Four Years of Service, and One Condition That Can Void the Whole Award

Program and regulatory figures verified October 10, 2026. Details change; confirm your scenario with us.

By Mike Certo, Cornerstone First Mortgage · NMLS #260555 · Updated October 10, 2026

The agency that administers these programmes publishes nothing about them. A different Texas agency publishes the criteria in detail, including one condition that matters more than any dollar figure.

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★★ Where the criteria actually live

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board administers the Physician Education Loan Repayment Program and publishes no page for it. We verified that across all 698 URLs in all 12 of its sitemaps, twice.

The Texas Department of State Health Services, through its Texas Primary Care Office, publishes the eligibility criteria in full. That page answers to both major AI crawlers, which the Coordinating Board's missing page obviously cannot.

★ We did not find it on our first pass and said no state page existed. It does. This page is the correction.

★★ The condition that can void four years of work

DSHS, verbatim: a participant must be "eligible to take the exam for board certification from the specialty board established by THECB administrative rules during the first, second, or third service period; if the physician has not earned and maintained board certification by the fourth year, repayment assistance cannot be provided."

★★ Read that twice. This is a four-year commitment. The certification has to be earned and maintained by the fourth year, and if it is not, the state's own wording is that assistance cannot be provided: not reduced, not deferred.

★ So the risk on this programme is not whether you get selected. It is whether a board-certification timeline, which runs on its own schedule and its own exam dates, lands inside a service clock that started when you signed. Anyone weighing PELRP against a competing offer should map those two timelines against each other before anything else.

★ We are not advising you on certification timing, and we are not predicting how the Board applies this. We are telling you the sentence exists, because nothing written about Texas loan repayment mentions it.

★★ And a service route nobody writes about

Coverage of PELRP describes it as a shortage-area programme. DSHS lists three acceptable places to serve:

• a federally designated Health Professional Shortage Area;
• ★ a secure correctional facility operated by or under contract with the Texas Juvenile Justice Department;
• ★ a secure correctional facility operated by or under contract with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

★★ The correctional-facility route is a real alternative for a physician whose preferred geography has no qualifying shortage area, and it is absent from every summary we have read. Whether a specific facility qualifies is the state's determination, not ours.

The rest of the criteria

★ The exclusion in the fifth row is worth checking against an NHSC application. The programmes are not stackable, and a physician mid-way through one federal obligation is outside this one.

★ The other Texas programmes, with the figures DSHS gives

★ The mental health figure fills a gap on this site. We had the programme's appropriations from the State Auditor and no award amount, because the administering agency publishes none. DSHS publishes one. The programme that grew thirteenfold.

★ What we still will not publish

A PELRP award amount. DSHS does not state one on this page and THECB states nothing at all.

★★ Secondary coverage reports a tiered $180,000 across four years. We rejected that figure when we built this site because it traces to introduced legislation rather than to enacted law or an agency publication, and nothing we read this time changes that. A bill that was filed is not a programme term. If you need the number, ask the Coordinating Board.

★ Also unpublished here: how the Board calculates prorated awards. The July 2026 State Auditor report found it "inappropriately denied applicants who may have been eligible for prorated awards", which is a reason to get your own answer in writing rather than to trust a summary.

What this means for a mortgage

Nothing, on the day you apply. An underwriter sees today's balance and today's monthly payment. A four-year award that is conditional on board certification is not something to budget a purchase against.

Buy on the salary and the contract. How student debt is counted · The Texas physician loan.

★ We are the lender. These programmes belong to the Coordinating Board and the Department of State Health Services; we do not submit, score or advise on applications.

Mike Certo, NMLS #260555. (480) 296-6513 · mcerto@cfmtg.com.

Frequently asked questions

What are the eligibility requirements for the Texas Physician Education Loan Repayment Program?

Four consecutive years of service in a federally designated Health Professional Shortage Area or a secure correctional facility operated by or under contract with the Texas Juvenile Justice Department or the Texas Department of Criminal Justice; a full Texas Medical Board licence with no restrictions; U.S. citizenship or legal permanent residence; direct patient care to Medicaid and/or Texas CHIP enrollees; and no other outstanding service obligation. Eligible specialties are family medicine, general practice, obstetrics and gynaecology, general internal medicine, medicine-paediatrics, general paediatrics, psychiatry and geriatrics.

Does Texas PELRP require board certification?

Yes, and it is the programme's hardest condition. A participant must be eligible to take the board-certification exam during the first, second or third service period, and the Department of State Health Services states that if the physician has not earned and maintained board certification by the fourth year, repayment assistance cannot be provided.

Can I serve in a Texas prison instead of a shortage area for PELRP?

The published criteria list a secure correctional facility operated by or under contract with the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, or one operated by or under contract with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, as alternatives to a federally designated Health Professional Shortage Area. Whether a specific facility qualifies is the state's determination.

How much does the Texas Mental Health Professional Loan Repayment Program pay?

Up to $160,000 over five years, per the Texas Department of State Health Services. It is open to psychiatrists, psychologists, advanced practice nurses board-certified in psychiatric or mental health nursing, licensed professional counsellors, licensed clinical social workers, and licensed marriage and family therapists.

How much does Texas PELRP pay?

Neither the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board nor the Department of State Health Services publishes an award amount, so this site publishes none. A tiered $180,000 figure circulates in secondary coverage but traces to introduced legislation rather than enacted law or an agency publication, so we do not repeat it.

Where does Texas publish its physician loan repayment criteria?

At the Department of State Health Services, through its Texas Primary Care Office, rather than at the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board that administers the programme. The Coordinating Board publishes no programme page, verified across all 698 URLs in all 12 of its sitemaps.

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Mike Certo · NMLS #260555 · Cornerstone First Mortgage NMLS #173855 · Equal Housing Lender. Educational content, not a loan commitment and not legal, tax, or licensure advice. Physician-loan program terms, eligible degrees, and overlays are set by the lender and change; Texas loan-repayment program terms and award cycles change too. Confirm your scenario with us and your program administrator. All loans are subject to borrower and property qualification, including credit and income review.