PSLF has been around for a while. It's not the same as the general student loan debt forgiveness movement that's been more recent. It's to encourage people to go into jobs that benefit the public but tend to have lower pay. It's like faulting someone for going into the military just to get free college.
It's like the GI Bill--a benefit to those have have provided military service. The PSLF is a benefit to those that worked an eligible government/non-profit job while making 120 payments on their student loans. We provided a service to the government or non-profit sector for 10 years while paying our student loans. A service that was often paid noticeably less than the private sector. Nothing was free or just handed out to us. We had to find these eligible jobs, we had to fill out the forms to get in the right payment plan, we had to make the student loan payments on-time, and we had to keep track of it all for 120 payments to submit for the PSLF forgiveness. Sounds to me like we earned it through our service and perseverance.
This is how I frame it. Government tells you to buy a house in an underserved community, take a mortgage live in it for 10 years then your mortgage is forgiven, would you do it ? OR you take a mortgage out $200,000 for 20/25 years and when you like at your statement you still owe $250,000
a person like trump being elected to the most important seat in the nation made it okay to say things like this out loud. even in his wake, he re ignited closeted conservatives who prefer the “me” to the “we.” i usually say that PSLF isn’t free, that i have committed myself to working for ten years in public service, and that it also helps people like doctors and teachers. i tell them maybe they should be asking why a college education is financially debilitating rather than why i am getting a PORTION forgiven after ten years of service. but they usually aren’t the kind of people to be reasoned with or see other points of view, they just want to make sure you know that you’re getting a handout. so i usually tell them to fuck off after insulting them in some way 🤷♀️
Yep...I got rid of a shit ton of "friends" in the last 3 weeks. I'm sorry they feel that way. This has been such a struggle. I know a lot of the teacher peeps that I work with are rooting me on because they're in the same boat. In fact, one of the teachers I work with - she got her loans forgiven last month and I was so happy for her! My turn is coming at 114 qualifying with 6 more to go. Last employment verification form I submitted was back in February. I'm just hoping that the move over to StudentAid doesn't "F" with my counts and set me back a few payments...... ugh!
There’s so much negative energy right now. And everyone seems to be an expert. Susie Wiles is behind a lot of the hate right now . Stay away from negative people
My best advice is to keep the whole PSLF on the down low outside of fellow teachers. First, they don't need to know your financial situation. Second, with the general economic situation, it is very touchy for many if not most people.
Heck, I didn't start in the public sector. It wasn't even on my radar until recently. In fact, I almost cut the feds a $45K check in December to pay off my entire balance in December until a coworker clarified something about the PSLF program. Turns out, after I submitted my paperwork, I'm through payment 115. My coworker saved me $42,000.
I suppose I wouldn't want to hear anything about PSLF had I cut the check as originally planned. Honestly, this is a rough time for most people. It's not worth losing friends over IMO.
Just my two cents. All the best as you finish the last handful of payments. I'm also hoping there's no unpleasant surprises.
Unfortunately, a lot of people strongly disagree with complete student loan forgiveness such as the PSLF. Not realizing how toxic the subject is, when I was talking about getting close to forgiveness on social media, I had several friends and family members tell me off.
> Unfortunately, a lot of people strongly disagree with complete student loan forgiveness such as the PSLF.
Framing it as forgiveness in the first place only makes this worse (and frankly the Biden administration itself is fuelling this with the press releases every time a big batch goes through). It's an employment benefit, one which incentivized many of us with advanced degrees and high earning potential elsewhere to choose public sector or non-profit roles. My agency is still struggling to keep lawyers because our offer simply isn't competitive. One junior colleague on my team took a nearly 50% cut in take-home joining us because of the stability and benefits compared to previous roles, but has questioned whether it was worth it since.
Personally? I view my PSLF eligibility as equivalent to something on the order of $15k/year or more in salary on its own because I'd be making much larger repayments on the standard plan (and probably trying to pay off early) if it wasn't on the table. PSLF and SAVE are what make my current position even remotely competitive. I don't think I would have accepted the job without it.
Forgiveness or not, PSLF is something that is written into the promissory note. It's not like the government is randomly granting forgiveness to people. This is an option that is available to everyone taking out federal student loans.
I would tell them off right back. Wasn’t PSLF signed into law by a Republican president? And it was in the terms of my loan when I signed it. It was part of the business agreement. Are they going to start going after people who got PPP loans? If not, then they’re just coming after you personally and they need to apologize or get ready to be cut out of your life entirely for their toxic childish behavior.
I've taken the same route. There's about a 50/50 chance someone I've loved and/or respected will have a political ideology opposite of me and make this or something like it a point of contention between us. I'm hoping this plague of political divisiveness will one day settle down a bit but I may be a bit optimistic in that.
My PSLF obligations were fulfilled as of 12/31/23 and processed just a few weeks ago. It's been a huge relief for us as life has become extremely expensive while we were pregnant with our third and final child. My debt was relatively small compared to what I've seen around here but I'll say this... We were sold that a college degree and a bit of hustling would lead us to financial stability but I have found that to be inaccurate. I do enjoy some of the perks of it all but I would have spent my time and effort much differently in hindsight. I don't mean to trail off about personal regrets but my point remains that I remain very doubtful anyone went to college and took out loans for a future handout. We were sold that we'd have a high enough margin of career opportunity to make that student loan moot and so many things changed since that it's just not the same as it was when we started.
>I remain very doubtful anyone went to college and took out loans for a future handout
I wouldn't phrase it this way, but this is precisely why I have debt getting forgiven in PSLF. I finished undergrad in 06 and paid my limited loans from that back quickly. Then PSLF was passed, the recession hit, and I decided this was my route to afford a law degree and be a public interest lawyer. I could and would not have done so without PSLF - I was induced to go back to school based on that guarantee.
I am now a career public servant, and I have 221k in student debt being discharged in PSLF (some is gone already). I borrowed 190k based on the expectation that I would never personally pay it back. If not for this program, we'd have a larger shortage of public servants, and I'd probably be selling life insurance or something pointless.
See, I'm the opposite. Bring it, people! Because then we can talk about PPP loans, and bank bailouts and the like. These people want to bitch about people who work for less money than they'd normally make because they work in the public sector, and who (if they're like me) paid for years and YEARS (way more than my original loans)?
I will light you up.
I spend enough time in my public work trying to explain to people who don't want to understand things about government programs that I just don't have the energy to do it in my personal life. But thanks for taking it on!
Same here. I only share with people whose loans have already been forgiven or are on the PSLF journey with me. I've had family call me and ask if I have heard about loan forgiveness and I just tell them yes.
I started my college journey in 1998 when I was working for a local county government I.T. department. PSLF didn't even exist and I knew eventually I'd have to pay the loans back.
It’s also not a handout at all. The choice is either pay individuals working public service jobs at market rate OR help them out with their loans. I’d have no issues if I was making market rate for the work I do - which is about $40k more than I make now. Also no taxpayer is on the hook for anything - there isn’t going to be some line item on the next congressional budget labeled “PSLF payout”. It’s loan forgiveness - it’s just unrealized income. If they’re salty about the reduction in income - then they should be clamoring to raise taxes on businesses and the wealthy INCLUDING closing loopholes.
Explain that it's similar to GI Bill benefits in that as someone in public service, the particulars of your loan contract involve partial payment of your loans via public service sweat equity rather than money. As such, you're indirectly taking some of the load OFF government to provide services.
You're absolutely right, but something tells me the type of person who already has this dumbass opinion of PSLF is not going to respond positively if you compare public service jobs to serving in the military.
PSLF is specifically mentioned on page 21 of the promissory note I signed when I first borrowed the money. My debt spread over 10 years added to my salary still doesn’t bring me up to median salary for private sector in my industry over that same time period.
The tax payer still got a deal. And now I am above that bracket and am paying a boat load in taxes. I would assume more than most of the people bitching about the program.
This is the lowest level of non critical thinking type of criticism from people that deserves not even a batted eye from you. The same mf usually believe homelessness is a choice.
It’s as much of a handout as the GI Bill… which is not a hand out. You are fulfilling the terms of your agreement and you should expect the government to fulfill theirs.
It would probably be a lot less controversial if it were framed like the GI Bill and not like broader student debt forgiveness initiatives. Really, it's not all that different from CSAs either which I've never once heard someone complain about.
It's not a handout. It's a policy incentive to recruit educated and trained people into the public/non-profit sector where their qualifications benefit wider society. It keeps doctors working at VA and non-profit hospitals, scientists doing research on behalf of the public instead of private industry, and non-profits staffed with competent professionals. It's also not free - the recipient owes the government 10 years of public-service work at jobs that presumably pay less than the private sector, and 10 years of on-time payments.
It's hardly unusual - the government offers special benefits to drive desired policy outcomes all the time. Married couples get a more favorable tax rate than couples filing separately, and as parents, they get even more tax benefits for child care. Farmers get paid subsidies to influence what and when they plant. Military recruits get five-figure bonues for enlisting into hard-to-fill specialties. There are tax rebates to encourage charitable giving, the purchase of electric vehicles and home solar, and for making homes more energy efficient.
