Federal officials on Tuesday announced changes to a student loan forgiveness program aimed at helping more public service workers receive debt relief.
The U.S. Department of Education released regulatory updates it said will bring most of the loans it manages “closer to forgiveness” and give borrowers who have worked in qualifying jobs credit toward the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
“Today, we’re encouraging public service workers to take advantage of the program’s temporary changes before the deadline on October 31. At the same time, we’re taking bold steps that will automatically move more hardworking public service workers closer to forgiveness and making permanent changes to reduce the red tape that riddled the PSLF program,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, in a written statement.
That public service program provides student debt relief to eligible borrowers who have worked in public service fields such as federal, state, local or tribal government for 10 years.
The department previously announced temporary changes to the program to help teachers, nurses and other kinds of government workers receive debt relief. Borrowers are encouraged to complete application steps by Oct. 31 before that limited waiver ends.
But the department on Tuesday also announced updates to the complex loan forgiveness rules that officials said will help more borrowers who’ve worked in public service and have direct loans or Federal Family Education Loans managed by the federal education department.
The new changes include allowing eligible borrowers to get credit for late, partial and lump sum payments and awarding credit for certain months of loan deferment or forbearance, such as when a borrower defers payments because of military service, economic hardship or illness.
Federal officials said regulatory changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program will be implemented by July.
The new rules come after President Joe Biden announced in August his plan to eliminate up to $10,000 in federal student loan debt for borrowers with an annual income of less than $125,000 and up to $20,000 of debt for Pell Grant recipients.
That plan is in question after six states filed a lawsuit, and a federal court last week issued a temporary stay that blocks debt cancellation while the legal issues are reviewed.
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