Ohio state senators have proposed a bill that would allow Oregon Health & Science University students to obtain scholarships that covers their full tuition and fee costs, provided they agree to practice in rural or undeserved areason completion of the course.

The 'Scholars for a Healthy Oregon Initiative' scholarships promises to take care of the costs of nearly 40 students studying medicine, dentistry, nurse practitioner, physician's assistant or certified registered nurse anesthetist students.

In exchange, the students will travel to Oregon regions termed as 'health professional shortage areas', or 'medically underserved areas or population' and stay for a period of time equal to the years spent at the college plus one extra year.

This bill aims to solve two problems at once, to fulfil the increasing demand in health care and to lower the burden of students' debts due to high tuition costs.

Students who fail to comply with the terms will be asked to repay the entire scholarship money, along with a 25 percent penalty.

Senate Bill 2 or SB2 is co-sponsored by state Senate President Peter Courtney (D- Salem) and Sen. Bill Hansell (R-Athena).

This bill is also sponsored by State Reps. Jennifer Williamson (D-Portland), Caddy McKowen (D-Coos Bay) and Sherrie Sprenger (R-Scio), which is currently before the Health and Human Services Committee.

If approved by the Oregon Legislature, the senate committee has agreed to allocate nearly $5 million from the state's two-year general budget for OHSU, starting July 1, to fund the program.