Yesterday, President Joe Biden announced a number of policy changes that will ease the student loan debt burden for millions of American families. The program provides targeted debt relief for low and middle-income families, making student loans more manageable for current and future borrowers, extending the student loan repayment pause through the end of 2022, and expanding the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. Thousands of AFSCME families could benefit from these policy changes.
Most important to AFSCME members, is the president’s announcement that he will propose a rule to allow borrowers who have worked at nonprofit organizations, in the military, or in federal, state, tribal or local governments, to receive appropriate credit toward loan forgiveness through the PSLF program.
In October 2021, the U.S. Department of Education implemented temporary changes to PSLF that waived many of the program’s requirements. Borrowers who are employed by non-profits, the military, or federal, state, Tribal, or local government may be eligible to have all of their student loans forgiven through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. This is because of time-limited changes that waive certain eligibility criteria in the PSLF program. These temporary changes expire on October 31, 2022. These changes dramatically increased the number of public service workers eligible for loan forgiveness.
Though the White House says 175,000 public service workers have taken advantage so far, AFSCME has told the Education Department millions of borrowers need more time to learn about the PSLF and apply for the relief they deserve and are eligible for.
Need help navigating the Federal Student Aid website and the PSLF Waiver process? Click on the links to the AFSCME guides below and see how to navigate studentaid.gov and get started with the PSLF waiver process:
