(a) It shall be the duty of the board to receive and pass upon, allow or disallow all applications for loans made to or scholarships given to students who are bona fide citizens and residents of the State of Georgia and who desire to become doctors of medicine and who are acceptable for enrollment in an accredited medical school in the United States which has received accreditation or provisional accreditation by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education or the Bureau of Professional Education of the American Osteopathic Association for a program in medical education designed to qualify the graduate for licensure by the Georgia Composite Medical Board. The purpose of such loans shall be to enable such applicants to obtain a standard medical education from a medical school in the United States which has received accreditation or provisional accreditation by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education or the Bureau of Professional Education of the American Osteopathic Association which will qualify them to become licensed to practice medicine in the State of Georgia. It shall be the duty of the board to make a careful and full investigation of the ability, character, and qualifications of each applicant and determine the applicant's fitness to become the recipient of such loan or scholarship, and for such purpose the board may propound such examination to each applicant which it deems proper. The board may also prescribe such rules and regulations as it deems necessary and proper to carry out the purpose and intention of this part. The investigation of the applicant shall include an investigation of the ability of the applicant, and of the parents of such applicant, to pay his or her own tuition at such medical school, and the board in granting such loans and scholarships shall give preference to qualified applicants who, and whose parents, are unable to pay the applicant's tuition at such a medical school.

(b) The board shall have authority to grant to each applicant deemed by the board to be qualified to receive the same a loan or scholarship on a one-year renewable basis for the purpose of acquiring a medical education from a medical school in the United States which has received accreditation or provisional accreditation by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education or the Bureau of Professional Education of the American Osteopathic Association, upon such terms and conditions as in the judgment of the board may be necessary or desirable. The board is authorized to consider, among other criteria, the home area of the student and the likelihood, if determinable, that the student will practice medicine in an area of this state which may entitle the student to repay the loan through services rendered as provided in this part.