San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) May 23, 2013

SoFi (Social Finance, Inc.), the alumni-funded student lender, launches a new program today for doctors to refinance their educational debt.

As a result of exciting demand from the medical community and accelerating capital raised from alumni and institutional investors, SoFi is extending refinancing options to doctors who have completed residency and graduated from one of the 82 schools in the companys footprint. Medical-school graduates from Johns Hopkins, University of California San Francisco, and Washington University of St. Louis are also eligible.

With this announcement, SoFi is helping to address the 86 percent of 2012 medical-school graduates who reported to the AAMC that they have student loans. The majority of medical students who finance their education through borrowing have taken out Stafford and Grad PLUS loans at interest rates of 6.8% and 7.9% respectively, while the median student debt for the class of 2012 is $170,000.

As Bloombergs Janet Lorin reported in her April 2013 article on medical-school debt, The next generation of U.S. physicians is being saddled with record debt amid a looming shortage of doctors needed to cope with a rising elderly population. The burgeoning debt burden may be turning students away from primary care, which pays about $200,000 a year, toward more lucrative specialties.

SoFi will refinance student debt for doctors with a fixed rate of 5.74% APR when a 5-year-term is selected. This rate is further discounted to 5.49% APR when customers make monthly principal and interest payments by an automatic, monthly deduction from a savings or checking account. Also available are 10-year and 15-year loan terms with fixed rates set at 6.375% APR and 6.875% respectively. These loans are also eligible for a 0.25% rate discount when a customer makes automatic payments.

SoFi cannot succeed in transforming student loans without addressing the critical debt burdens experienced by those who ensure the health of our community. We are excited to offer loan products that provide more flexible options and meaningful savings. said SoFi's Chief Executive Officer Mike Cagney.

In addition to financial benefits, doctors refinancing with SoFi will benefit from a supportive community of people vested in one anothers success.

We help our borrowers realize their goals beyond paying off student debt. Whether seeking employment opportunities, career advice, access to industry luminaries, or simply a like-minded network, our borrowers have many reasons for choosing SoFi, said Cagney.

About SoFi SoFi is transforming the $1 trillion student loan market. By connecting accredited alumni investors with students and recent graduates through school-specific loan funds, investors can earn a compelling risk-adjusted return while helping borrowers reduce the cost of their loans. All members benefit from a supportive community of people vested in one anothers success. Founded in 2011 by a team of Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni, SoFi has funded over $100 million in new and refinanced student loans to students and alumni of 82 schools. SoFi loans are made by SoFi Lending Corp, California Finance Lenders License Number 6054612. To learn more about SoFi visit https://www.sofi.com/

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SoFi Tackles Medical School Debt with Refinancing Options for Doctors

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa --- A Cedar Falls real estate development company is reaching out to friends and families affected by the killer tornado in Moore, Okla., not far from where the company is helping build a major medical complex serving those injured.

Lockard Cos. of Cedar Falls has been working with the Norman Regional Health System in Norman, Okla., on development of the health system's 96-acre West Campus.

The campus is about an 18-minute drive south of Moore.

The tornado missed that campus by about four miles, said Ken Lockard said, company president.

However, another smaller Norman Regional medical facility in Moore was decimated, Lockard vice president Dave Wilson said.

Wilson called Norman Regional president and CEO David Whitaker and offered assistance. "We are going to try and help them get it back to order," Wilson said. "He said, 'We'll be calling you.'"

Not only is the West Campus in Norman receiving and treating people injured in the tornado, many of the staff working there have lost their homes, Ken Lockard said.

"One of our partners, an orthopedics firm, have a whole number of people that, when you go to their home, there's just a driveway. They have nothing," Ken Lockard said. "It reminds you of Parkersburg.

"We're thinking about adopting families down there," Lockard said, "kind of helping them out with clothing and shoes, all those thing you don't think you're ever going to need. You can just go into your closet and they're there. But you know what? There's no closet."

With the West Campus project in Norman, Lockard is overseeing the construction of a 125-bed hospital, two 80,000-square-feet medical office buildings, a hotel and more than 200,000 square feet of medical service and retail facilities.

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Cedar Valley residents have ties to ravaged city

NEW HAVEN, Conn. A long road of hurdles overcome, a Utah couple graduated together from Yale Universitys School of Medicine this week as the only married pair of their class Monday.

Josh and Madison Hustedt, alumni of Jordan High and East High respectively, officially became doctors after completing their education as classmates.

