This may have already been addressed but is it possible that a person can put in 9.5 years at a job that qualifies for public loan forgiveness all in hopes of their loans being forgiven only to have the government change the law and eliminate the program?

Wouldnt that be unconstitutional? People are relying on this law and are making life decisions based on it only to have it changed on us last second?

Unlike the many government programs, Public Service Loan Forgiveness is not subject to appropriations or the budgetary process.  Because only Federal Direct Loans are eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, when a borrower qualifies, the federal government writes off debt owed; the United States Department of Treasury does not expend revenue.  Additionally, Public Service Loan Forgiveness brings loan revenue into the Federal Direct lending program (because many borrowers will need to consolidate into Federal Direct to qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness).

Also, the College Cost Reduction and Access Act created savings to the federal government of about $43.6 billion by cutting subsidies previously paid to lenders (the formulas used to calculate lender yields on student loans were changed,  lender exceptional performer status was eliminated, the level of insurance provided to lenders was reduced, the lender origination fee on loans was increased, guaranty agency retention amounts were reduced, guaranty agency account maintenance fees, which are paid to guarantors annually),

It would take an act of Congress to take away Public Service Loan Forgiveness and Income-Based Repayment from borrowers.  That said, there are no guarantees in life and Congress can do what they want.  If a future Congress reconsidered Public Service Loan Forgiveness, my hope is that those borrowers who are already well along the path to Public Service Loan Forgiveness (have consolidated loans into Federal Direct, chosen a qualifying repayment plan, and completed a number of payments towards forgiveness) would be permitted to complete the forgiveness process.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for the very informative reply.

I would feel a lot more secure if they would somehow allow borrowers to enroll into a Public Service Loan Forgiveness system while you are actively employed in a public service field and making payments(for example, i would start proving and providing documentation that i am working for a non profit) instead of forcing us to wait the entire ten years and than providing them with documentation.

It just doesnt feel real until you see it in there system and approved.

Thanks again.

I hear that!  And soon, there will be a way to document your employment.  Check out the Draft Forms from my tools page.

The Department of Education has said the following:

If the Department receives an Employment Certification form from you before you are
eligible to apply for forgiveness, the Department will retain the form(s) you submit until
you submit the Public Service Loan Forgiveness application.  The Department will
conduct an initial review to check that the Employment Certification form(s) are
complete, that your employer qualifies as a public service organization, and that the
loan payments you made during the period covered by the Employment Certification
form(s) are qualifying payments.

It might be just my computer but the links dont work.

This is a good development. Please keep us posted on when these forms are released.

Weird.  Not sure what I did wrong.  Go to my tools page and scroll down to important forms.