#pslf

Sorry to USpol on main, but a proposed rule that would disqualify employers from the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program based on "illegal activity" (where "illegal activity" is broadly defined enough that it could easily be weaponized against sanctuary cities, districts that still maintain DEI programs, etc.) is up for public comment through September 17th.

There's an option to remain anonymous if you're worried about attaching your name to opposition in the current climate (no judgment, I am too.) I don't have a script for you, but I recommend emphasizing the fact that restricting employer eligibility without going through Congress is likely to be illegal.

Current relief programs: Better than nothing, but still not enough 🏊‍♀️

SAVE PLAN: THE GAME-CHANGER (MAYBE)

💡 WHAT SAVE ACTUALLY DOES:

🎯 Payment based on ACTUAL living costs (not arbitrary formulas)

💰 $0 payments if you earn less than $32,400/year

📉 Only 5% of income above basic needs goes to loans

🚫 Interest forgiveness: Unpaid interest gets CANCELLED (not added to balance)

⏰ 20-year forgiveness for undergraduate loans (25 for grad school)

🏛️ Automatic enrollment for some borrowers

📊 REAL EXAMPLES:

Case 1: Teacher Earning $45,000Before SAVE: $350/month payment With SAVE: $89/month payment Annual savings: $3,132 Interest growth: STOPPED

Case 2: Social Worker Earning $35,000Before SAVE: $280/month payment With SAVE: $14/month payment Annual savings: $3,192 Interest growth: STOPPED

Case 3: Unemployed Recent GraduateBefore SAVE: $300/month payment (forbearance trap) With SAVE: $0/month payment Interest accrual: $0 (instead of $200/month)

WHY SAVE IS REVOLUTIONARY:

🔥 BREAKS THE INTEREST TRAP:

Old system: Pay $200/month, owe $300 in interest = debt grows $100/month

SAVE system: Pay $200/month, owe $300 in interest = extra $100 forgiven

Result: Your debt can NEVER grow if you make payments

⚡ IMMEDIATE RELIEF:

8 million borrowers already enrolled

4.5 million qualified for $0 payments

Average savings: $3,000+ annually

Mental health impact: Stress reduction, hope restoration

BUT CONSERVATIVES ARE TRYING TO KILL IT:

⚖️ REPUBLICAN LAWSUITS:

Multiple states suing: Claiming it's "too generous"

Court challenges: Trying to block implementation

Congressional attacks: Bills to eliminate SAVE entirely

Supreme Court threat: Could overturn like previous forgiveness

💸 THEIR ARGUMENTS:

"Too expensive" (but military budgets are fine)

"Unfair to past borrowers" (crabs-in-bucket mentality)

"Encourages irresponsibility" (wanting education is irresponsible?)

"Taxpayer burden" (corporate subsidies are fine though)

PSLF: PUBLIC SERVICE FORGIVENESS (FINALLY WORKING)

✅ WHAT PSLF OFFERS:

Full forgiveness after 10 years of public service

Qualifying jobs: Government, nonprofits, teaching, social work, military

No tax penalty on forgiven amount

All loan types eligible (with Direct Loan consolidation)

📈 SUCCESS STATS (AFTER FIXES):

Before 2021: 2% approval rate (due to bureaucratic sabotage)

After waiver: 98% approval rate for eligible borrowers

Total forgiven: $30+ billion to 450,000+ borrowers

Average forgiveness: $67,000 per borrower

🎯 WHO'S GETTING RELIEF:

Teachers: 200,000+ approved

Nurses/Healthcare: 150,000+ approved

Social workers: 50,000+ approved

Government employees: 100,000+ approved

Military/Police: 25,000+ approved

TARGETED FORGIVENESS PROGRAMS:

🏫 CLOSED SCHOOL DISCHARGE:

For students whose schools closed while enrolled

Automatic relief: No application required for most

Recent actions: $6 billion forgiven for 200,000 students

Major closures: Corinthian, ITT Tech, Art Institute chain

♿ TOTAL & PERMANENT DISABILITY DISCHARGE:

For borrowers unable to work due to disability

Streamlined process: Automatic for some SSDI recipients

Recent improvements: 400,000 borrowers identified for automatic relief

Amount: $6 billion in forgiveness

🎖️ VETERAN-SPECIFIC RELIEF:

Service-connected disability: Automatic discharge for 100% disabled veterans

Military service credit: Counts toward PSLF

Interest rate caps: 6% maximum during active duty

INCOME-DRIVEN REPAYMENT (IDR) FIXES:

📅 IDR ACCOUNT ADJUSTMENT:

Credit for past payments: Retroactive credit for forbearance periods

Payment counting fix: Payments that should have counted now do

Forgiveness timeline: Some getting immediate forgiveness

Relief so far: $45 billion to 930,000 borrowers

🔄 HOW THE FIX WORKS:Example: Borrower with 25 years of payments Previous count: 180 qualifying payments After adjustment: 300 qualifying payments Result: Immediate forgiveness (25-year threshold met)

THE LIMITATIONS OF CURRENT RELIEF:

🚫 WHAT'S STILL BROKEN:

Private Loans:

No federal programs apply to private loans

No bankruptcy protection (same as federal)

No forgiveness options regardless of circumstances

8% of borrowers completely left out

Parent PLUS Loans:

No borrowing limits (parents can borrow full cost)