The odds were astronomical, but they did it, said Joshs father, Barry Hustedt, of Sandy. It took a tremendous amount of sacrifice on both of their parts. Most people would have changed course, but they knew what they wanted and had the confidence, skill, and persistence to make it happen.

On graduation day, the couples families attended the commencement ceremony in New Haven, Conn. Madisons parents, Peter and Michelle Morgan, reside in Salt Lake City, and Joshs parents, Barry and Linda Hustedt, live in Sandy.

It was really fun to share that moment with our family, said Josh Hustedt, 28. Our families are really important to us. The whole reason we went through medical school together was for our future family.

Graduating together from one of the worlds leading centers of medical education culminates many years of the Hustedts dedication to each other and determination to accomplish their goals.

Jordan High and East High alumni

A gifted athlete, Josh Hustedt was also known for his academic prowess during his high school years.

The thing I remember most about Josh was he was an excellent student. I wasnt surprised at all to hear that he got a scholarship to Stanford, said Mark Petersen, science department chairman at Jordan High School, who taught Joshs anatomy class. It hasnt surprised me that hes done so well.

Josh graduated as a Beetdigger in 2002, while Madison, 27, graduated from East High in 2004.

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Learning together, Utah couple graduates from Yale Med School

The Yuma University of Arizona Alumni Club has awarded $60,000 in scholarships to 37 high school seniors or junior college students heading to Tucson in the fall.

Since 1991, the Yuma Chapter has awarded over 500 scholarships worth $877,000 to Yuma youth. The club's goal is to become the first non-profit organization to award over $1 million in scholarships to local Yuman scholars.

The Yuma University of Arizona Alumni Club raises money throughout the year with a number of different activities, and then they invite these incredible students to apply for the funds, said Melinda Burke, president and executive director of the U of A Alumni Association.

I think it is a remarkable display of community pride and a demonstration of their commitment to higher education.

The scholarships were announced during a banquet held at the Yuma Civic Center April 30.

We look for the best and the brightest, but 90 percent of our scholarship winners are in the top 10 percent of their class, said Jeff Byrd, President of the Yuma University of Arizona Alumni Club, during the banquet.

We offer scholarships to every person that is in the to five percent of their class, and tonight we've got four or five valedictorians, so we are really proud.

The banquet was a celebration of the past and the future, Burke noted.

These are alumni who want to share the kind of experience and the great education they had at the University of Arizona with these young adults who are just starting off in their careers. It is the quintessential pay it forward.

What is most rewarding is when you see these kids you gave a scholarship to 10 or 15 years ago come back as a doctor, lawyer or farmer, and watch them thrive because of the U of A experience, Byrd continued.

Excerpt from:
Yuma students awarded $60K in scholarship funds

(PRWEB) May 20, 2013

The Allen School, New Yorks leading healthcare training school, is proud to have participated in the 28th Annual AIDS Walk New York, a 6.2 mile walk to benefit HIV programs and services in the tri-state area, held on Sunday, May 19.

Allen Schools medical assistant and nursing assistant students and alumni were joined by faculty and administration during the walk. Over $3,000 has been raised so far for the AIDS Walk in 2013, and that amount will be doubled with a match from the school itself. For the past nine years, Allen School has raised in excess of $15,000 to help find a cure for the deadly virus that has touched so many friends and family of both students and staff.

Allen School and the AIDS Walk have always been a natural fit because we train Medical Assistants and Certified Nursing Assistants who genuinely care about helping people affected by the AIDS virus, said Jason Teich, President of Allen School of Health Sciences.

You can learn more about the AIDS Walk by visiting http://aidswalk.net/newyork

About Allen School Allen School of Health Sciences has trained over 70,000 medical professional, including students from the Medical Insurance Billing and Coding training program, over its 50-plus year existence. You can learn more about becoming a Medical Assistant or Nursing Assistant at Allen School of Health Sciences by visiting http://www.allenschool.edu or by calling 718-206-1300.

Originally posted here:
Allen School Participates in 2013 AIDS Walk New York

Hello, Morehouse! Thank you Dr. Wilson, the Board of Trustees; Congressman Cedric Richmond and Sanford Bishop both proud alumni of this school; Congressman Hank Johnson and the great John Lewis; Mayor Reed, and all the members of the Morehouse family. Most of all, congratulations to this distinguished group of Morehouse Men, the Class of 2013! Some of you are graduating summa cum laude, some of you are graduating magna cum laude, and I know some of you are just graduating, thank you Lordy.

