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By Roz Brown
Texas Press Service
AUSTIN, Texas – Hundreds of thousands of teachers, nurses, social workers, military officers and other public servants can breathe a sigh of relief as the Biden administration has promised major reforms the civil service loan forgiveness program.
Miguel Cardona, US Secretary of Education, said the program will be streamlined, so about 550,000 more people will be eligible.
“In 2007, Congress made a commitment to forgo loans if you serve the community for ten years, and we’re going to fix it,†Cardona said.
The program is supposed to repay the remaining loans for people who have made payments for ten years while pursuing a qualifying occupation. Until now, people had to have some type of loan. Now they will be able to get a waiver, allowing them to count payments on other types of student loans under the remission program.
Dr Jessica Saint-Paul, who works at a nonprofit healthcare organization, said many borrowers struggle to navigate the current process or, like her, learn unexpectedly that the payments that they performed for forgiveness are not eligible.
“After 10 years, that’s when I found out ‘Oh, you’re in the wrong loan and you’re not in a payment plan, so you’re going to have to start over.’ “said Saint-Paul. recount. “There was no difference between me and a borrower who is starting to pay off loans for the very first time from scratch.”
Ahead of this week’s announcement, a General accounts report found that 99% of applicants to the current civil service loan forgiveness program are turned down.
According to the Institute for College Access and Success, in 2019, 48% of students in Texas graduate with student debt that averaged nearly $ 27,000.
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