The State of Student Loans — October 2021

PSLF updates, servicers quit, and forbearance ends.

Photo by Mikhail Nilov from Pexels

Student loans take up an inordinate amount of many people’s finances, and subsequently their attention. Unfortunately, student loan borrowers are facing a spate of disruptions in a short amount of time in the near future.

PSLF Update

It’s no secret that the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program has garnered its fair share of criticism, much of it deserved, especially in the early years when forgiveness was first available (2017). While the program is running much better 4 years later, the first cohort of applicants is still running into trouble…and making headlines.

NPR ran an article that explained some of the issues, including incorrect denial of the Employment Certification Form. The ECF is now defunct, as it has been combined with the actual application forgiveness, creating a single form for both requests.

The article links to a study from the Student Borrower Protection Center, which had this to say:

The documents show that ED (Education Department) and PHEAA (Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, which runs FedLoans) have blocked thousands of people who clearly work in public service — including educators — from pursuing PSLF, often…