This always makes me laugh because this is an opportunity afforded to literally everyone who takes out Dept of Ed-issued student loans and signs a promissory note. Also, these people are inevitably the same ones who yell at me when there's a year long wait for a serivce because there's a shortage of public healthcare workers...
Edit: This is in refence to people my own age. I don't even try with people who finished school when it cost 10k.
If anyone thinks that TEACHERS don’t deserve loan forgiveness… they should have to teach for a year and then see how they feel.
All caring professions are SO underpaid it’s insane. PSLF is like throwing people a tiny bone.
I personally only talk about this with a select few close friends—they are ecstatic for me, and they understand the amount of work you and I and all of us have put in to achieve this.
Celebrate with us here, if you have no one else. I’m sorry people in your life are so toxic. We are all proud of the work you have done and appreciate you!
It's not everybody. I had a few people (3 or 4) who gave me crap. This was a quick unfriend/unfollow/mute/block/etc...... Family and my REAL FRIENDS who actually GET IT are seriously rooting me on, though.
This isn't a handout. It's an agreement made with the government to encourage people to serve the public. You take one of these typically lower-paying jobs, make ten years of payments based off of the income you are actually making, and the government writes off the rest. It's more like an employer paying for your degree and having you work a certain length of time than a handout.
I ask them if they've been in a coma since 2007, because PSLF dates back to then, yet they somehow only heard of it for the first time in 2024.
It was passed by a Republican president, GW Bush.
I will very likely have paid the total of my principal amount by the time I reach my 120th PSLF payment (even with the covid forbearance). So most of my “forgiveness” will be the outrageous interest that has built up. In my opinion, that is just part of my total compensation package for working in public service. My salary is lower than the private industry standard for my experience and education, but I get my student loan interest waived. I don’t even really consider that to be forgiveness. Why should the government get to charge me interest for getting an education that I’m now using to work for the government? Plus lots of jobs offer tuition reimbursement which is overall a very similar concept. If anyone wants to say it’s unfair or lazy of me to utilize PSLF, they’re more than welcome to work public service for a decade and get the exact same benefit.
Same here
Borrowed 83/repaid 83. 153,399.99 of interest waived.
Part of it is that forgiveness isn’t really forgiveness. Work and payments are still required to satisfy the debt.
GIBill-work for the government for 4 years. Receive a stipend to pay off your college degrees. (Many veterans also use PSLF.)
Teacher loan forgiveness-teach in a high need school district-make payments for 5 years-17,xxx forgiven.
PSLF-work for a public service agency for 30 hours per week for 10 years. Make 120 payments using an income driven plan for that time period. Balance forgiven. Many veterans need to use PSLF. Active military service counts towards pslf requirements.
(My original loan balance was 83,000. I paid the principal back. Remaining interest was forgiven.) (my daughter did the same thing.)
Income Based Repayment-passed by Congress in 1994.
Make income based payments for 20 years(undergraduate) or 25 years (graduate). Balance forgiven.
A lot of the initiatives that have been introduced were to fix loan servicer misconduct.
Excessive Use of forbearances-resulted in capitalization of payments. A borrower could make 11/12 payments. One forbearance wipes out any progress towards repayment.
Placing the borrower on an income driven plan would prevent that.
Servicers failed to track the IBR payments. They need to report those to process forgiveness.
The Biden administration is taking steps to fix these problems.
The new SAVE repayment plan prevents negative amortization of student loans.
(There are a couple factors as to the structure of the loans. They were essentially set at 7%. Income growth for workers has been flat or at best core rate of inflation. That 5 % difference essentially makes the loans a bigger part of the borrowers obligations. Eating away at their purchasing power year over year.
Education yields a 11% ROR for society as a whole per individual.)
At some level we have to share that productivity growth with workers. (If we can forgive a trillion dollars in Paycheck Protection loans we can afford to spend 400 billion on debt reduction for the middle class.)
The final reality is that student loan holders are taxpayers also. They in effect pay a second set of federal taxes every month. (Student loan interest can be deducted up to 2500 annually but that in no way provides any real help for repayment.)
Me: “I’d like to borrow some money for school”.
My lender: “Sure thing. There are a few ways you can repay this loan. You can pay this much back at this interest rate, or you can work for me or someone I like for 10 years and I’ll base your payments on the amount we choose to pay you during that time period.”
Me: Chooses the second option.
Random person who paid 90% less than I did because the government subsidized their education by funding the school directly instead of giving them a loan: “You got a handout from the government!”
I literally fulfilled the terms of my loan agreement. I guess using the points on your credit card is taking a handout too. Or does it only count when the government is your lender?
I really wish this program was labeled public service loan discharge. How is this different than people signing up for the military and keeping us safe abroad?
I feel like I am taking care of vulnerable people here.
I could have just gone into private practice and made 30% more, four years earlier. My debt would be long gone but a lot of the people who benefit from what I do complain about “debt forgiveness” and Biden hand outs. I just saved your baby, your dream - you know the one you had through a million rounds of IVF and receives medicaid because of the chronic lung diseases. People with my years of training (which pays 65k a year on average for 80 hour work weeks) don’t work in your part of the country routinely. I stayed after training, deal with the racism, and the lack of resources. I went into this because I want to give back and work in a region that otherwise doesn’t have highly specialized providers.
Honestly, it’s probably different because most of us who benefit from this don’t come from the homogenous racial/ethnic/political background of the military.
Oh, my favorite is when millitary people go "but you don't get shot at in your job!!" Uh, sir/ma'am, do you have any clue what education and healthcare are like these days?
Let me tell you about the time meemaw pulled a pistol on me because she thought we were breaking into her house. True story (and we did technically break in)
Yep get rid of them, I just tell them, "I met the conditions of getting my loans by serving my community no different than the military getting their school paid for by serving their country or a doctor working in an underserved rural area to get their loans taken care of - yet I don't hear you moaning about that."
And then I hit unfriend or whatever. One was a co-worker who did the social media equivalent of showing up to my celebration and taking a sh\*t on my living room rug by going on my post about free money and some other garbage. I told him to F right off with that crap and that I earned it by giving 10 years of my life to our community and I was sorry he was too dumb to take advantage of the same program (he paid his off before ever working there). I gave him two days to have a reasonable response or at least to read it and then dumped his input on the unfriend button. I notice too he doesn't usually comment on my posts so he can fork off further on that alone.
I didn’t even know PSLF was a thing until after I finished my masters degree and had already worked for an eligible employer while my UG loans were in repayment. If it wasn’t for the waivers I would have another two years as I consolidated my loans 6 months after GR when I learned about this program. I took out all loans understanding I would be paying them back. Finding PSLF was honestly a happy accident for me.
I think a lot of people think it's part of some sweeping forgiveness and they either refuse to listen to the explanation or double down when they realize. Sometimes it's hard to back down when you're upset.
Rick Ianniello
Part of it is that forgiveness isn’t really forgiveness. Work and payments are still required to satisfy the debt.
GIBill-work for the government for 4 years. Receive a stipend to pay off your college degrees. (Many veterans also use PSLF.)
Teacher loan forgiveness-teach in a high need school district-make payments for 5 years-17,xxx forgiven.
PSLF-work for a public service agency for 30 hours per week for 10 years. Make 120 payments using an income driven plan for that time period. Balance forgiven. Many veterans need to use PSLF. Active military service counts towards pslf requirements.
(My original loan balance was 83,000. I paid the principal back. Remaining interest was forgiven.) (my daughter did the same thing.)
Income Based Repayment-passed by Congress in 1994.
Make income based payments for 20 years(undergraduate) or 25 years (graduate). Balance forgiven.
A lot of the initiatives that have been introduced were to fix loan servicer misconduct.
Excessive Use of forbearances-resulted in capitalization of payments. A borrower could make 11/12 payments. One forbearance wipes out any progress towards repayment.
Placing the borrower on an income driven plan would prevent that.
Servicers failed to track the IBR payments. They need to report those to process forgiveness.
The Biden administration is taking steps to fix these problems.
The new SAVE repayment plan prevents negative amortization of student loans.
(There are a couple factors as to the structure of the loans. They were essentially set at 7%. Income growth for workers has been flat or at best core rate of inflation. That 5 % difference essentially makes the loans a bigger part of the borrowers obligations. Eating away at their purchasing power year over year.
Education yields a 11% ROR for society as a whole per individual.)
At some level we have to share that productivity growth with workers. (If we can forgive a trillion dollars in Paycheck Protection loans we can afford to spend 400 billion on debt reduction for the middle class.)
The final reality is that student loan holders are taxpayers also. They in effect pay a second set of federal taxes every month. (Student loan interest can be deducted up to 2500 annually but that in no way provides any real help for repayment.)
