This paper identifies issues that underlie student financing of education in the health professions in terms of the interrelationships and interactions between financial aid programs under Title IV of the Higher Education Act and Titles VII and VIII of the Public Health Service Act. Section 1 provides background to the issues by describing financial aid programs identifying general issues, and drawing comparisons between aid programs under Titles IV administered by the Department of Education and Titles VII and VIII administered by the Department of Health and Human Services. Section 2 treats access issues in a discussion of costs of attendance, declines in the applicant pool, and limited representation of minorities and disadvantaged students. Section 3 considers the dependence of students in the health professions on loans noting that loans have outstripped grants as the predominant form of assistance for these students. Section 4 looks at loan defaults and their causes arguing that, though default rates for the health professions are low, the financial problems of other programs make clear the risks and consequences of defaults. Section 5 examines delivery of federal student assistance to students in the health professions particularly considering processes for collecting parents' information and assessing "total resources." A final section discusses policy alternatives. An appendix contains a background paper on the Title VII and Title VIII loans. (Contains 11 tables/figures.) (JB)