Memorandum in Support of Student Loan Forgiveness
S.2498 - Senator Libous
 

The Social Work Alliance, consisting of the New York State and New York City Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers and 1199/SEIU strongly supports the passage of S.2498.  Under the leadership of Senator Libous , this legislation establishes a loan forgiveness program for social workers who agree to work in critical human service areas of health, mental health, substance abuse, aging, HIV/AIDS and child welfare concerns or communities with multi-lingual needs. 

Recruiting and retaining social workers with a BSW and MSW degree are current problems in underserved areas.  Central to this is a need for an expanded workforce of social workers who represent the diverse cultures and languages of the communities that social workers serve.  The climbing cost of education, the modest salaries received by social workers, coupled with the age of BSW/MSW trained social workers, signal future workforce shortages in critical human service areas.

Student loan forgiveness is an effective incentive to encourage trained individuals to accept and retain social work jobs in the critical human service areas.  These incentives will then bring needed services to communities that would otherwise have little or no professional social work support.

The Social Work Alliance urges the New York State Legislature to support S.2498 thereby bringing needed services to critical shortage areas.