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Biden administration overhauls student loan forgiveness program for public servants


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WWW.CBSNEWS.COM

A "60 Minutes" report broadcast Sunday detailed how few active-duty service members had their student loan debt erased.

 

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The Department of Education announced Wednesday it would be relaxing requirements for a student loan debt relief program for public-sector workers, a move the Biden administration estimates will benefit more than 550,000 teachers, members of the military, first responders and government employees.

 

Created in 2007, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program is intended to forgive the outstanding federal student loan debt for qualifying public workers who have made 10 years of monthly payments. But the Education Department acknowledged the program has fallen short of its pledge to public servants and hopes its overhaul will "restore the promise" of student loan forgiveness. 

 

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"Borrowers who devote a decade of their lives to public service should be able to rely on the promise of Public Service Loan Forgiveness. The system has not delivered on that promise to date, but that is about to change for many borrowers who have served their communities and their country," Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement.

 

Under the eased requirements, the Education Department will offer a limited waiver that allows student borrowers to count all previous payments toward forgiveness, regardless of loan type or repayment plan.

 

The Biden administration estimates the waiver, which will run through October 2022, will help more than 550,000 borrowers who consolidated their loans to move toward forgiveness. 

 

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Wife is a teacher, she paid exactly 3 months on students loans before the pandemic pause.  We make roughly the same amount.  I just ran a PSLF calculator online, and we'd have nothing forgiven.

We could file separately and get some forgiveness after 10 years... but that still wouldn't even cover all the accumulated interest.  None of the principal would be forgiven.  And we'd lose out on joint tax benefits.

It's the school teachers with 6% loans in states that pay 40k salaries that could come out ahead.  Otherwise, the math doesn't really check out.  PSLF could help some single parent households make ends meet, but relying on it when you don't need it probably isn't optimal.  (and with how much of a shit show it's been, I don't think I'd trust the government to honor it years from now)


Will be killing our student loans in February, as planned.  Whatever the government won't forgive by that point.  It feels doubtful we'll get anything extra: not the 10k for individuals, or the extra 5k per year for public servants.  Biden will probably tout the PSLF reforms and loan forgiveness from scam universities as a job well done.

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