I see some good looking hats on the moms and grandmas here today. Which is appropriate, since were here on Sunday, and folks are in their Sunday best. Congratulations to all of you the parents and grandparents, brothers and sisters, family and friends who supported these young men in so many ways. This is your day, too. Just think about it your sons and brothers have spent the last four years far from home and close to Spelman. And they still made it here today. So you must be doing something right. Graduates, give them a round of applause.

I know some of you had to wait in long lines to get into todays ceremony. I would apologize, but it didnt actually have anything to do with security. These graduates just wanted you to know what its like to register for classes. And this time of year brings a different kind of stress, with every senior stopping by Gloster Hall over the past week making sure your name was on the list of students whove met all the graduation requirements. If it wasnt, you had to figure out why. Was it the library book you let your roommate borrow freshman year? Was it Dr. Johnsons policy class? Did you get enough Crown Forum credits?

I can help with that last one. Today, I am exercising my power as President to declare this speech sufficient Crown Forum credits for any otherwise-eligible student to graduate. Consider it my graduation gift to you.

Graduates, I am humbled to stand here with all of you as an honorary Morehouse Man. And as I do, Im mindful of an old saying: You can always tell a Morehouse Man, but you cant tell him much. That makes my task today a little more difficult, I suppose. But I think it also reflects the sense of pride that has always been a part of the Morehouse tradition.

Benjamin Mays, who served as the president of Morehouse for almost 30 years, understood that tradition perhaps better than anyone. He said, It will not be sufficient for Morehouse College, for any college, for that matter, to produce clever graduates but rather honest men, men who can be trusted in public and private life men who are sensitive to the wrongs, the sufferings, and the injustices of society and who are willing to accept responsibility for correcting [those] ills.

It was that mission not just to educate men, but to cultivate good men that brought community leaders together just two years after the end of the Civil War. They assembled a list of 37 men, free blacks and freed slaves, who would make up the first prospective class of what later became Morehouse College. Most of those first students had a desire to become teachers and preachers to better themselves so they could help others do the same.

A century and a half later, times have changed. But the Morehouse Mystique endures. Some of you probably came here from communities where everyone looked like you. Others may have come here in search of that kind of community. And I suspect that some of you probably felt a little bit of culture shock the first time you came together as a class in Kings Chapel. All of a sudden, you werent the only high school sports captain or student council president. All of a sudden, among a group of high achievers, you were expected to be something more.

Thats the unique sense of purpose that has always infused this place the conviction that this is a training ground not only for individual success, but for leadership that can change the world.

Dr. King was just 15 years old when he enrolled here at Morehouse. He was an unknown, undersized, unassuming young freshman who lived at home with his parents. I think its fair to say he wasnt the coolest kid on campus; for the suits he wore, his classmates called him Tweed. But his education at Morehouse helped to forge the intellect, the soul force, the disciple and compassion that would transform America. It was here that he was introduced to the writings of Gandhi, and Thoreau, and the theory of civil disobedience. It was here that professors encouraged him to look past the world as it was and fight for the world as it should be.

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Prepared text for President Obama’s speech at Morehouse

Search for retired Providence Holy Cross nurses: A newly formed committee will hold a meeting of active and retired nurses to form a Nurses Alumni Association, noon today. Providence Holy Cross medical Center, north conference room, 15031 Rinaldi St., Mission Hills. Dee Sandjian, 818-898-4600. Dee.Sandjian@providence.org

Reseda Neighborhood Council: 7 tonight. ONEgeneration, 18255 Victory Blvd. 818-832-7540. resedacouncil.org

Friends of the Sylmar Library: 1-3 p.m. Tuesday. 14561 Polk St. 818-367-6102. lapl.org

Arleta Neighborhood Council: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Beachy Avenue Elementary School, 9757 Beachy Ave. 818-406-6526. arletanc.org

Chatsworth Historical Society: 7-9 p.m. Tuesday. 10385 Shadow Oak Drive chatsworthhistory@gmail.com

Greater Toluca Lake Neighborhood Council: 7 p.m. Tuesday. Toluca Lake Elementary School, 4840 Cahuenga Blvd. 818-755-7674. gtlnc.org

Friends of the Valley Plaza Branch Library: 11 a.m. Wednesday. 12311 Vanowen St., North Hollywood. 818-765-9251. lapl.org

