42 U.S.C. § 293a — Scholarships for disadvantaged students

(a) In general: The Secretary may give a grant to an "eligible entity" (defined in subsection (d)(1)) so that entity's schools can award scholarships. Scholarships go to any full-time student who is an "eligible individual," as defined in subsection (d). The scholarship money may be spent only on tuition expenses, other reasonable education expenses, and reasonable living expenses while the student attends the school. (b) Preference in providing scholarships: The Secretary may not give a grant to an entity under subsection (a) unless its health professions and nursing schools agree that, in awarding scholarships from the grant, they will give preference to students for whom the cost of attending would be a severe financial hardship, and — despite the section's other provisions — to former recipients of scholarships that existed under the former sections 293 and 293d(d)(2)(B) (as those sections read the day before November 13, 1998). (c) Amount of award: In awarding grants to eligible entities that are health professions and nursing schools, the Secretary must give priority based on three things: the proportion of graduating students going into primary care, the proportion of underrepresented minority students, and the proportion of graduates working in medically underserved communities. (d) Definitions: (1) "Eligible entities" means an entity that (A) is a school of medicine, osteopathic medicine, dentistry, nursing (as defined in section 296 of this title), pharmacy, podiatric medicine, optometry, veterinary medicine, public health, chiropractic, or allied health; a school offering a graduate program in behavioral and mental health practice; or an entity providing physician assistant training programs; and (B) is carrying out a program for recruiting and retaining students from disadvantaged backgrounds, including students who are members of racial and ethnic minority groups. (2) "Eligible individual" means an individual who (A) is from a disadvantaged background, (B) has a financial need for a scholarship, and (C) is enrolled, or accepted for enrollment, as a full-time student at an eligible health professions or nursing school in a program leading to a degree in a health profession or nursing.