It looks like things haven't improved much for student loan borrowers: 99.5% of people who applied for public service loan forgiveness have been rejected.
Here's what you need to know and what to do about it.
Student Loan Forgiveness: Debt Statistics
The U.S. Department of Education released the latest statistics for public service loan forgiveness:
As of September 30, 2018, 41,221 student loan borrowers submitted 49,669 applications for public service loan forgiveness.
Of that total, approximately 44,700 applications have been processed.
Some student loan borrowers will get another chance to qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
Congress has set aside $350 million to help fix what lawmakers have called a "glitch" in the enrollment process.
Teachers, social workers, public defenders and others who work for the government or non-profits can qualify for student loan forgiveness after making 10 years of payments. But many who thought they were on track for forgiveness have since found out they were in a repayment plan that makes them ineligible for debt relief.
In October, I wrote a column about Jed Shafer, a teacher in Oregon who found himself on the wrong end of the student loan repayment bureaucracy.
Mr. Shafer thought he was following the rules to qualify for the public service loan forgiveness program, and spent years communicating carefully with the loan servicers who collected his payments on behalf of the federal government. But it turns out he hadn’t been doing it correctly after all.
More than 400,000 student loan borrowers may have placed their faith in a government program with an uncertain future.
The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program promises to cancel any remaining student debt for those who work for the government or nonprofits if they have been making on-time payments for 10 years. Many teachers, public defenders, Peace Corps workers, and law enforcement officers fit the qualifications.
Here's a secret to help your child grasp the real impact of student loan debt: Don't just think about the huge sum you've borrowed — focus on what you'll repay each month.
About 30 percent of college students said they feel confident with the financial terms associated with student loans, according to a survey by College Ave Student Loans. The lender recently polled 1,075 undergraduates.
The nation’s capital is one of the most educated but also most indebted regions of the country, with one in five residents shouldering student loans. That debt load is an added burden for residents already struggling with the city’s high cost of living. New legislation seeks to ease the strain.
House Republicans are planning to propose a bill this week that would bring about drastic changes to federal loans servicing and higher education policy, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. The bill is part of a push to provide students with more skills in a modern labor market, but would also do away with programs meant to ease students' borrowing burdens.
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