Higher interest rates than student loans

Limited relief options under current programs

Retirement destruction: Many parents facing garnished Social Security

Graduate School Debt:

Higher balances than undergraduate loans

Longer forgiveness timelines (25 years vs 20)

Professional school debt often exceeds $200,000

Career limitations: Can't take lower-paying public service jobs

THE BUREAUCRATIC SABOTAGE PROBLEM:

🏛️ LOAN SERVICER OBSTRUCTION:

Deliberate misinformation about relief programs

Application "processing errors" that delay relief

Phone representatives trained to discourage applications

Website crashes during enrollment periods

Real Examples:

PSLF applications: Servicers told qualified borrowers they didn't qualify

SAVE enrollment: Websites mysteriously down during high-traffic periods

IDR applications: "Lost" paperwork requiring multiple resubmissions

Forgiveness delays: Qualified borrowers waiting months for processing

THE POLITICAL BATTLEFIELD:

🔵 BIDEN ADMINISTRATION ACHIEVEMENTS:

$138 billion forgiven through various programs

8.5 million borrowers received some relief

Administrative improvements: Streamlined processes, better oversight

Future plans: More targeted relief, continued SAVE expansion

🔴 REPUBLICAN OPPOSITION:

House bills to eliminate SAVE plan

State lawsuits to block relief programs

Supreme Court appeals to overturn forgiveness

Campaign promises to end all relief if elected

⚖️ LEGAL UNCERTAINTY:

Court challenges create constant threat to programs

Borrower confusion about which programs will survive

Planning impossible when relief could disappear

Political football: Relief depends on election outcomes

WHAT CURRENT RELIEF ACTUALLY MEANS:

✅ FOR THOSE WHO QUALIFY:

Immediate financial relief from lower payments

Mental health improvement from reduced stress

Career flexibility to take lower-paying meaningful work

Future planning possible with forgiveness timeline

❌ FOR THOSE LEFT OUT:

Private loan borrowers: No relief available

High-income borrowers: Minimal payment reduction

Past borrowers: No retroactive relief for paid loans

Future students: Nothing prevents continued debt accumulation

THE BIGGER PICTURE:

🏥 TREATING SYMPTOMS, NOT DISEASE: Current relief programs help people trapped in the system but don't prevent new victims:

College costs continue rising

New borrowers enter the trap every semester

Systemic issues remain unaddressed

Private lenders continue predatory practices

🔄 THE CYCLE CONTINUES:

Relief helps current borrowers

New students still need massive loans

Colleges raise prices knowing aid is available

Next generation faces same crisis

BOTTOM LINE:

Current relief programs are life-changing for those who qualify but they're band-aids on a gaping wound. We need systemic change, not just individual relief.

Next up: The political battle over student debt forgiveness 🗳️

These programs prove relief is possible - which makes it even more infuriating that we don't do more. 💪

GOTO NEXT POST -> CLICK!

Season 4, Episode 4: “I’m $100K in Student Loan Debt and I Think It Should Be Forgiven. Does This Make Me an Entitled Asshole?”

Tens of thousands of public service workers are getting student loan relief from President Biden.

The Republican Supreme Court blocked Biden's broad effort to forgive onerous student loans. But the administration has found legal ways to reduce or eliminate student debt for specific segments of those saddled with such debts. This week's announcement is part of that effort.

President Joe Biden announced another round of student loan debt forgiveness Thursday, totaling $5.8 billion for nearly 78,000 public-sector workers, and will be sending congratulatory emails to those borrowers next week. Additionally, 380,000 borrowers who may be eligible for debt relief within the next one or two years will also be getting emails from Biden with a message that says “keep it up!” “If you continue your career in public service, you’re on track to get your eligible student loans forgiven in less than two years through Public Service Loan Forgiveness,” an example email provided by the White House reads. Under the forgiveness program, known as PSLF, qualifying borrowers – like teachers, social workers, some nurses and doctors, and government lawyers – are eligible for student debt cancellation after making 10 years of monthly payments.

Republicans like Donald Trump are against debt forgiveness. Of course Trump is a nepo baby who got daddy to pay for everything including (probably) bribing admissions officers and paying others to do his course work for him.

Trump's attendance at Penn has been a source of controversy. The university would probably like him to just go away.

Penn rejects calls from Wharton professors to investigate Trump's SAT cheating allegations

Prominent Philadelphia lawyer Stephen Sheller also penned a letter to Gutmann and Board of Trustees Chair David Cohen requesting an investigation into Trump’s admission into Penn. Sheller, a 1960 College graduate and 1963 Penn Law graduate, did not receive a response. Both requests, written a week apart in July, center around a claim made by the president’s niece Mary Trump in her tell-all book “Too Much and Never Enough.” She wrote that Trump paid another person, named as Joe Shapiro, to take his pre-collegiate exam, the SAT, on his behalf — a score he later used when transferring from Fordham University to the Wharton School in 1966. The allegations resurfaced Saturday night when Mary Trump provided secretly recorded audio to the Washington Post which featured the president’s sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, saying Trump cheated on the SAT. Mary Trump sent the audio excerpts, recorded in 2018 and 2019, to the Post in response to a question asking how she knew Trump had someone take his SAT for him.

My initial student loan was $54,935.92.

I paid over $30,887.83*

My loan is currently at $51,756.93.