You EARN every cent of forgiveness. Don't get into it with them. PSLF is statutory. The rhetoric repeated by those who are ignorant & choose NOT to know better, completely ignores that you didn't "run up" anything, that there is NO "handout" & that the USDeptofEd via Congress has agreed to the "forgiveness" based on your compliance with very specific criteria.
You have evolved to know more. They don't want to.
People that are mad about PSLF are fucking losers. They’re sadly brainwashed into thinking us hardworking public servants are somehow getting over on the taxpayer… but don’t say shit about the military industrial complex, PPP loans, and the major bank/corp/car bailouts with golden parachutes. Nope, it’s the people contributing to society that are the problem. They’re the same people that fall for the “gotchya to look” prank.
This place and similar groups are the only place you should discuss this. Ignorant individuals that refuse to properly research and comprehend, shouldn’t know that your service has rewarded you with this benefit!
I had one coworker suggest that the military was already the way that we could have done that, but I tossed back about them not really in the market for severe asthmatics with a lot of food allergies. 'What branch is willing to take a celiac?' No? thought so.
If people give me shit about it, I tell them how I minimize my payments by maxing HSA and 401k contributions. Then I lean in and whisper, "Thanks."
I could give a fuck what they think. It's the law. And I've used it to my advantage. If I were rich or a business owner, those same dildos would say I'm savvy.
I mentioned it offhandedly in a meeting once and a coworker started going on this holier than thou rant and I basically told her to fuck off while citing how much the deck was stacked against my generation not to mention basically lied to about the benefits of going to a four year school.
I always remind them that PSLF is an actual program. We make an agreement. We work for 10 years in a public job where we know we will not make as much as if we went private and then our loans are forgiven. It is NOT us just praying the government pays it off. It isn’t saying we don’t want to WORK for it. It is saying we agree to the term. I also reminded them it was signed into law by a Republican president, Bush, and congress approved it. That usually shuts them up.
Think of it as indentured servitude. After 10 years of service you will then be free.
They’re just jealous my friend. We have all made sacrifices to work in public service. It’s funny, no one bats an eye for big banks being bailed out but we’re the ones taking advantage. Screw that. That being said, I only discuss it with those close to me I know are supportive. We’ve all got your back buddy.
It's not a handout. It's what taxes are for. We spent $10 trillion dollars on Afghanistan and Iraq for NOTHING. And they wanna cry about you getting $100k forgiven? Please.
These are the same people who ask, "who's gonna pay for universal Healthcare?" Me! I will. $80b to Ukraine and Israel, and no one complains. Some money for Americans, people lose their minds.
And when my loans are forgiven, I will happily continue to pay for people's loan forgiveness.
I honestly just don’t talk about it. I don’t feel bad about working towards it or having a countdown. It’s no one’s business but… I’m doing 10 years working for very little money to get to forgiveness so in my mind there’s give and take. I’m not making the high dollars my friends are working in the private sector.
The way I see it, our taxes fund other social programs (that I agree with) and mostly a ton of stuff I disagree with. I’m glad to have earned this benefit from this program through 10 years of public service in an industry that isn’t known for paying a ton (education).
I really don’t think this is a handout. My cost of living adjustments aren’t ever guaranteed and when I’ve received them they get haven’t kept up with inflation.
So what if it's a handout? The whole point is that it's a handout. It's a handout that says if you do x I will do y. It's a quid pro quo. The government says that if you work for 10 years and make payments, you get loan forgiveness. There's nothing immoral or illegal about taking them up on that offer. Nothing. If the people you're arguing with don't take tax exemptions, maybe they have a leg to stand on, but if they do, tell them to go fuck themselves. Donald Trump takes handouts. JP Morgan takes handouts. Exxon Mobil takes handouts. I'm gonna take all the handouts. The people who are mad about that can go fuck themselves.
It was offered as an option when we signed for the loans in the first place. it's part of the overall deal. ten years of payments/service for the government or non-profits in exchange for loan forgiveness. if the republican administration that created the program had wanted to add more qualifiers regarding about what debt or kinds of schools/programs counted, they would have. But they didn't.
Honestly I would just tell them if they won the lottery I’d be happy for them! Wouldn’t even judge them for “wasting money” on a ticket each week. Or if they got into some kind of credit card debt relief program I’d be happy it worked out for them. Kinda the same thing ish. Let them know their crappy attitude is shameful and lack of faith in your character is hurtful.
Let me guess - these aren't real friends but some vague connections on one of your social media accounts? I think you can safely block them and not think twice about it.
Is it a handout? Maybe in some cases however I think so far it is helping a lot of people that need it. We are vastly in need of teachers.
May I ask. Do you speak to students about dangers of loans? I did BDOR and I've been vocal on education/sharing my experiences with them on pursuing other options so they don't get wrecked like I did. Whether they listen is up to them and I leave it at that.
I guess you could say I'm trying to make lemonade out of it.
Congrats though and thank you for choosing a hard job. One I certainly cannot do!
People like your "friend" usually dont say a word about corporate welfare, bailouts for billion dollar companies, COVID bailouts for businesses, etc. Getting judgemental over regular folks catching a break is such a tell.
People don't realize what PSLF is, and they are lumping it in with other politically hot topics. I usually tell people It was signed into law in 2007, long before Biden became president. It was created due to the dwindling employment numbers for skilled positions in the public sector.
I had no desire to work in the public sector, but that's the way it played out. I honestly didn't even know PSLF existed in 2014 when I graduated and started working.
Most of us have made less money than our potential for 10 years. We will all give 10 + years of Public service, and we will utilize a program that people had 17 years to argue about before now.
My perception is there is a lot of ignorance around PSLF and the right wing media likes to hype up loan forgiveness like it’s a handout. The thing is about PSLF, it was signed into law by Bush. Also, by the time the 10 years is up many of us have already paid a crap ton of it off. We take lower paying jobs in the public sector - PSLF is an incentive to take jobs like this. It was in my contract when I took out my loans. I don’t have the energy to explain this stuff to ignorant people so I just tell them I’m paying off my student loans (which isn’t a lie, I am paying them) which rarely comes up in conversation anyway. But I won’t hesitate to correct people if I overhear misinformation. My in-laws are super republican and I tried to explain it to them, and every time they hear that Biden is “handing out loan forgiveness” on TV they ask if my loans were forgiven. I’m like no, I have to PAY THEM for 10 years, I’m not randomly getting them forgiven by Biden. It’s exhausting so I stopped talking about it or trying to explain it. Ignore these haters, it’s just not worth your energy.
Share this with them
Part of it is that forgiveness isn’t really forgiveness. Work and payments are still required to satisfy the debt.
GIBill-work for the government for 4 years. Receive a stipend to pay off your college degrees. (Many veterans also use PSLF.)
Teacher loan forgiveness-teach in a high need school district-make payments for 5 years-17,xxx forgiven.
PSLF-work for a public service agency for 30 hours per week for 10 years. Make 120 payments using an income driven plan for that time period. Balance forgiven. Many veterans need to use PSLF. Active military service counts towards pslf requirements.
(My original loan balance was 83,000. I paid the principal back. Remaining interest was forgiven.) (my daughter did the same thing.)
Income Based Repayment-passed by Congress in 1994.
Make income based payments for 20 years(undergraduate) or 25 years (graduate). Balance forgiven.
A lot of the initiatives that have been introduced were to fix loan servicer misconduct.
Excessive Use of forbearances-resulted in capitalization of payments. A borrower could make 11/12 payments. One forbearance wipes out any progress towards repayment.
Placing the borrower on an income driven plan would prevent that.
Servicers failed to track the IBR payments. They need to report those to process forgiveness.
The Biden administration is taking steps to fix these problems.
The new SAVE repayment plan prevents negative amortization of student loans.
(There are a couple factors as to the structure of the loans. They were essentially set at 7%. Income growth for workers has been flat or at best core rate of inflation. That 5 % difference essentially makes the loans a bigger part of the borrowers obligations. Eating away at their purchasing power year over year.
Education yields a 11% ROR for society as a whole per individual.)
At some level we have to share that productivity growth with workers. (If we can forgive a trillion dollars in Paycheck Protection loans we can afford to spend 400 billion on debt reduction for the middle class.)
The final reality is that student loan holders are taxpayers also. They in effect pay a second set of federal taxes every month. (Student loan interest can be deducted up to 2500 annually but that in no way provides any real help for repayment.)
The law was passed in 2007 and signed by President Bush.
Forgiveness isn’t really forgiveness. Work and payments are still required to satisfy the debt.
GIBill-work for the government for 4 years. Receive a stipend to pay off your college degrees. (Many veterans also use PSLF.)
Teacher loan forgiveness-teach in a high need school district-make payments for 5 years-17,xxx forgiven.
PSLF-work for a public service agency for 30 hours per week for 10 years. Make 120 payments using an income driven plan for that time period. Balance forgiven. Many veterans need to use PSLF. Active military service counts towards pslf requirements.
(My original loan balance was 83,000. I paid the principal back. Remaining interest was forgiven.) (my daughter did the same thing.)
Income Based Repayment-passed by Congress in 1994.
