Public Service Loan Forgiveness – Updates

“Applying for Public Service Loan Forgiveness: 5 Tips for Success” was posted on the official blog of the U.S. Department of Education, outlining tips for applying for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. “The qualifying payments are where most folks get hung up. I’ve heard many financial aid officers talk about how easy it is for someone to accidentally mess up a qualifying payment. Paying too early in the month before the next billing or even paying more than the minimum due can throw the payments off. Only 1% of folks have qualified and the largest payoff I’ve seen is about $50,000,” said Dr. Lisa Greenhill, Senior Director for Institutional Research and Diversity of the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC). The AAVMC partners with the American Veterinary Medical Association and the Veterinary Medical Association Executives to lead the Veterinary Debt Initiative.

On MarketWatch.com, Jillian Berman’s Oct. 10 “Meet the lawyer who had $38,000 in student debt forgiven — he’s one of just 5% of people who did it” highlighted an individual who had his student debt forgiven through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program: “Over the past several months, politicians and pundits have debated the merits of mass student-debt cancellation. Jeffrey Morgan is one of the few to know first-hand what it’s like to have the government forgive your student debt.”

InsideHigherEd.com’s Andrew Kreighbaum provided commentary Oct. 10 on a new report from the American Enterprise Institute in  “Misplaced Student Loan Blame.” Kreighbaum wrote: “No program has better exemplified the complexity of the loan system than Public Service Loan Forgiveness” and “much of the anger over student loans is mistakenly assigned to loan servicers. While there are real customer service failures at servicers, much of borrowers’ frustration stems from the design of the federal loan program.”

Related resources:

  • For more information about PSLF, visit AVMA’s PSLF webpage.
  • The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) wants to hear from veterinarians who would be impacted by cuts to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Share your story here.