WASHINGTON – Kelly Finlaw, a middle school art teacher at I.S. 128 in New York City, thought she qualified for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), a federal program that forgives student loans for public servants with 10 years of on-time payments. Her loan servicer at the time told her she was on track for the program every year for a decade.
But in 2017, her application was denied.
“I need to resign myself that I’m going to die with this debt,” Finlaw said. “This program was supposed to protect me. I needed to be protected from this program.”
Now a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the Department of Education and U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, Finlaw shared her story at a hearing on Thursday before the House Committee of Education and Labor.
What happened to Finlaw isn’t uncommon. Many public servants have worked toward loan forgiveness under this program, only to find out they’re ineligible ten years later.
Since the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program began in 2007, 99.6 percent of applications have been denied. In response, Congress passed the Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness to broaden the program in 2018. But the low acceptance rate held steady, according to a 2019 Government Accountability Office report.
“If a student applies and is denied, it’s normally the student’s fault. But if 99 percent are denied, it’s the program’s fault,” said Chairman Rep. Bobby Scott D-Va. “These aren’t puzzles or contests. This is a program you’re supposed to benefit from, and having all these hurdles and barriers is just totally unreasonable.”
