The Biden Administration has announced that it will cancel $10,000 of student loan debt for individual borrowers with an annual income of under $125,000 or under $250,000 for married couples. Borrowers who received a Pell Grant as undergraduates will be eligible for up to $20,000 worth of forgiveness. Due to its potential to help many psychologists and graduate students with student loan debt, APA Services has advocated (PDF, 97KB) for such an action since President Biden announced it as part of his campaign platform. The administration is also extending the pandemic-related pause of student loan payments through December 31, 2022.
Additionally, as part of its continued advocacy related to student loan debt and forgiveness, APA Services submitted comments (PDF, 424KB) to the Department of Education on a proposed rule that would make improvements to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, among which are several recommended changes from comments APA Services’ submitted last year. This includes proposed changes to the definition of qualifying employer and full-time employment; proposed changes to the application and reconsideration processes; and proposed changes to the calculation of payments. The comments also make several recommendations for further action, in particular, calling on the department to extend the temporary PSLF waiver and permanently codify it, to the extent possible.
In addition to making changes to PSLF, the proposed rule would eliminate interest capitalization on student loans, in cases where it is not required by law. APA Services strongly supports this action (PDF, 193KB).
To further amplify these comments and include the psychologist voice as part of the messaging, APA Services worked with the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students and the Committee on Early Career Psychologists to submit over 300 additional comments that included the perspective of current and future psychologists with student loan debt.
The department aims to finalize the rule by November 1, so that it can go into effect by July 1, 2023.
For more information, contact Kenneth Polishchuk.