Public Student Loan Forgiveness: Is It Happening?

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, launched in 2007, is meant for students who have gone on to teach, work for nonprofits, or work for the government. The program is now 10 years old, so that original set of applicants should be filing now to have the balance of their school loans forgiven. Whether they will be successful remains to be seen.

The American Bar Association (ABA), along with several lawyers, is suing the Department of Education for changing the rules in the middle of the program. In this case, lawyers were accepted into the program, and then were told their employers did not qualify because a professional association is not a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

Chong Park, a partner at the law firm Ropes & Gray representing the ABA and the individual plaintiffs, said in a statement:

The expectations and financial well-being of thousands of dedicated public servants hang in the balance in this case. In its new filing, the Department of Education unfortunately reiterates that it has no intention of upholding promises made under the very program it created. We find this position unfair and unlawful.

Each year is a new application, and after ten years, another application, with wording vague enough to leave room for denial to the applicants who have been waiting 10 years for the resolution.