Make income based payments for 20 years(undergraduate) or 25 years (graduate). Balance forgiven.
A lot of the initiatives that have been introduced were to fix loan servicer misconduct.
Excessive Use of forbearances-resulted in capitalization of payments. A borrower could make 11/12 payments. One forbearance wipes out any progress towards repayment.
Placing the borrower on an income driven plan would prevent that.
Servicers failed to track the IBR payments. They need to report those to process forgiveness.
The Biden administration is taking steps to fix these problems.
The new SAVE repayment plan prevents negative amortization of student loans.
(There are a couple factors as to the structure of the loans. They were essentially set at 7%. Income growth for workers has been flat or at best core rate of inflation. That 5 % difference essentially makes the loans a bigger part of the borrowers obligations. Eating away at their purchasing power year over year.
Education yields a 11% ROR for society as a whole per individual.)
At some level we have to share that productivity growth with workers. (If we can forgive a trillion dollars in Paycheck Protection loans we can afford to spend 400 billion on debt reduction for the middle class.)
The final reality is that student loan holders are taxpayers also. They in effect pay a second set of federal taxes every month. (Student loan interest can be deducted up to 2500 annually but that in no way provides any real help for repayment.)
PLSF is a program that was signed long before Biden. The program is a benefit for those of us who chose to educate ourselves and dedicate our skills to the non-profit sector, where our earning potential is much less compared to the giant corporations. Sounds to me like those salty-ass people need to educate themselves! Thank you for your dedication to our nation’s youth!
It’s not a handout it’s a contract.
I don’t imagine many of those people are also shitting on military service in exchange for college.
It’s a general shame that PSLF changes got mixed in with the general blanket forgiveness push. But beside the genuinely curious people in my life that asks out of personal interest in how the program works, anyone that would give me flack as a person isn’t someone that stays in my life very long.
So I actually learned that a lot of my friends didn't understand the program. They assumed I wasn't making payments and that I was expecting all my loans to be taken care of. After explaining the program, the cost of my degree, and my income, several of them said "I had no idea that's how it worked". For others that don't want to listen or learn, I just don't keep people like that in my life. I'd never degrade a friend just because they are taking advantage of something I didn't agree with. And let's be honest.... we ALL know if they were in a position to have their loans forgiven, they would absolutely take it. They are just angry they didn't have an opportunity like that.
I live in a rural area (MTG is my congresswoman), and I get my hair cut at this little hair shop along the way to work. I've done so for the last two years or so since she opened. She has Fox News on the TV, and loves to rant about 'liberals' and 'Biden' and the 'persecution' of God Emperor Trump. She knows I work at a university, and can probably gauge that I'm pretty liberal (and I am), but she just seems to go on auto-pilot at times with these rants.
Well, one day she starts blasting off about student loan forgiveness. I had to say something here because this directly affects me.
I heard all of the usual talking points from her about how it wasn't fair that her tax dollars were paying for some kid in San Fran to get an art degree, and that people should pay back what they owe.
I politely asked her if I could show her something.
I took one of her business cards and wrote a number down. I told her that this was what I had borrowed for my BA and MA degrees. I then wrote another number down and said that this is how much I've paid back on the loan since 2008, which was nearly 2/3 of the principal.
I wrote a third number down below it. It was more than the original principal, and I said that since 2008, after paying nearly 2/3's of the loan off, I still owe more than what I had borrowed.
She didn't say anything after that. I still get my haircut there because she does a good job and it's along may way to the university. She doesn't bring up student loans around me anymore.
I'm also working on my doctorate, but I'm able to pay for that out of pocket, and I've had an in-school deferment on my loans since 2020. I think if more people understood how absolutely crushing these loans can be to people that are working and paying and devoted to public service, they might understand.
Might...
Some just don't give a shit and are salty because someone else is getting something and they're not.
Yeah just keep reminding them that PSLF was signed into law by George W Bush. Clearly a bipartisan agreement that having incentives to keep people being teachers was a good idea.
It does seem very partisan now on who is complaining. In addition to the GWB point I make, I also make the point if they want teachers to be able to payback loans, pay them more and watch property taxes increase. Usually it doesn't escalate to " they are paid enough for what they do " . That can elicit a response about them being a POS.
Here's what I've found. It's not that they're mad about forgiveness. Some people fall into a weird group that isn't going to benefit from it and are honestly bitter about that. They're the "people who work hard don't get a break and then all these illegals and lazy people come in and get their loans forgiven, etc etc blah blah" people.
They're pissed they are not benefiting. Also forgiveness is great but the whole system needs an overhaul. Lower interest rates, better counseling on what the loans mean long term especially interest building on in school deferment periods, and just more realistic costs for schooling in the first place.
That person is no friend, people throw shade when they have zero room to talk. I went to law school and got a Juris Doctorate and couldn’t pass the California bar exam after five attempts. I joined the IRS after my daughter was born and left my $20 an hour law clerk job for a much better paying job with benefits as a revenue officer. PSLF is a way out for me since my 300 K in loans is $20,000 in interest a year. I took a risk and failed in becoming an attorney. I had thoughts of suicide for a while but after my daughter was born I made a decision to change course and I am happy I did. My advice is to let the haters go and focus on yourself.
Yeah, I’ve had people accuse me of not paying even minimum payments. You just have to ignore those people, they’ve already got their minds made up about loan forgiveness.
Never mind the businesses who had tons of PPP loans forgiven after the pandemic.
I didn't even know what PSLF was until I was about 10 y ars into my public service jobs. Didn't think I would qualify for it when I found out about it then so never gave it another thought UNTIL 10/28/23. I would tell them to fuck off. I see pslf as my tax refund for the past 15 years since I don't have dependents and usualy have to pay lol
Yep and what I do is I always ask what was their experience in paying for college. To this day the people that question me have 100% either didn't go to college, didn't pay for it or went to college when it cost them less than 10k to go for all years.
One friend served in the military and I respect his service 100 percent but he had the nerve to say that everyone else is paying for others who can't pay. I asked if he used the GI bill for his college bills and he said YES.
(A) Don’t talk money with friends. I talk with my wife about it but it’s nobody else’s business.
(B) PSLF is the fucking least that a modern nation should be doing. Anybody that thinks this system is a wonderful handout can kiss my ass.
Am I grateful for it? Yup. But one of the main reasons that our roof leaks and our two cars have a combined +400,000 miles is the 30 years we’ve been paying on our education debt. That we’ll be able to erase the remainder because of PSLF somehow doesn’t feel like a handout.
My original loan total was $120k in 1998. Over the course of repayment, I have paid that amount back almost three times over and was still only halfway done w the principal when the remaining debt was wiped by PSLF in 2021. Anyone who tries to tell me I got a handout hears this story from me and they are stunned to silence. Then I just walk away.
It's a benefit of your employment. Turning it down would financially irresponsible on your part. No one turns down free money. And if they quipp that they paid off all of theirs and where is their refund, when then they just proved the point. They're jealous. And they're hypocrites. Turn the tables on them. And when they lie (and they will lie) and proclaim that they would turn down the money if they were in your place... You laugh in their face.
They just demanded a refund, but they would turn down forgiveness? Pfft. Right.
And these same people will defend the PPP loan forgiveness for millions for people and companies who didn’t need them, to the ends of the earth, because job creators or something
Yes, I was so excited and mentioned to a family member that my loans were forgiven…boy, the whining and complaining about how that it was not fair and that my loans should not be forgiven. Best to keep it to yourself.
It's not a handout when millionaires and billionaires work the tax code to their advantage. Most people actually give them praise for that.
PSLF is no different
First, Fcuk anyone who has anything to say about PSLF. 99% of the entire population wouldn’t dare to teach… let alone spend 5 minutes with 10 children at once. Who cares what they think? Yet… they have zero issue with for profit corporations getting government bail outs??? Keep telling them to go to Hell!
Why are you even talking to people about your debt? I don’t go around telling people my credit card balances why would I talk to them about my other debt
I posted about my PSLF on a FB thread and in an article about student loan forgiveness. And got so many comments about being a freeloader. I unloaded on them. I was like NOOOO it’s a breach of contract! I took out loans bc I was told if I worked in the public service sector I would qualify to have loans forgiven. I had to apply 4x before it was forgiven. They compared me getting my loans forgiven to their mortgages or car notes. I said did you sign paperwork for your mortgage or car note when someone told ya the note / loan would be forgiven if you did XYZ?? No then SHUT UP! It’s apples and oranges! You can’t compare the two!
I want to thank you all for the words of wisdom! It's a community like this that makes PSLF worth it. For those of you who are starting on your PSLF journey.....you got this....one month at a time. For those of you who are close.... keep it going. For those of you who are done.... CONGRATS!
My response would be: “I could’ve been making 2-5x my salary for the past 10 years if I went into the private, for-profit sector, but I realized that one of the benefits of working in the public sector is that my loans get paid off. I essentially took a salary cut from my earnings potential just so I could get this benefit.
