PHOENIX (AZFamily) — One of the real barriers to attending medical school is the price tag, and for 20 years, the Arizona Student Loan Repayment Program (SLRP) has helped hundreds of health care professionals pay down debt while they work in underserved areas .

But this week, applicants got an email that said it’s not happening this year because of a lack of federal funding. “It is a little bit stressful,” said a Valley nurse practitioner, who is sharing her experience anonymously at the request of her employer.

She said her master’s degrees in public health and nursing left her with six figures worth of student loan debt. “I was able to go back to school because I was eligible for federal student loans and one of the benefits of working in certain communities is that you can apply

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