Student Loan Repayment Grant Program

Expanding Access To Care Through Innovative Workforce Development

Ensuring a sustainable oral health workforce is crucial to expanding the availability of oral health services for all Californians, particularly as the needs of California's underserved and culturally-diverse communities expand. The CDA Foundation addresses this issue through educational grants and scholarships to soon-to graduate dental students (due to graduate within the next three months) or recent dentist and/or specialty graduates (within the last three years). Supporting student achievement helps provide an opportunity for students to succeed in their academic programs and explore careers in nontraditional practice settings, such as clinics in underserved communities.

Students completing a dental school education graduate with up to $250,000 in accumulated student loans. Dentists graduating with such enormous financial burdens are economically discouraged from working in underserved areas because loan reimbursement requirements begin shortly after graduation. This financial obligation erodes the recent dentist’s ability to choose where to apply his or her skills other than in a practice that provides sufficient income to fulfill the loan obligation.

Student Loan Repayment Grant Program Video

Contribute to the Student Loan Repayment Grant Program.