Peter ,
Our years of advocacy for AFT members around the country is paying off.
We want everyone who wants to attend college to be able to do so, but it has become increasingly unaffordable. More than 42 million Americans, including many of our members, now owe $1.7 trillion in student debt.
Since 2016, the AFT has been working to address and abate this student debt crisis. We hosted thousands of debt clinics, pressed lawmakers for changes and took this fight to the courts. We took on one of the largest loan servicers in the country, Navient, and then in July of 2019, in a groundbreaking legal action, we sued then-Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos for mismanaging the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and leaving tens of thousands of borrowers with nowhere to turn when their relief was denied.
I am pleased to share that yesterday, Oct. 12, we reached a settlement in Weingarten v. DeVos. The Department of Education led by Secretary Miguel Cardona agreed to work with us to ensure relief for the countless borrowers who relied on the promise of Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
The department has agreed that a promise made is a promise kept.
Millions of Americans will now have their loans completely forgiven or will be properly enrolled in a forgiveness program crediting their years of past payments, putting them much closer to full forgiveness. The AFT’s nurses, educators, public employees, school staff and higher education staff will all benefit from these changes.
Last week’s announcement of a temporary waiver of many PSLF program provisions was big. The Department of Education made much-needed changes, expanding who qualifies for PSLF and making the system more manageable. (If you will qualify under this waiver, it’s critical to apply for it by Oct. 31, 2022.)
This week, with the settlement of Weingarten v. DeVos, we have more good news to share. Since the creation of the program in 2007, 98 percent of all borrowers who have applied for PSLF have been denied. With the Education Department’s temporary waiver, plus this settlement, every one of those borrowers’ PSLF applications will be reviewed and processed through a new review procedure.
We expect this new review process—which is the core of this settlement—to result in complete discharge for tens of thousands of student loan borrowers across the country, including teachers, nurses, firefighters and others eligible for PSLF.
The Biden administration continues to work on implementation of these changes, with input from the AFT and others, to ensure a fast, clear and simple process so public service workers can get full credit for the payments they made toward PSLF and soon see a zero balance on their student loan statements. And the AFT continues to work on behalf of our 1.7 million members to get them the help they deserve through hundreds of AFT student debt clinics and through our partnership with Summer, an online resource that helps members navigate and reduce student loan debt.
If you are a current AFT member who may be affected by this settlement:
The AFT will help you navigate this new process with our partner Summer. Working with Summer, AFT members already have saved $500 million on student loans. Summer helps AFT members take the steps necessary to qualify for PSLF, including under the just-announced temporary waiver. AFT members can sign up for a free account with Summer here: https://www.meetsummer.org/pslf
If you are a borrower who works in public service and want individualized help from a PSLF expert, you can join the AFT as an associate member now and access a Summer account: https://www.aft.org/joinsummer
I’m so happy with how this has worked out. We’re seeing firsthand the difference it makes when we have a president and a secretary of education who believe in education and in delivering on promises made to Americans.
In unity,
Randi Weingarten
AFT President
P.S.: If you want to stay up to date on our advocacy efforts around student debt and other issues, be sure to sign up for my e-Activist list.
Randi Weingarten, President
Fedrick Ingram, Secretary-Treasurer | Evelyn DeJesus, Executive Vice President
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