Guam § 54102 - Purpose and Intent.

§ 54102. Purpose and Intent.

The intent of this Act is to build Guam’s healthcare capacity.

Currently, there is established the “Physician Recruitment and

Retention Education Debt Repayment Program”; however, the

benefits of this program have yet to be realized. In 2021, the 36th

Guam Legislature’s Committee on Regional Affairs worked

closely with the Western Interstate Commission for Higher

Education (WICHE) to secure a U.S. Department of the Interior

Office of Insular Affairs Technical Assistance Program Grant to

increase access to postsecondary opportunities by increasing

affordability for insular students and ultimately building the

capacity of the U.S. Pacific Territories and Freely Associated

States. Through this, students of Guam can pursue a college

education and reduced nonresident tuition at over one hundred

sixty (160) partner colleges for their undergraduate and graduate

degrees in a variety of fields – excluding professional healthcare

degrees, such as medicine. Based on the success of this initiative,

Guam’s current dues of Seventy-eight Thousand Dollars

($78,000) for the WICHE program no longer needs to be

appropriated by I Liheslatura for the next fiscal year.

I Liheslatura acknowledges that it is prudent to build Guam’s

healthcare capacity. As it stands, the cost of a professional

healthcare education presents a challenge for many of our local

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students. Students who are fortunate to attain such education tend

to accept higher paying jobs in order to pay for their exorbitant

investment – mainly off island. The intent of this Act is to allow

Guam’s local students to attain an affordable, world-class

professional healthcare education and have them come back to the

island to serve our community in need.

Based on I Liheslatura's findings, there may be a need to also

create the necessary infrastructure to allow for local students to be

competitive with their counterparts, and obtain acceptance into

professional healthcare education programs. I Liheslatura further

acknowledges the successes of the Guam Community College in

implementing such programs.

The intent of this Act is to allow the Guam Community

College to serve as the administrative officer of the WICHE

Professional Student Exchange Program (PSEP) for Guam

residents, which would allow students to pursue careers in ten (10)

healthcare fields served by partner programs in WICHE member

states, while receiving financial support from their state/territory

to support tuition costs over the duration of a health degree. By

participating in WICHE’s Professional Student Exchange

Program (PSEP), western states and territories benefit by inspiring

and compelling graduates to return home to practice and bolster

the professional health care workforce of their communities.

This Act would establish and fund the required Scholarship

Office for the WICHE PSEP within the Guam Community

College. The Scholarship Office would, in turn, determine a

student’s eligibility and work with I Liheslatura, community

partners, and governmental stakeholders to fund the per-student,

annual fee. Should a student be funded through local private

entities, the student would in turn be required to fulfill their

service obligation to the private sponsor. Should a student be

supported through public funds, the student would then be

required to fulfill their service obligation to an instrumentality of

the government of Guam.