The Secretary, acting through the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, may enter into an agreement with eligible individuals for the repayment of education loans, in accordance with this section, to increase the number of qualified nursing faculty.
In the case of any agreement made under subsection (b), the individual is liable to the Federal Government for the total amount paid by the Secretary under such agreement, and for interest on such amount at the maximum legal prevailing rate, if the individual fails to meet the agreement terms required under such subsection.
In the case of an individual making an agreement for purposes of paragraph (1), the Secretary shall provide for the waiver or suspension of liability under such paragraph if compliance by the individual with the agreement involved is impossible or would involve extreme hardship to the individual or if enforcement of the agreement with respect to the individual would be unconscionable.
Amounts recovered under paragraph (1) shall be available to the Secretary for making loan repayments under this section and shall remain available for such purpose until expended.
For the purposes of this section and section 297n–1 of this title, funding priority will be awarded to School of Nursing Student Loans [2] that support doctoral nursing students or Individual Student Loan Repayment [3] that support doctoral nursing students.