Higher education institutions and students may benefit from the recent passage of health care legislation beyond the changes made to student aid.

While the broader implications for higher education and students are still being fettered out, there are several tangible benefits which students, campus health care centers and medical schools are likely to feel sooner rather than later.

• College and university-based student health insurance plans are provided a special exemption that allows them to continue even though they do not fit the classification as individual plans or employer-based group plans.
• As of late September 2010 young adults will be eligible to be covered by their parents’ insurance plans through age 26.
• Significant expansion of funding for the National Health Services Corps, which helps young doctors who work in underserved areas.
• Significant expansion of the Title VII Health Professions Education programwhich offers scholarships and loan forgiveness to help diversify allied health professions racially, ethnically, and geographically.

The benefits for students and higher education will become law today upon President Obama’s signature.