The window created by the Limited Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Waiver will close in four months, and the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) wants to make sure academics get a chance to receive the waiver’s benefits.
“Most college and university full time employees are now eligible under the PSLF program,” said Kathryn Enke, secretary to the board and strategist for presidential initiatives at the AAC&U.
Enke welcomed campus leaders and student loan borrowers by the hundreds to a webinar focused on helping those working at public or non-profit institutions understand just how to apply for this forgiveness, and to do so well before the waiver ends on Oct. 31, 2022.
Ashley Harrington, senior advisor to the chief operating officer at the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Federal Student Aid.
The waiver makes many changes to the traditional rules that outline PSLF. Provided that a borrower’s loans are consolidated into a Direct Consolidation Loan before Oct. 31, the waiver allows any period of past repayment to count towards PSLF. And, even if payments have been late or under expected amounts, they will still count as credit toward the required 120 payments needed to receive PSLF.
“You can now get credit for time in repayment when it was a Federal Family Education Loan program (FFEL) or a Perkins loan,” said Ashley Harrington, senior advisor to the chief operating officer at the Office of Federal Student Aid. Before the waiver, FFEL and Perkins loans did not qualify for PSLF payment credit.
Harrington spoke to attendees not only as an expert, but as a borrower herself. Harrington borrowed as a graduate student to attend New York University’s School of Law.