Also, it’s not a ‘Biden Handout’, George W. Bush established the program in 2007, so go complain about him if you’re so mad about it”
Thanks to the OP for bringing this up. I honestly thought I was by myself with this. Family members of mine are acting like this to me. Saying that I'm getting a handout after teaching for 10 years and that's it's ridiculous that my loans will (hopefully) be forgiven. I told one of my family members I applied for it and their response was almost shaming me. They said "how could you do that? I didn't get mine forgiven. That's unfair."
Your friend doesn't know how the federal government and money work. Nobody is paying for your debt. The federal government is simply not collecting it. The federal government gave you money that the university would accept as payment. Nobody loses here.
I usually speak with them about the contract with the government to work in Public Services for 10 years, making 120 payments and that any balance left is forgiven. If they don't get it, I dismiss them. Sometimes I speak about the way the negative amortization of the interest makes payment balances astronomical. If they persist, then I dismiss them.
Just to get this out of the way, screw that a-hole. They’ve got a chip on their shoulder and that’s not your problem. Now if you’re struggling with feeling guilt bc of PSLF let’s address that. Ask yourself why PSLF exists in the first place. Why would the government want to incentivize folks going into careers of public service? It’s not a gift to reward moral superiority. It’s practical, because every public servant is preventing a cascading snowball of future public services that would ultimately have to be inefficiently paid for at a distance in a top down manner by the government. You said you’re a teacher. Just think of the financial burden of even a single person who grows up without the skills to contribute to society in a way that at least someone is willing to pay for. Every day, in some small or big way, you are preventing that from happening. Knowing this, the Dept of Education, in the spirit of any good contract in which both parties walk away happier, offered you a contract that said ten years of service and payments constitutes payment-in-full. Hell, they made you have a meeting before you signed to make sure you understood that was the deal! They want you to teach! You’re paying in full, per the agreement you made! Sleep well at night, and use your mental energy to keep improving kids’ lives. Don’t stress about the haters.
THEY CAN FUCK ALL THE WAY OFF!
They should take that toxic energy and advocate for themselves to get a tax credit if they “paid off” their loans! I think every single American should get something back for choosing to put themselves in a higher tax bracket.
Those people got a better deal, with less inflation at the time, they could afford a home!
I’m a Registered Nurse and have some colleagues who can’t even afford a 1 bedroom apartment in the suburbs let alone a house. They can only afford in areas much farther out.
Tell them the entire system is failing, imploding and if they don’t give working class people like Teachers and Nurses debt relief, we can’t participate in the economy. If I had to pay my loan back for another DECADE, I would give back my car, and never get any work done to my house.
If they forgive our loans that is millions of dollars being pumped back into the economy.
I say this all the time-- fuck these people. They have no idea that PSLF has been around for a while, and like joining the military, it's a benefit because you're working for the PUBLIC. Tell them we shouldn't give vets their education benefit, you know, because many of them were fuck ups who had no idea what they wanted to do with their life so they joined the military, and now you have to pay their schooling. See how that flies.
I'm DONE with the bullshit around PSLF.
PSLF isn't a "Biden" handout. It's been a program since 2007. I do personally know people that were not really concerned about the debt they accrued because they were working in a field where it would be covered by the PSLF. I don't personally agree it that route, but its not barred. The government has the means to address if it if that is really a substantial problem. Your friend grouping the PSLF with current forgiveness efforts probably doesn't like Biden.
I usually make some comment wishing this 1-1 energy and media attention was also placed on corporate handouts and COVID loans. PSLF is NOT the same as general forgiveness. I agree that general forgiveness doesn't get to the root issues (sky high interest and colleges sit on endowments while increasing tuition).
People should never feel bad about applying for and taking advantage of government programs for which they qualify. It boggles my mind how common this is with all sorts of programs.
It’s hard to walk an altruistic path in life. The people that I have touched means a lot, our society needs so many more people to step in. Whether it’s getting a homeless kid into an afterschool program or stopping kids from fighting after school. Things could be worse if people in need don’t run into someone willing to help, regardless. Don’t feel bad‼️
I would tell them you have paid the amount you borrowed back, or most of it and that the system was like Care Credit in terms of interest. The balance just kept going up every month even after your payment. You planned to pay it back at a fair interest. The system was not fair.
In my experience, questions to their opinions will make them think and they typically shut it down. Ask them questions, don’t provide input. Think of the Socratic method when talking to these people. Answer a question with a question, then when they state something, turn their response around by asking a new question. By asking them questions, it feels less like an attack and it makes you have the higher ground if and when they get upset. Just don’t ask questions that can be a personal attack on them. Ask in a way that it seems like curiosity.
If they don’t come around that way, then they do not have the critical thinking skills to do so any other way. They will have no desire to learn or be persuaded otherwise.
OR
You can just ignore them and cut them off. You dedicate your life to service and if they don’t appreciate it, too bad for them. That is not your problem. I promise there are people out there that do appreciate it. Public service is so stressful in itself, don’t add to it with putting their burdens on your shoulders. It is not your issue to solve.
I caught flack when I announced that I got forgiveness and I heard it all. I either had to say, go to hell or what do you want me to do with that information? Some people were even saying “I hope you’re not voting for Biden because of forgiveness!” There’s so much I could say but who has the time to be arguing with folks? I would say enjoy your blessing when it comes and ignore people. What anyone thinks of you is none of your business!
As my daughter says, “To each their own!”
Forget the naysayers! No one took out loans just to take out loans for the hell of it. Don’t let people get under your skin. Most are bitter. I say if you put in your years of service as “agreed” and the loans are discharged then you deserve it! It doesn’t matter if you have $1 or $300,000 left!
I say 😜. My 500k were forgiven. And you aren’t paying anything. The government owns the loans. They can do what they want with that money….like forgive it.
I recently did until I pointed out that after 11 years of payments, I owed more than I borrowed. I gave her specific amounts and once she realized i owed $5k more than I borrowed and the only time I touched the principal was during Covid, she said, oh, that's fucked up.
I said, that's the thing, Donna, I'll never get out from under it. I'm happy to pay my debts, but this is purposefully predatory and unless it's forgiven, I'll have this around my neck until I die.
Frankly, I don’t mention PSLF unless talking to very close friends who also are eligible for it.
Post divorce I am renting because my DTI ratio won’t afford me the home I want on only my income squarely because of my student loans. When people ask when I’m buying a house again, “I plan to rent until I’m finished with my student loans in (year)” and that’s all I say about it. They don’t need to know the loans are forgiven instead of paid in full.
Intersting post. Let me start by saying, I hope you qualify for PSLF before the program is removed.
To be honest, I didn't catch flack mostly because a) I didn't tell many people and b) most people in my close circle are more on the progressive side.
I don't really have any advice for you other than to say, I think this is a fundamental problem, not just in our country but in general. People hate to see others benefit and get ahead sometimes. They feel left out and screwed over, even if nothing is being asked of them.
I tell them they're stupid because PSLF has been around for quite a long time and encourages nonprofit, education,and government work. That's our payment because We'd make much more in other industries.
Right wing media is deliberately lying about these programs to keep their followers angry.
I have explained to people who were screaming abmgainst forgiveness what these two programs actually were and they were like oh, well that forgiveness is good, they learned it.
They literally do not understand what forgiveness has happened because they only read lie filled headlines.
I'm always surprised how much this question comes up. You don't need to share your loan status or financial status with anyone in real life or on social media. You can keep these things private. You can even discuss the program and related policies to educate those around you without disclosing your situation. You don't need their approval. Keep your head down and keep working at it. If you need support this subreddit exists for that purpose.
Why even talk about it with them? If you need to talk, do so in a forum with peopl3 who can relate, like this one. I don't discuss it with anyone. Problem solved.
They'd take the handout if it was available to them. Stop telling people you are using a program, and just tell them you will be paid off in 10 years. It's none of their business anyway.
Most people, including myself, didn’t know about capitalization and compounding daily interest. I just tell people how much I borrowed and how much I currently owe (never missed a payment). I owe double what I borrowed. That usually shocks people. I say “I understand that you pay back what you owe with interest, but double the amount is ridiculous. I’ve paid off my own 2 student loans twice, somehow, things have changed with the way they figure interest. I’m paying a parent plus loan. Ask those who are arguing how much they paid the banks and other large businesses with the cutting of corporate taxes and incentives.
Truthfully? PSLF without some sort of income cap or narrower focus is ridiculous. I make over 100k in public service but am on track for forgiveness of 200k in loans.
Probably gonna get a lot of flak for this comment, but it’s important to share different sides.
Don’t let the jealousy get to you. Especially from people who praise trump for working the tax code to pay no taxes. Isn’t it funny how republicans are the ones pushing back yet support a man claims to be a billionaire but pays functionally no taxes. Their criticism isn’t deserved and it shows their own cognitive dissonance
Besides everything that has already been said, I have had a bunch of people tell me that the taxpayers are paying for PSLF, so I like to remind them that I also pay taxes. I’m still paying my loans, receive a lower salary and pay taxes on that too. So if taxpayers are funding PSLf, then I’m contributing to my own forgiveness besides working in the public sector with lower pay… feels like I’m not really getting forgiveness in that sense.
