{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.durbin.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ContentRecord_id=581d9c52-556c-42be-8b95-bab90c9aa089", "Durbin Introduces Legislation to Ensure All Foreign Medical Schools are Held to Same Standards", "2013-12-13", "2013", "2013-12", "Democrat", "House", "IL", "Richard Durbin", "D000563", "www.durbin.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "12.13.13\n\t\t\t Durbin Introduces Legislation to Ensure All Foreign Medical Schools are Held to Same Standards \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n        \n\t\t\t\t Investigation by Bloomberg Markets revealed offshore loophole that for-profit colleges have been exploiting to access additional federal funding\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t [WASHINGTON, D.C.] - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today introduced legislation that would close a loophole that has given special treatment to a small number of medical schools in the Caribbean that, last year, took in more than $450 million in U.S. Department of Education Title IV funding.\u00a0 Durbin\u2019s Foreign Medical School Accountability Fairness Act would require five Caribbean medical schools - four of which are for-profit institutions - to meet the same minimum requirements that every other medical school outside of the U.S. and Canada must meet in order to receive federal funding.\r\n\u00a0\r\nThe Foreign Medical School Accountability Fairness Act is a simple fix that would apply the following two requirements to all medical schools outside of the U.S. and Canada: at least 60% of the enrollment must be non-U.S. citizen and students must have at least a 75% pass rate on the U.S. Medical Licensing Exam.\u00a0\r\n\u201cCongress has failed taxpayers and students by subsidizing these Caribbean schools with billions in federal dollars for years without adequate accountability and oversight,\u201d said Durbin.\u00a0 \u201cDespite not meeting these minimum standards, the biggest three for-profit schools impacted by my bill - St. George\u2019s, Ross, and American University of the Caribbean - have taken in two-thirds of federal funding that went to foreign medical schools.\u00a0 These schools are just another example of the systemic problem we have with for-profit colleges trying to make a profit off of the federal taxpayers while saddling students with questionable degrees and unreasonable debt loads that follow them for the rest of their lives.\u201d\r\n\u00a0\r\nA September 2013 investigative report in Bloomberg Markets highlighted two foreign medical schools owned by DeVry, Inc. \u2013 American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine (AUC) and Ross University School of Medicine \u2013 which admit hundreds of students, many of whom were rejected by U.S. medical colleges.\u00a0 According to the report, students at for-profit medical schools operating outside of the United States and Canada amass more student debt than those at medical schools in the United States.\u00a0 Student debt at AUC averages $253,000 compared to U.S. medical schools where the average debt is $170,000.\u00a0\r\n\u00a0\r\nThese foreign medical schools are also much less successful ensuring students progress all the way through the program.\u00a0 The average attrition rate at U.S. medical schools is 3%.\u00a0 At DeVry\u2019s two Caribbean medical schools the attrition rate is 20% and 27%.\u00a0 Even if students do finish at these schools, with much more debt, they often have difficulty finding a residency \u2013 mandatory for actually practicing medicine in the United States.\u00a0 In 2013, foreign-trained, American graduates had a residency match rate of 53% compared to 94% of graduates of U.S. medical schools.\r\n\u00a0\r\n\u201cThe only thing harder than graduating with four years of medical school debt is not graduating and still having one or two years of medical school debt from these schools,\u201d said Durbin.\u00a0 \u201cI have a message for those schools down in the sunny Caribbean who may have thought they could continue to exploit taxpayers and students without anybody noticing \u2013 Congress is watching.\u201d\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n    \n   \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article\n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tNext Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.durbin.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ContentRecord_id=581d9c52-556c-42be-8b95-bab90c9aa089"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5479838475584984, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}