The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program began in 2007 with the intent of providing a financial cushion for those who chose to work in public service. You make 120 months of income-based payments while working for a qualified organization (such as the government or a 501(c)(3) entity). Upon completion, the remaining balance of your federal loans are forgiven without having to pay income tax on the debt cancellation.
Amanda Lawson-Ross planned her career around a government loan forgiveness program. But after making payments for four years, it turns out she doesn't qualify.
Lawson-Ross was in graduate school at the University of Akron when she first heard about the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Launched in 2007 under the George W. Bush administration, it promises loan forgiveness to people who work at non-profits or for the government once they've made 10 years' worth of payments.
Over the years I have seen many retirement plans ruined, simply because substantial amounts of investment dollars, originally allocated for retirement, were used to pay for college education.
Whether or not you believe the allegations, the jaw-dropping dossier of sins that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau accuses the nation’s largest student loan servicer of committing is useful for two crucial reasons.
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.
A few colleges and universities help students avoid crippling debt by offering generous financial aid packages.
When it comes to debt, last year's college grads who borrowed student loans took on nearly $30,000 in loans to pay for their education, according to data reported to U.S. News in an annual survey. For that reason, college affordability is a top concern among many prospective students.
Americans are shouldering around $1.48 trillion in student loan debt, and around 70% of college students who earn a bachelor’s degree borrow to attend college, according to research from Oliver Wyman, a consulting firm that focuses on banking. An employee benefit that’s gaining popularity could help ease that burden, but it may not be as good of a deal as employees think.
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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"Bankruptcy laws allow companies to smoothly reorganize, but not college graduates burdened by student loans."
– Robert Reich
The road to success is always under construction
– Lily Tomlin
"Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood."
– Marie Curie
“What I would like to do... once I take care of all my kids' student loans, is buy a red 1965 Mustang and fully restore it.”
– Mike Quigley
“This would be a much better world if more married couples were as deeply in love as they are in debt.”
– Earl Wilson
"There is scarcely anything that drags a person down like debt."
– P. T. Barnum
"If we don't change direction soon, we'll end up where we're going."