Mental Health Professionals Loan Repayment Assistance Program
The Mental Health Professionals Loan Repayment Assistance Program encourages qualified mental health professionals to serve patients in designated shortage areas, state hospitals, public schools, or through mental health authorities.
How to apply
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (Coordinating Board) is pleased to announce that the 2025-26 application for the Mental Health Professionals Loan Repayment Assistance Program is now available.
Applications are accepted at any time and reviewed as they are received; however, the deadline to apply and submit the employment verification form is July 31, 2026.
Please use one of the following compatible internet browsers when applying: Edge, Google Chrome, or Safari.
To complete an application:
- Create a CBPASS account at https://www1.highered.texas.gov/cbpass/.
- Click on the Create one now! hyperlink and complete the “New User Registration”.
After your CBPASS account is created, login and complete the following:
- Click on the My Access tab.
- Click on the Click to Request Access to another application hyperlink and select “Mental Health Professionals Loan Repayment Assistance Program” from the list of applications.
What you’ll need to apply:
- Current license or certification
- Student loan billing statement showing eligible debt, including account holder name, account number, and loan servicer name
- Email address of your facility’s chief administrative officer (CAO), such as a facility administrator, director of human resources, or other official who is authorized to certify your employment.
Eligibility Requirements
To qualify for this program, you must:
- Be a U.S. citizen or a Legal Permanent Resident.
- Be employed in an eligible practice specialty (see below) with no license restrictions.
- For new applicants: at the time of application, have completed at least one year of part-time* or full-time** qualifying service providing mental health services to patients in Texas.
- For returning applicants: at the time of reapplication, have previously received assistance through this program and completed another year of part-time or full-time continuous qualifying service providing mental health services to patients in Texas.
- Not be currently fulfilling another obligation to provide mental health services as part of a scholarship agreement, a student loan agreement, or another student loan repayment program (except for the State Loan Repayment Program).
*Part-time employment is a minimum of 20 hours per week completed over a service period.
**Full-time employment is a minimum of 32 hours a week (40 hours if also participating in the State Loan Repayment Program) completed over a service period.
Note: A service period is 12 consecutive months, or 9 months of a 12-month academic year at a public school.
Qualifying Service
You must have completed qualifying service, providing mental health services to at least one of the following:
- Medicaid or CHIP enrollees in a Mental Health Professional Shortage Area (MHPSA) in Texas
- Patients in a state hospital
- Patients in a secure correctional facility operated by or under contract with the Texas Juvenile Justice Department or the Texas Department of Criminal Justice
- Individuals receiving community-based care from a local mental health authority
- Students enrolled in a Texas public school
*To find out if a site is located in an MHPSA, go to the Health Resources and Services Administration Shortage Areas search page. The site address is where you are physically working, not where the headquarters or administration office is located.
Eligible Practice Specialties
- Psychiatrists
- Psychologists
- Licensed professional counselors
- Advanced practice nurses board certified in psychiatric or mental health nursing
- Licensed specialists in school psychology*
- Licensed clinical social workers
- Licensed chemical dependency counselors
- Licensed marriage and family therapists
- Licensed master social workers
- Licensed professional counselor associates
- Licensed marriage and family therapist associates
- School counselors with at least a master’s degree related to counseling from any public or accredited private institution of higher education
*Licensed specialists in school psychology who first established eligibility between Sept. 1, 2023, and Sept. 1, 2025, must serve students in a school district located partially or completely in a MHPSA, an open enrollment charter school located in a MHPSA, or a Title I school.
Assistance Amount
Your repayment assistance is limited to the lesser of your total loan balance or the maximum assistance amount for your practice specialty. The total assistance is applied over a three-year period, depending on when you first became eligible.
Maximum Assistance Amounts (Based on Full-Time Service)
| Practice Specialty | Maximum Assistance Amount Over 3 Years (for applicants who first established eligibility before Sept. 1, 2025) | Maximum Assistance Amount Over 3 Years (for applicants who first established eligibility after Sept. 1, 2025) |
| Psychiatrists | $160,000 | $180,000 |
| Psychologists, licensed clinical social workers, licensed professional counselors, and licensed marriage and family therapists with doctoral degrees | $80,000 | $100,000 |
| Advanced practice nurses | $60,000 | $80,000 |
| Licensed clinical social workers, licensed professional counselors, licensed specialists in school psychology, licensed marriage and family therapists (without doctoral degrees), licensed master social workers, licensed professional counselor associates, licensed marriage and family therapist associates, and certified school counselors | $40,000 | $60,000 |
| Licensed chemical dependency counselors (licensed within 12 months after receiving degree) | N/A | 50,000 |
| Licensed chemical dependency counselors with associate degrees | $10,000 | $15,000 |
Additional Assistance
You may receive the following if you first established program eligibility on or after Sept. 1, 2025:
● A $5,000 one-time increase* for fluency in any of the following critical need languages, as certified by your CAO:
● A $10,000 one-time increase* for practicing in a county with a population of 150,000 or less.
● $15,000 per year for two additional years, extending your total assistance period to five years.
*One-time increases will be applied to loan repayment assistance offered in the first year an eligible applicant qualifies for them.
Note: An individual’s total loan repayment assistance, including one-time increases and assistance payments for additional years, may not exceed the individual’s applicable assistance amount (see above) plus 10%.
Eligible Loans
Loans eligible for repayment through this program must:
- Be evidenced by a promissory note that required the loan proceeds to be used to pay for the cost of attendance for the undergraduate, graduate, or professional education.
- Not have been made during residency or to cover costs incurred after completion of a graduate or professional education.
- Not be in default at the time of application.
- Not have an existing obligation to provide service for loan forgiveness through another state program (except for the State Loan Repayment Program).
- Not be subject to repayment through another student loan repayment or loan forgiveness program or repayment assistance provided by the professional’s employer while participating in this program.
What to Expect After Applying
Submitted applications will remain in pending status until the Coordinating Board receives verification of service from the applicant’s CAO. Processing takes up to six weeks once all required documentation is received.
If additional information is needed, the Coordinating Board will contact the applicant at the email address provided on the application. If an application is approved, the Coordinating Board will mail a paper check to the applicant’s lender. If an application is not approved, the applicant will be notified by email and may reapply in future years.
Note: The Coordinating Board cannot send payments electronically or by Automated Clearing House (ACH), so lender processing may take longer to process paper checks.
Frequently Asked Questions
Additional Resources
Program Statute: Texas Education Code, Title 3, Subchapter K
Program Rules: Texas Administrative Code, Title 19, Part 1, Chapter 23, Subchapter D
Contact Us
To speak to a customer service representative, call 833-597-0454, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CST.
Online Inquiries: LoanRepaymentPrograms@highered.texas.gov