This is a revision of Director’s Memo IA-04-061, in which the contact information was deleted.
The United States Department of Education has evaluated Arkansas’ proposed teacher shortage areas pursuant to Section 428(b)(4)(B) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, which was implemented by the regulations published in the Federal Register on December 18, 1992, (34CFR 682.210(q)(5) to (7)). This federal designation of teacher shortage areas in Arkansas enables borrowers who had no outstanding Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program loan on July 1, 1987, but who had an outstanding FFEL Program loan on July 1, 1993, to qualify for deferment of loan repayment under the Federal Stafford and Federal Supplemental Loans for Students (SLS) Programs anytime within the life of the borrower’s loan(s). In addition, this designation allows Douglas scholars to qualify for the reduction of teaching obligation under the Paul Douglas Teacher Scholarship Program permitted under 34 CFR 653.50(a)(2)(ii).
The Department has designated the following areas as teacher shortage areas during the school year(s) noted:
2003-2004 School Year
FOREIGN LANGUAGE
French
German
Italian
Latin
Spanish
English as Second Language
SPECIAL EDUCATION
Severe Emotionally Disturbed
Speech Pathologist
Deaf Education
Mod./Prof. Handicapped
Mildly Handicapped
Visually Impaired
SCIENCE
Biology
Chemistry
Physics
Physical Science
General Science
MATH
Mathematics (Secondary)
Principals at the schools where the borrowers teach are delegated with the authority to provide the borrowers or scholars any needed certification documenting that the teachers have taught in a federally-designated teacher shortage area.
Refer questions from Federal Stafford/SLS borrowers concerning their loans, including the teacher shortage deferment, to the Federal Student Aid Hotline at 1-800-4FED-AID and refer Douglas Scholars to the State agency that awarded the scholarship.
Direct questions regarding the loan deferment to Dr. Argelia Velez-Rodriguez, Program Offices at (202) 502-7582 or via e-mail at Argelia.Velez-Rodriguez@ed.gov or via facsimile at (202) 502-7861.