would have to retain records of student loan repayments for at least three years after the employee's required service period ends; and agencies would be required to report to OPM by March 31of each year on student loan repayments made during the previous calendar (rather than fiscal) year. According to OPM, 28 executive branch agencies made repayments to 4,171 employees at a total cost of $26,663,897 in FY2005. From FY2004 to FY2005, the number of recipients increased by 55.6% and the cost of repayments increased by 77.4% in the executive branch. 2647 ) provided the Senate and CBO with authority to establish student loan repayment programs. Under P.L. House of Representatives

Under the Consolidated Appropriations Resolution, 2003 ( P.L. 3338 ) authorized the U.S. Capitol Police to establish a student loan repayment program similar to those established under P.L. Among these issues are how the program will be funded, the length of the service agreement between the agency and the employee, the criteria for eligibility, and the kinds of program data to be collected. The FY2002 Legislative Branch Appropriations Act ( P.L. Records and Reports

P.L.
Under a law enacted in 1990 (P.L. 101-510) and amended in 2000 (P.L. 106-398) and 2003 (P.L. 108-123 and P.L. 108-136), federal agencies may repay portions of the student loans of highly qualified General Schedule (GS) and non-GS (including Foreign Service) employees they seek to recruit and retain. Eligible employees must sign at least a three-year service agreement to remain with their agencies. In return, these employees may receive loan repayments of up to $10,000 per year and up to $60,000 in total from an agency. Various student loans specified in law and authorized by the Higher Education Act of 1965 and the Public Health Service Act may be repaid. Concerns about the attractiveness of government service to, and the large amount of student loan indebtedness of, new graduates along with the possibility of a significant number of retirements from the federal government in the next several years underlie student loan repayment programs. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) published final regulations to implement the original law on January 11, 2001, and final regulations to implement the amendments to the law on July 31, 2001, and April 20, 2004. Executive branch agencies are considering and implementing student loan repayment programs. OPM reported to Congress in May 2006 that 28 executive branch agencies made repayments to 4,171 employees at a cost of some $26.664 million in FY2005. The number of recipients increased by 55.6% and the cost of repayments increased by 77.4% from FY2004 to FY2005.
In the legislative branch, the Government Accountability Office (GAO, formerly the General Accounting Office), the Government Printing Office (GPO), and the Library of Congress also have authority under the laws stated above to establish student loan repayment programs. Enacted in the 107th Congress, P.L. 107-68 authorized the Senate and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to institute programs, and P.L. 107-117 authorized the U.S. Capitol Police to establish one. Under the Consolidated Appropriations Resolution, 2003 (P.L. 108-7), enacted in the 108th Congress, the House of Representatives has authority to establish a program for its employees, and additional authority was granted to the U.S. Capitol Police to establish a program and to provide tuition reimbursement for employees' ongoing career development education. To date, the Senate, the House, the U.S. Capitol Police, CBO, GAO, GPO, and the Library (not including the Congressional Research Service) have implemented repayment programs.
In both the executive and legislative branches, questions of how to fund the programs, what the required period of service should be, the criteria for repayment eligibility, and the kinds of program data to be collected will likely continue to be considered as repayment programs are implemented. OPM published proposed changes to the regulations governing repayments in the Federal Register on January 9, 2007. S. 1047, to exempt repayments from income tax, is pending in the Senate. The legislative history, statutory authority, status of executive and legislative branch implementation, issues for consideration, and oversight of student loan repayment programs are discussed in this report, which will be updated as events warrant.