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Demetrius Freeman

With a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/10/06/public-servant-loan-forgiveness/" target=_blank>temporary expansion</a> of a popular debt-relief program for public servants set to end in the coming days, the Education Department on Tuesday said it is working to extend loan forgiveness to more borrowers.

A year-long waiver of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program gave teachers, social workers and other public servants credit for payments that previously did not qualify for relief. The reprieve — which ends Monday — resulted in more than 236,000 people receiving $14 billion in debt cancellation, according to the department.

The waiver was implemented as the department sought to make changes in the PSLF program, which has been long criticized for being complex and poorly managed. An overhaul is set to take effect in July.

“Our team has worked to turn public service loan forgiveness from a promise broken into a promise kept,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said on a call with reporters Tuesday. “We’re focused on making this program work for the long haul … to reduce the red tape and the confusing rules that riddled the pilot program in the past.”

A deadline is looming for Public Service Loan Forgiveness waiver

The PSLF program, created by Congress in 2007, requires borrowers to make 120 on-time monthly payments for 10 years to have their remaining balance canceled. They must work for the government or certain nonprofit organizations, and have loans made directly by the federal government. And they must be enrolled in specific repayment plans, primarily those that cap monthly loan payments to a percentage of their income.

The<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/06/30/supreme-court-decision-student-loan-forgiveness/" target=_blank> Supreme Court rejected President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan</a> in the latest blow to the ambitious program.

After more than three years, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/06/02/student-loan-payment-pause-nears-ending/" target=_blank>the student loan payment pause</a> will end, and payments will resume in October.

In 2022, the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2022/09/29/republicans-student-loan-forgiveness-lawsuit/" target=_blank>debt-relief plan drew legal challenges</a> after it was unveiled, and it had been <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/11/14/appeals-halts-student-loan-forgiveness/" target=_blank>on hold since last November</a>.

With the impending sunset of the PSLF waiver, some advocates and liberal lawmakers have pushed for an extension to give more people time to benefit before the new PSLF changes take effect.

Instead of granting an extension, the Biden administration said it will continue to identify public servants eligible for forgiveness through a one-time account adjustment — first <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/04/19/student-loan-forgiveness-income-driven/" target=_blank>announced in April</a> — that aims to give people additional credit toward debt cancellation under income-driven repayment plans.

The plans cap monthly payments at a given percentage of earnings, with the promise to forgive the balance after 20 or 25 years of payments. But inconsistencies in the way student loan servicers and the department treated and tracked payments left borrowers repaying their loans for much longer than needed — a problem the adjustment aims to remedy.

Much like it did in the PSLF waiver, the department will count the months borrowers postponed their payments through forbearance or deferment under the IDR adjustment. The recount could result in additional credit for people working toward public service forgiveness, which requires borrowers to enroll in an income-based plan.

Starting in November, the department will automatically cancel the loans of anyone who has made the required number of payments for forgiveness based on the one-time account adjustment. People who receive additional credit, but not enough to hit the cancellation threshold, will have their accounts adjusted in July.

People with loans originated through the now-defunct Federal Family Education Loan Program and privately held will need to consolidate into a Direct Loan to qualify for the adjustment. The Education Department is encouraging them to do so by May to ensure they benefit from this initiative.

“The waiver was a one-time action and it was connected with the circumstances our country was in a year ago. Our focus is on trying to fix this program permanently and for the long run,” Undersecretary of Education James Kvaal said on a call with reporters Tuesday.

In July, the Education Department will implement its overhaul of PSLF. The new regulation will let borrowers receive credit for payments that are made in a lump sum, in installments or late. The existing rules only counted a payment as eligible if it was made in full within 15 days of its due date.

Time spent in certain periods of deferment or forbearance will also permanently count toward public service forgiveness under the new rule. These periods include military service, economic hardship, deferments for cancer treatment and time served in the National Guard or AmeriCorps.

Borrowers will also receive some credit for past payments when they consolidate their commercial FFEL into Direct Loans. Typically, only payments made after the consolidation would qualify for forgiveness, but now those made previously also will qualify.

Columbia University, New York University

Danielle Douglas-Gabriel covers the economics of higher education, writing about the financial policies that determine a student's access to education and ability to complete a credential. 

Danielle Douglas-Gabriel

How the PSLF waiver offers student debt relief for public servants

the-washington-post

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki 

The Washington Post

staff

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washpost

iptc-media/economy_business_and_finance/economic_sector/financial_and_business_service

iptc-media/economy_business_and_finance

iptc-media/economy_business_and_finance/economy/macro_economics/credit_and_debt