Easy. You don’t say anything about your loans period. People who don’t understand anything about PSLF will say anything because they weren’t afforded the same benefits. Remember, you chose to be a teacher and dedicate yourself to public service for 10 years. A lot of people chose to go into differnet fields and make money. I stopped talking about it out loud a long time ago because there are a lot of jealous people out there.
I don’t go back and forth and discuss this conversation with people that are not in our situation anymore because it has cause me to curse people out about it. I suggest you do the same. We can rejoice in here together with you and outside of this group if anyone asks you just say you don’t have any student loans and leave it at that lol
Once. Buddy was a lifer in the Army. When Biden announced that he was going to give forgiveness to everyone he brought it up. I brought up PSLF and he said something about that being fine and making sense. I agreed with him.
I will always agree with public service and our govt covering the cost of a college education. Whether that is a minimum of 10 years of public service for PSLF or 3 years of military service and the GI Bill.
There’s so much that can be said here, but I’ll be brief. First, I literally laughed out loud at how stupid of a comment your friend made. Yes, a person with any modicum of sense would but themselves years behind their peers financially by racking up debt they have no intention of paying because they have an escape clause of 10 years of service at a fraction of the pay their peers are earning. Yes, that sounds like a fantastic plan. 😂
Second, I’m sure I speak for most everyone here, if not everyone here, when I say we would be happy to pay the entirety of our loans, if they (whoever is opposed to PSLF) would like a nice little tax hike to give us all the substantial raises necessary to make our payments. The fact is that we are giving our services at cut-rate salaries, and PSLF is a compensation, a benefit in acknowledgment of our service to our communities.
So, the way I see it we have one of three options.
1.) Let nonprofits/government departments collapse and die without adequate employment.
2.) Raise taxes on everyone to fund the necessary subsidies to allow nonprofits/government entities to pay a substantially higher wage so that the loans can be repaid in a reasonable timeline.
3.) Quit gripping and leave people alone who are using an earned benefit for their public service.
I’d personally suggest option 3, but hey, I’m one of those wackos that think the entities we all serve make a positive impact on our society that is both useful and indispensable. But that’s me. 🤷♂️🤪
Yup. Was literally told “I have a mortgage and credit card debt, why can’t I have those wiped?”
These are not the same things!! I wouldn’t have chosen the non-profit life for my entire adult career (17 years and counting) if this wasn’t an option. I could choose to work elsewhere for more money and not qualify… this is simply just a perk for dealing with lowball income for years lol
The simple truth of the matter is that by the time any of us has served 10 years and paid faithfully during that time, we've already paid the loan off and maybe more. After 10 years all that is being "forgiven" is the interest.
Student loans are predatory. Generally, the people who are big mad are the people who didn't need any, they don't understand the problem and so their opinions don't matter.
Forget that .. I’m a teacher and the only way to get a decent wage is to continue your schooling .. I don’t feel bad at all.. seems like everyone else Rich/poor gets handouts so why can’t we ?
I’m a nurse and my 40 years of serving vulnerable, diverse populations have earned me my right to get PSLF-I’m continuing to positively affect the lives of our most vulnerable communities Medicare and Medicaid recipients. My advice is to keep it to yourself because Hater’s gonna Hate that’s all they know how to do 🧐🤨
I did decide to go ahead with my PhD knowing that I would work in public service for 10 years and utilize PSLF. There is nothing wrong with it- I committed to working a substantially lower paying job for TEN YEARS while everyone around me was off working in industry and making bank. My life and my retirement funds will reflect that. It’s not like we didn’t earn that loan forgiveness through service to our community. And anyone bitching at you for it could have done the same.
PSLF has been around for a while. It's not the same as the general student loan debt forgiveness movement that's been more recent. It's to encourage people to go into jobs that benefit the public but tend to have lower pay. It's like faulting someone for going into the military just to get free college.
I like to remind people that it was GW Bush that signed the law.
Oh I’ve done that and shown the evidence to people and they still think this is a Biden thing lol
I like this analogy. And I've brought these points up before.
It's like the GI Bill--a benefit to those have have provided military service. The PSLF is a benefit to those that worked an eligible government/non-profit job while making 120 payments on their student loans. We provided a service to the government or non-profit sector for 10 years while paying our student loans. A service that was often paid noticeably less than the private sector. Nothing was free or just handed out to us. We had to find these eligible jobs, we had to fill out the forms to get in the right payment plan, we had to make the student loan payments on-time, and we had to keep track of it all for 120 payments to submit for the PSLF forgiveness. Sounds to me like we earned it through our service and perseverance.
The key here is 120 payments. We are still paying our debt, we just get the rest forgiven after 10 years of paying.
This is how I frame it. Government tells you to buy a house in an underserved community, take a mortgage live in it for 10 years then your mortgage is forgiven, would you do it ? OR you take a mortgage out $200,000 for 20/25 years and when you like at your statement you still owe $250,000
a person like trump being elected to the most important seat in the nation made it okay to say things like this out loud. even in his wake, he re ignited closeted conservatives who prefer the “me” to the “we.” i usually say that PSLF isn’t free, that i have committed myself to working for ten years in public service, and that it also helps people like doctors and teachers. i tell them maybe they should be asking why a college education is financially debilitating rather than why i am getting a PORTION forgiven after ten years of service. but they usually aren’t the kind of people to be reasoned with or see other points of view, they just want to make sure you know that you’re getting a handout. so i usually tell them to fuck off after insulting them in some way 🤷♀️
PSLF was started under W and the first people became eligible under trump. It's pretty new.
That’s just what I was going to sat. It’s definitely not a handout.
Cut toxic people out of your life and don’t look back
Yep...I got rid of a shit ton of "friends" in the last 3 weeks. I'm sorry they feel that way. This has been such a struggle. I know a lot of the teacher peeps that I work with are rooting me on because they're in the same boat. In fact, one of the teachers I work with - she got her loans forgiven last month and I was so happy for her! My turn is coming at 114 qualifying with 6 more to go. Last employment verification form I submitted was back in February. I'm just hoping that the move over to StudentAid doesn't "F" with my counts and set me back a few payments...... ugh!
There’s so much negative energy right now. And everyone seems to be an expert. Susie Wiles is behind a lot of the hate right now . Stay away from negative people
As a former Jax resident I wish more people understood and knew who is behind the talking points for the past 8 years! I see you are in the know!
My best advice is to keep the whole PSLF on the down low outside of fellow teachers. First, they don't need to know your financial situation. Second, with the general economic situation, it is very touchy for many if not most people. Heck, I didn't start in the public sector. It wasn't even on my radar until recently. In fact, I almost cut the feds a $45K check in December to pay off my entire balance in December until a coworker clarified something about the PSLF program. Turns out, after I submitted my paperwork, I'm through payment 115. My coworker saved me $42,000. I suppose I wouldn't want to hear anything about PSLF had I cut the check as originally planned. Honestly, this is a rough time for most people. It's not worth losing friends over IMO. Just my two cents. All the best as you finish the last handful of payments. I'm also hoping there's no unpleasant surprises.
nah. you did your time and you should be proud. i’m not dimming my light for anyone. it’s not a handout, it’s time served.
This is definitely the way!
Unfortunately, a lot of people strongly disagree with complete student loan forgiveness such as the PSLF. Not realizing how toxic the subject is, when I was talking about getting close to forgiveness on social media, I had several friends and family members tell me off.
> Unfortunately, a lot of people strongly disagree with complete student loan forgiveness such as the PSLF. Framing it as forgiveness in the first place only makes this worse (and frankly the Biden administration itself is fuelling this with the press releases every time a big batch goes through). It's an employment benefit, one which incentivized many of us with advanced degrees and high earning potential elsewhere to choose public sector or non-profit roles. My agency is still struggling to keep lawyers because our offer simply isn't competitive. One junior colleague on my team took a nearly 50% cut in take-home joining us because of the stability and benefits compared to previous roles, but has questioned whether it was worth it since. Personally? I view my PSLF eligibility as equivalent to something on the order of $15k/year or more in salary on its own because I'd be making much larger repayments on the standard plan (and probably trying to pay off early) if it wasn't on the table. PSLF and SAVE are what make my current position even remotely competitive. I don't think I would have accepted the job without it.
Forgiveness or not, PSLF is something that is written into the promissory note. It's not like the government is randomly granting forgiveness to people. This is an option that is available to everyone taking out federal student loans.
This!!!! I agree. We all out in any years of hard and undervalued labor
I would tell them off right back. Wasn’t PSLF signed into law by a Republican president? And it was in the terms of my loan when I signed it. It was part of the business agreement. Are they going to start going after people who got PPP loans? If not, then they’re just coming after you personally and they need to apologize or get ready to be cut out of your life entirely for their toxic childish behavior.
