Over 750,000 educators and public service workers have received $53.5 billion in student loan forgiveness through the Limited PSLF Waiver (and counting).
On January 10, NEA-New Hampshire members and staff participated in a roundtable with U.S. Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to discuss the positive impact of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
The PSLF program was created in recognition of the many ways public service workers make our communities, and our nation, better. However, for too long the system was broken, meaning educators who earned cancellation were being rejected from forgiveness.
Thanks to the advocacy of educators and due to efforts by the Biden Administration, many of these issues have been fixed. While the Limited Waiver expired on October 31, 2022, PSLF is still here for educators and other public service workers.
NEA-NH member Sarah Burgess, a middle school teacher, shared that student loan forgiveness is enabling her to make much needed and overdue upgrades to her home.
Over $100,000 of NEA-NH staff member Lorri Hayes’ outstanding student loan debt was recently forgiven. She’s been paying down that debt for thirty years, and now has added security and confidence looking toward retirement and helping her children through college.
“I have that to actually live on, rather than put toward student loans,” Hayes said.
“What scares me the most is how education is no longer a public good…you wonder when did it become that it’s no longer a public good that’s important for America to support, but instead something that we have to take out loans on.”
At the roundtable discussion, Secretary Cardona thanked NEA and AFT for “being the tentacles to get people to learn about this” program.
“You are a part of this success. It’s stories like yours that drive this, not actions solely in D.C. when we’re writing policies. But we need those stories to be elevated,” Cardona stated.
The event also broadly touched on the Administration’s goals to improve access to student loan forgiveness, access to higher education, and investment of education.
Cardona concluded the event by saying, “If we don’t invest in education, we’re not investing in our children. In this country it’s not good enough to recover from the pandemic. We need to raise the bar. We need to lead the world.”
NEA’s student debt experts have created tools designed to help educators through the PSLF application process. If you are interested in learning more and seeing if you qualify for loan forgiveness, please visit NEA.