Page 12 - aruba-today-20230824

A12 BUSINESS
Thursday 24 augusT 2023
I was surprised when some of my

student loans were canceled.

Yours might be, too

By JAE BRATTON
of NerdWallet
In 2022, I left the teaching
profession, convinced that
the public service loan for-
giveness (PSLF) I had been
pursuing for the past 14
years was no longer a pos-
sibility. When I changed ca-
reers, I had nearly $50,000
in student loan debt.
But in 2023, my loan ser-
vicer informed me that New graduates line up before the start of a community college
almost $40,000 of that bal- commencement in East Rutherford, N.J., on May 17, 2018.
ance had been forgiven. Associated Press
This surprising reversal hap- Education, the adjustment payments. Borrowers who
pened because a limited isn’t tied to public service don’t qualify for PSLF need
PSLF waiver temporarily and applies to borrowers 240 or 300 qualifying pay-
gave borrowers credit for with a Direct Loan or Fed- ments to get forgiveness,
payments toward loan eral Family Education Loan depending on the type of
forgiveness that normally (FFEL), including Parent loans. “We recommend
wouldn’t count toward PLUS loans, and gives cred- submitting a PSLF form ev-
PSLF and waived the re- it toward PSLF or income- ery year and every time
quirement that borrowers driven repayment (IDR) you switch jobs to make
must work in public service loan forgiveness for: sure your payment count
at the time of application Any month in which a bor- is updated,” says Amy Czu-
and forgiveness. rower was in a repayment lada, outreach and advo-
The bad news: The waiver status, regardless of wheth- cacy manager at the Stu-
that helped me get loan er payments were partial dent Borrower Protection
forgiveness expired Oct. or late, the loan type or the Center.
31, 2022. repayment plan. BE PREPARED TO PUSH BACK
The good news, according Any month in which loans After submitting my PSLF
to Abby Shafroth, director were in an eligible repay- application, I received
of the Student Loan Bor- ment, deferment or for- periodic correspondence
rower Assistance Project bearance status prior to from Mohela, my loan ser-
at the National Consumer consolidation. vicer, with updated pay-
Law Center: “If you didn’t Months while a borrow- ment counts. By Decem-
already take advantage er spent at least 12 con- ber 2022, I had 66 qualify-
of the limited waiver … secutive or 36 cumulative ing payments; a month
there’s still time to receive months in forbearance. later, I had 91. Finally, in
almost the same benefits,” Any month spent in defer- May 2023, I passed the
which may lead to loan ment (except in-school de- 120-payment threshold on
cancellation for some bor- ferment) prior to 2013. two loans and was notified
rowers. Here’s how. Borrowers in the PSLF pro- that those balances were
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF RULE
CHANGES gram or who have ever forgiven.
But getting across the fin-
been enrolled in a pay-
Millions of borrowers will see ment plan don’t need to ish line required self-advo-
their payment counts to- do anything to receive the cacy. When I noticed that
ward forgiveness increase adjustment. But if you’re some of my employment
through a one-time adjust- aiming for PSLF, you may hadn’t been approved
ment that’ll be applied to need to submit an employ- — even though I correctly
accounts in waves from ment certification form to filled out my PSLF applica-
July 2023 through some- ensure that months worked tion — I called Mohela and
time in 2024. According in public service count to- asked a loan counselor to
to the U.S. Department of
ward the required 120 total reevaluate my PSLF form
and update payment
counts accordingly. q

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