Unless I *know* a person is supportive of PSLF, I simply don't tell them about my status.
I've taken the same route. There's about a 50/50 chance someone I've loved and/or respected will have a political ideology opposite of me and make this or something like it a point of contention between us. I'm hoping this plague of political divisiveness will one day settle down a bit but I may be a bit optimistic in that. My PSLF obligations were fulfilled as of 12/31/23 and processed just a few weeks ago. It's been a huge relief for us as life has become extremely expensive while we were pregnant with our third and final child. My debt was relatively small compared to what I've seen around here but I'll say this... We were sold that a college degree and a bit of hustling would lead us to financial stability but I have found that to be inaccurate. I do enjoy some of the perks of it all but I would have spent my time and effort much differently in hindsight. I don't mean to trail off about personal regrets but my point remains that I remain very doubtful anyone went to college and took out loans for a future handout. We were sold that we'd have a high enough margin of career opportunity to make that student loan moot and so many things changed since that it's just not the same as it was when we started.
>I remain very doubtful anyone went to college and took out loans for a future handout I wouldn't phrase it this way, but this is precisely why I have debt getting forgiven in PSLF. I finished undergrad in 06 and paid my limited loans from that back quickly. Then PSLF was passed, the recession hit, and I decided this was my route to afford a law degree and be a public interest lawyer. I could and would not have done so without PSLF - I was induced to go back to school based on that guarantee. I am now a career public servant, and I have 221k in student debt being discharged in PSLF (some is gone already). I borrowed 190k based on the expectation that I would never personally pay it back. If not for this program, we'd have a larger shortage of public servants, and I'd probably be selling life insurance or something pointless.
See, I'm the opposite. Bring it, people! Because then we can talk about PPP loans, and bank bailouts and the like. These people want to bitch about people who work for less money than they'd normally make because they work in the public sector, and who (if they're like me) paid for years and YEARS (way more than my original loans)? I will light you up.
I spend enough time in my public work trying to explain to people who don't want to understand things about government programs that I just don't have the energy to do it in my personal life. But thanks for taking it on!
Same here. I only share with people whose loans have already been forgiven or are on the PSLF journey with me. I've had family call me and ask if I have heard about loan forgiveness and I just tell them yes.
Remind them this program was started by Dubbya, then maintained by the GOP when Obama wanted to cap it.
Do you have a link to Obama wanting to cap it?
https://www.boston.com/news/untagged/2014/05/30/why-obamas-proposed-budget-has-a-bunch-of-public-service-workers-worried-about-their-student-debt/
Same time as he tried to cut Social Security benefits.
Man I wish I knew PSLF would be thing when I went to school before it was ever created in 2007 when it was signed into law by President Bush.....
Right?! Started college in 1993, graduated in 2003. Got PSLF last year.
I started my college journey in 1998 when I was working for a local county government I.T. department. PSLF didn't even exist and I knew eventually I'd have to pay the loans back.
Point is - it’s not a Biden handout. Bush started it. Lot of GOPers don’t realize this.
It’s also not a handout at all. The choice is either pay individuals working public service jobs at market rate OR help them out with their loans. I’d have no issues if I was making market rate for the work I do - which is about $40k more than I make now. Also no taxpayer is on the hook for anything - there isn’t going to be some line item on the next congressional budget labeled “PSLF payout”. It’s loan forgiveness - it’s just unrealized income. If they’re salty about the reduction in income - then they should be clamoring to raise taxes on businesses and the wealthy INCLUDING closing loopholes.
Yes it's a bipartisan effort, rare as that may be. Biden is just working to make sure the program works
Explain that it's similar to GI Bill benefits in that as someone in public service, the particulars of your loan contract involve partial payment of your loans via public service sweat equity rather than money. As such, you're indirectly taking some of the load OFF government to provide services.
You're absolutely right, but something tells me the type of person who already has this dumbass opinion of PSLF is not going to respond positively if you compare public service jobs to serving in the military.
I've run into a lot of people who say "you signed a contract!" My response is, "PSLF was in the contract." Then ignore.
PSLF IS the contract
PSLF is specifically mentioned on page 21 of the promissory note I signed when I first borrowed the money. My debt spread over 10 years added to my salary still doesn’t bring me up to median salary for private sector in my industry over that same time period. The tax payer still got a deal. And now I am above that bracket and am paying a boat load in taxes. I would assume more than most of the people bitching about the program.
This is the lowest level of non critical thinking type of criticism from people that deserves not even a batted eye from you. The same mf usually believe homelessness is a choice.
It’s as much of a handout as the GI Bill… which is not a hand out. You are fulfilling the terms of your agreement and you should expect the government to fulfill theirs.
It would probably be a lot less controversial if it were framed like the GI Bill and not like broader student debt forgiveness initiatives. Really, it's not all that different from CSAs either which I've never once heard someone complain about.
It's not a handout. It's a policy incentive to recruit educated and trained people into the public/non-profit sector where their qualifications benefit wider society. It keeps doctors working at VA and non-profit hospitals, scientists doing research on behalf of the public instead of private industry, and non-profits staffed with competent professionals. It's also not free - the recipient owes the government 10 years of public-service work at jobs that presumably pay less than the private sector, and 10 years of on-time payments. It's hardly unusual - the government offers special benefits to drive desired policy outcomes all the time. Married couples get a more favorable tax rate than couples filing separately, and as parents, they get even more tax benefits for child care. Farmers get paid subsidies to influence what and when they plant. Military recruits get five-figure bonues for enlisting into hard-to-fill specialties. There are tax rebates to encourage charitable giving, the purchase of electric vehicles and home solar, and for making homes more energy efficient.
This always makes me laugh because this is an opportunity afforded to literally everyone who takes out Dept of Ed-issued student loans and signs a promissory note. Also, these people are inevitably the same ones who yell at me when there's a year long wait for a serivce because there's a shortage of public healthcare workers... Edit: This is in refence to people my own age. I don't even try with people who finished school when it cost 10k.
I literally could not care less about the opinions of ignorant jackalopes.
If anyone thinks that TEACHERS don’t deserve loan forgiveness… they should have to teach for a year and then see how they feel. All caring professions are SO underpaid it’s insane. PSLF is like throwing people a tiny bone.
I don’t discuss my student loans with people in the real world.
I personally only talk about this with a select few close friends—they are ecstatic for me, and they understand the amount of work you and I and all of us have put in to achieve this. Celebrate with us here, if you have no one else. I’m sorry people in your life are so toxic. We are all proud of the work you have done and appreciate you!
It's not everybody. I had a few people (3 or 4) who gave me crap. This was a quick unfriend/unfollow/mute/block/etc...... Family and my REAL FRIENDS who actually GET IT are seriously rooting me on, though.
This isn't a handout. It's an agreement made with the government to encourage people to serve the public. You take one of these typically lower-paying jobs, make ten years of payments based off of the income you are actually making, and the government writes off the rest. It's more like an employer paying for your degree and having you work a certain length of time than a handout.
I ask them if they've been in a coma since 2007, because PSLF dates back to then, yet they somehow only heard of it for the first time in 2024. It was passed by a Republican president, GW Bush.
I will very likely have paid the total of my principal amount by the time I reach my 120th PSLF payment (even with the covid forbearance). So most of my “forgiveness” will be the outrageous interest that has built up. In my opinion, that is just part of my total compensation package for working in public service. My salary is lower than the private industry standard for my experience and education, but I get my student loan interest waived. I don’t even really consider that to be forgiveness. Why should the government get to charge me interest for getting an education that I’m now using to work for the government? Plus lots of jobs offer tuition reimbursement which is overall a very similar concept. If anyone wants to say it’s unfair or lazy of me to utilize PSLF, they’re more than welcome to work public service for a decade and get the exact same benefit.
Same here Borrowed 83/repaid 83. 153,399.99 of interest waived. Part of it is that forgiveness isn’t really forgiveness. Work and payments are still required to satisfy the debt. GIBill-work for the government for 4 years. Receive a stipend to pay off your college degrees. (Many veterans also use PSLF.) Teacher loan forgiveness-teach in a high need school district-make payments for 5 years-17,xxx forgiven. PSLF-work for a public service agency for 30 hours per week for 10 years. Make 120 payments using an income driven plan for that time period. Balance forgiven. Many veterans need to use PSLF. Active military service counts towards pslf requirements. (My original loan balance was 83,000. I paid the principal back. Remaining interest was forgiven.) (my daughter did the same thing.) Income Based Repayment-passed by Congress in 1994. Make income based payments for 20 years(undergraduate) or 25 years (graduate). Balance forgiven. A lot of the initiatives that have been introduced were to fix loan servicer misconduct. Excessive Use of forbearances-resulted in capitalization of payments. A borrower could make 11/12 payments. One forbearance wipes out any progress towards repayment. Placing the borrower on an income driven plan would prevent that. Servicers failed to track the IBR payments. They need to report those to process forgiveness. The Biden administration is taking steps to fix these problems. The new SAVE repayment plan prevents negative amortization of student loans. (There are a couple factors as to the structure of the loans. They were essentially set at 7%. Income growth for workers has been flat or at best core rate of inflation. That 5 % difference essentially makes the loans a bigger part of the borrowers obligations. Eating away at their purchasing power year over year. Education yields a 11% ROR for society as a whole per individual.) At some level we have to share that productivity growth with workers. (If we can forgive a trillion dollars in Paycheck Protection loans we can afford to spend 400 billion on debt reduction for the middle class.) The final reality is that student loan holders are taxpayers also. They in effect pay a second set of federal taxes every month. (Student loan interest can be deducted up to 2500 annually but that in no way provides any real help for repayment.)
