More student loan bullshit, this
current mess about the public service loan forgiveness program:
Hundreds of thousands of people with piles of federal
student loan
debt had not been too concerned because they were counting on a federal
government program that would forgive those loans if they worked at
least 10 years in a public service job.
But what happens if the definition of “public service” seemed to change midway through that decade?
On Tuesday, the
American Bar Association and four lawyers who thought they qualified
filed suit against the
Department of Education
trying to answer that question. The department had informed several of
them that their jobs would make them eligible for loan forgiveness, but
they later received letters saying that the ruling had changed.
All
four, according to the legal brief, might have picked different jobs,
borrowed less or entered different repayment plans had they known the
rules would change.
The public service loan-forgiveness program began in 2007, and is available, according to the explanation on the
program’s website,
to employees of governmental organizations, 501(c)(3) nonprofit groups
and other groups who hold “qualifying” public service jobs.
People who are not sure whether a position qualifies can fill out a
certification form that the Education Department reviews. It encourages borrowers to resubmit it each year, just to make sure they still qualify.
Once
employed, borrowers must work full time in a public service job or jobs
and keep up their 120 monthly payments over 10 years. No loans have
been forgiven yet, because 10 years have not passed since the first
borrowers entered the program.
The
suit, filed in United States District Court for the District of
Columbia, says some borrowers received approval on their certification
forms, then, years later, the entity servicing their loans reversed
course, effectively ousting them from the program.
It
did so retroactively, meaning that none of the previous loan payments
counted toward the 120 payments needed to qualify for forgiveness. So if
the borrowers took a job that qualified, they would have to start again
with accumulating the payments. [my bolding]
......................
Kelly Leon, assistant press secretary at the Department of Education,
said it was “committed to implementing the Public Service Loan
Forgiveness program in accordance with the final regulations as
prescribed by statute.” No one there would comment on why, once the
department realized its own errors in implementation, it was punishing
borrowers by making its rulings retroactive.
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