Page 14 - The EDGE Fall 2022

ANNUAL CONFERENCE & EXPO WRAP-UP

BY DON HARRIS
Lanaya Ewald
Your Student Loan May Be Eligible for Forgiveness

AASBO members still struggling to pay off their She said $7.9 billion has been forgiven since 2017.
student loans have a reason to smile, thanks to
federal loan forgiveness programs that many school The Covid 19 waiver, signed in March 2020 by
employees apparently do not know about. President Trump, provides that $1 trillion is currently
in loan forbearance, meaning no payments have
An expert in the field provided a step-by-step been required and continue to be deferred through
explanation of the requirements of each program December 31, 2022.
and how AASBO members can possibly have their
remaining student loan balance wiped out. Even Recently announced under the Biden administration
before Lanaya Ewald, with Equitable, a financial is an additional forgiveness opportunity for all
services company, began a breakout session at the borrowers, regardless of employment. It forgives up
AASBO Summer Conference and Expo, a member to $10,000 or $20,000, depending on certain factors.
of the audience offered his own success story. Ewald explained that the $10,000 is for everyone,
even if loans are currently in default. If a borrower
Quentin Boyce, Superintendent of Roosevelt
School District, told how he woke up his entire
family when he received notice that his student loan
had zero balance – $142,000 had been forgiven. “It
was liberating,” said Boyce, who had been certified
in the PSLF (Public Service Loan Forgiveness)
program.

Ewald advised AASBO members there is only
one source to get the information on the loan
forgiveness programs – the U.S. Department of
Education. “Don’t go to Google or Wikipedia,” she
said. She asked how many in the audience still had
outstanding student loans. Several hands went up.

“This is scary,” Ewald said. “There is over $1.7
trillion in student loan debt. Of that, $110.5 billion
is in default. Payments stopped and they’re in
collections. There are 45 million borrowers, and of
that, those in the public service sector don’t even
know forgiveness programs exist.”

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14 THE EDGE FALL 2022