Over 1 million public service workers have received forgiveness under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, the White House announced Thursday.
A program that had been in shambles under the previous administration has, thanks to numerous fixes made by the Biden-Harris administration, now forgiven $74 billion in student loans held by public service workers, including AFSCME members.
AFSCME fought alongside the Biden-Harris administration to repair the PSLF program, which encourages public service work with the promise of having the balance of federal direct student loans forgiven after 10 years of repayments.
Prior to the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts, however, only a fraction of public service workers had seen forgiveness due to mismanagement of the program. Before Biden took office, just 7,000 PSLF-eligible borrowers had seen their loans forgiven. And in 2017, then- President Donald Trump even proposed cutting the program.
But thanks to the leadership shown by the Biden-Harris administration and their commitment to supporting public service workers, borrowers have been seeing relief. AFSCME Now has told the stories of union members who’ve had the weight of student debt lifted and are finally able to plan for their futures. Read them here, here, and here.
Fixing the PSLF program is just one example of how the Biden-Harris administration continues to deliver for public service workers, and why AFSCME is all in for Kamala Harris for president.
While the 1 millionth borrower to receive public service loan forgiveness marks a major turning point for the PSLF program, if Trump wins a second term, that’s all in jeopardy. Trump’s Project 2025 would eliminate the PSLF program.
That would mean nearly 3.6 million public service workers who would’ve had their loans forgiven under PSLF would be on the hook for $250 billion in debt.
And Project 2025 doesn’t stop there. It would destroy many of our other freedoms, like our union, our contracts and more.