North Hollywood West Neighborhood Council: 6:45 p.m. Wednesday. Saticoy Elementary School, auditorium, 7850 Ethel Ave. 818-446-6469. nohowest.org

Canoga Park Neighborhood Council: 7 p.m. Wednesday. Canoga Park Community Center, 7248 Owensmouth Ave. canogaparknc.org

Encino Neighborhood Council: 7 p.m. Wednesday. Encino Community Center, 4935 Balboa Blvd. 818-971-6996. encinonc.org

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Meeting Calendar: Be informed, get involved, improve your San Fernando Valley

VEVEY, Switzerland Caren (Gentry) Whitehouse cant wait to be conducted in song again by her North High School choral teacher Jerry Hoover. Whitehouse hopes it will be The Battle Hymn of the Republic.

A 1975 North graduate, Whitehouse said this may be possible due to the efforts of herself and a group of North alumni that are working toward raising $75,000 to fund the name change for the high schools performing arts center to place Hoovers name to the beginning by fall.

The Hoover Hall Committee, made up of loyal North alumni and local residents from graduating classes going back to 1962, is leading fundraising efforts for the permanent name change and dedication of the Jerry Hoover Performing Arts Center. The committee is chaired by Whitehouse, and includes members Rev. Rick VanHoose, class of 1962; Steve Fritz, class of 1964, Don Bernhardt, class of 1974, and Ned and Marilyn Conder, who did not attend North High but are Hoovers friends.

The goal is to reach the $75,000 in donations by June 30. The money will be presented to the EVSC Foundation, a partner in the project, to benefit North music students. As of Friday night, the group has reached 55 percent of the goal, raising slightly more than $41,000 since the campaign began in early April.

Whitehouse said Hoover is just glad it will help the kids, expand the schools musical productions and ensure it is available for many years.

I think he may be speechless for the first time, she joked. We want this to be a legacy for him. Were not trying to keep it a secret, he knows too many people, so to keep it a secret would be too difficult.

Hoover, longtime North educator, choral director and noted local musician, will be 81in June. He was born and raised in Evansville, and employed with the EVSC for 48 years, working at North from 1956-1980 and at Harrison High School as a counselor from 1980-2001, and the choir director at Trinity United Methodist Church for 40 years. He thanked the committee for what its doing, and attributed his successes to the support of his former teachers and parents who inspired and influenced him.

My approach was to stay in the background and put the students in the foreground, he said. It was quite a surprise, and I was very humbled.

The committee is mailing forms to North alumni around the country, interested individuals, companies and family foundations in the Evansville community. All donations are tax-deductible within IRS guidelines because the EVSC is a partner in the campaign. People interested making contributions can pay in one lump sum or in five-year installments.

Whitehouse, executive director of the local medical society, had Hoover as a music teacher throughout high school for chorus and concert choir, and he directed the musical Camelot. He also directed her at Trinity.

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North alumni look to get music center named after longtime teacher

Ramon Guillen, nephew of Medal of Honor recipient Ambrosio Guillen, was presented with his uncle's Bowie High School diploma during at a ceremony at Guillen Middle School Thursday. (Vanessa Monsisvais / El Paso Times)

Ambrosio Guillen, an American hero from El Paso who was awarded the Medal of Honor by Congress for his bravery in battle in the Korean War, was given another award on Thursday.

Guillen, described as a man full of integrity and honor, received a diploma posthumously from Bowie High School 60 years after his death.

Guillen was honored in two ceremonies by the El Paso Independent School District -- at Guillen Middle School, which was named after him, and at Bowie.

In the coming days and weeks, thousands of students will receive their high school diplomas or college degrees.

Today is the beginning of the graduation season with the El Paso Community College and Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Paul

During the ceremony at Guillen Middle School, hundreds of students, Bowie High School graduates, and veterans of the U.S. Marine Corps watched as Guillen's nephew, Ramon Guillen, 76, received the diploma in honor of his uncle.

"I want you to realize and think about the kind of person he was and the kind of great model he is for all of you," Cesar Uribe, principal of Guillen Middle School, told the students. "Always try to be honorable, honest and a giving individual just like Ambrosio Guillen. He came

At 18, Ambrosio Guillen enlisted in the Marines where he became a platoon staff sergeant and led his men during a battle with enemy forces in the Korean War.

"He was so young when he had to leave school, and he was placed in a position of extreme disadvantage relative to the great powers of the state," Ramon Guillen said.

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War hero gets Bowie High School diploma posthumously