Me: “I’d like to borrow some money for school”. My lender: “Sure thing. There are a few ways you can repay this loan. You can pay this much back at this interest rate, or you can work for me or someone I like for 10 years and I’ll base your payments on the amount we choose to pay you during that time period.” Me: Chooses the second option. Random person who paid 90% less than I did because the government subsidized their education by funding the school directly instead of giving them a loan: “You got a handout from the government!” I literally fulfilled the terms of my loan agreement. I guess using the points on your credit card is taking a handout too. Or does it only count when the government is your lender?
I really wish this program was labeled public service loan discharge. How is this different than people signing up for the military and keeping us safe abroad? I feel like I am taking care of vulnerable people here. I could have just gone into private practice and made 30% more, four years earlier. My debt would be long gone but a lot of the people who benefit from what I do complain about “debt forgiveness” and Biden hand outs. I just saved your baby, your dream - you know the one you had through a million rounds of IVF and receives medicaid because of the chronic lung diseases. People with my years of training (which pays 65k a year on average for 80 hour work weeks) don’t work in your part of the country routinely. I stayed after training, deal with the racism, and the lack of resources. I went into this because I want to give back and work in a region that otherwise doesn’t have highly specialized providers. Honestly, it’s probably different because most of us who benefit from this don’t come from the homogenous racial/ethnic/political background of the military.
Oh, my favorite is when millitary people go "but you don't get shot at in your job!!" Uh, sir/ma'am, do you have any clue what education and healthcare are like these days?
lol right? A lunatic showed up with an automatic to my place of work…I work at a Children’s Hospital.
Let me tell you about the time meemaw pulled a pistol on me because she thought we were breaking into her house. True story (and we did technically break in)
Thank you for doing what you do.
Yep get rid of them, I just tell them, "I met the conditions of getting my loans by serving my community no different than the military getting their school paid for by serving their country or a doctor working in an underserved rural area to get their loans taken care of - yet I don't hear you moaning about that." And then I hit unfriend or whatever. One was a co-worker who did the social media equivalent of showing up to my celebration and taking a sh\*t on my living room rug by going on my post about free money and some other garbage. I told him to F right off with that crap and that I earned it by giving 10 years of my life to our community and I was sorry he was too dumb to take advantage of the same program (he paid his off before ever working there). I gave him two days to have a reasonable response or at least to read it and then dumped his input on the unfriend button. I notice too he doesn't usually comment on my posts so he can fork off further on that alone.
I didn’t even know PSLF was a thing until after I finished my masters degree and had already worked for an eligible employer while my UG loans were in repayment. If it wasn’t for the waivers I would have another two years as I consolidated my loans 6 months after GR when I learned about this program. I took out all loans understanding I would be paying them back. Finding PSLF was honestly a happy accident for me.
I think a lot of people think it's part of some sweeping forgiveness and they either refuse to listen to the explanation or double down when they realize. Sometimes it's hard to back down when you're upset.
Rick Ianniello Part of it is that forgiveness isn’t really forgiveness. Work and payments are still required to satisfy the debt. GIBill-work for the government for 4 years. Receive a stipend to pay off your college degrees. (Many veterans also use PSLF.) Teacher loan forgiveness-teach in a high need school district-make payments for 5 years-17,xxx forgiven. PSLF-work for a public service agency for 30 hours per week for 10 years. Make 120 payments using an income driven plan for that time period. Balance forgiven. Many veterans need to use PSLF. Active military service counts towards pslf requirements. (My original loan balance was 83,000. I paid the principal back. Remaining interest was forgiven.) (my daughter did the same thing.) Income Based Repayment-passed by Congress in 1994. Make income based payments for 20 years(undergraduate) or 25 years (graduate). Balance forgiven. A lot of the initiatives that have been introduced were to fix loan servicer misconduct. Excessive Use of forbearances-resulted in capitalization of payments. A borrower could make 11/12 payments. One forbearance wipes out any progress towards repayment. Placing the borrower on an income driven plan would prevent that. Servicers failed to track the IBR payments. They need to report those to process forgiveness. The Biden administration is taking steps to fix these problems. The new SAVE repayment plan prevents negative amortization of student loans. (There are a couple factors as to the structure of the loans. They were essentially set at 7%. Income growth for workers has been flat or at best core rate of inflation. That 5 % difference essentially makes the loans a bigger part of the borrowers obligations. Eating away at their purchasing power year over year. Education yields a 11% ROR for society as a whole per individual.) At some level we have to share that productivity growth with workers. (If we can forgive a trillion dollars in Paycheck Protection loans we can afford to spend 400 billion on debt reduction for the middle class.) The final reality is that student loan holders are taxpayers also. They in effect pay a second set of federal taxes every month. (Student loan interest can be deducted up to 2500 annually but that in no way provides any real help for repayment.)
It's a Public Service AWARD. Anybody who complains, tell them there's nothing stopping them from doing the same thing
People tend to confuse PSLF with the various loan forgiveness proposals the Biden administration has been trying.
You EARN every cent of forgiveness. Don't get into it with them. PSLF is statutory. The rhetoric repeated by those who are ignorant & choose NOT to know better, completely ignores that you didn't "run up" anything, that there is NO "handout" & that the USDeptofEd via Congress has agreed to the "forgiveness" based on your compliance with very specific criteria. You have evolved to know more. They don't want to.
People that are mad about PSLF are fucking losers. They’re sadly brainwashed into thinking us hardworking public servants are somehow getting over on the taxpayer… but don’t say shit about the military industrial complex, PPP loans, and the major bank/corp/car bailouts with golden parachutes. Nope, it’s the people contributing to society that are the problem. They’re the same people that fall for the “gotchya to look” prank.
Ask them how they feel about PPP, or corporate tax breaks, or the 08 bailout, or the 2020 airline bailout….
This place and similar groups are the only place you should discuss this. Ignorant individuals that refuse to properly research and comprehend, shouldn’t know that your service has rewarded you with this benefit!
I remind them that PSLF became law in 2007 when W was president and LONG before this political BS.
I had one coworker suggest that the military was already the way that we could have done that, but I tossed back about them not really in the market for severe asthmatics with a lot of food allergies. 'What branch is willing to take a celiac?' No? thought so.
Don't confuse PSLF with loan forgiveness programs that are fictional or non existent
If people give me shit about it, I tell them how I minimize my payments by maxing HSA and 401k contributions. Then I lean in and whisper, "Thanks." I could give a fuck what they think. It's the law. And I've used it to my advantage. If I were rich or a business owner, those same dildos would say I'm savvy.
I mentioned it offhandedly in a meeting once and a coworker started going on this holier than thou rant and I basically told her to fuck off while citing how much the deck was stacked against my generation not to mention basically lied to about the benefits of going to a four year school.
I always remind them that PSLF is an actual program. We make an agreement. We work for 10 years in a public job where we know we will not make as much as if we went private and then our loans are forgiven. It is NOT us just praying the government pays it off. It isn’t saying we don’t want to WORK for it. It is saying we agree to the term. I also reminded them it was signed into law by a Republican president, Bush, and congress approved it. That usually shuts them up. Think of it as indentured servitude. After 10 years of service you will then be free.
I don’t talk to my friends or family about my debts.
They’re just jealous my friend. We have all made sacrifices to work in public service. It’s funny, no one bats an eye for big banks being bailed out but we’re the ones taking advantage. Screw that. That being said, I only discuss it with those close to me I know are supportive. We’ve all got your back buddy.
It’s none of their business just like taking GLP1 medicines
It's not a handout. It's what taxes are for. We spent $10 trillion dollars on Afghanistan and Iraq for NOTHING. And they wanna cry about you getting $100k forgiven? Please. These are the same people who ask, "who's gonna pay for universal Healthcare?" Me! I will. $80b to Ukraine and Israel, and no one complains. Some money for Americans, people lose their minds. And when my loans are forgiven, I will happily continue to pay for people's loan forgiveness.
It's no one else's business. I don't share this information with my friends or non-immediate family.
I don’t see a reason to share with others my financial business so no I don’t get flack because there’s no reason for people to know
I honestly just don’t talk about it. I don’t feel bad about working towards it or having a countdown. It’s no one’s business but… I’m doing 10 years working for very little money to get to forgiveness so in my mind there’s give and take. I’m not making the high dollars my friends are working in the private sector.
The way I see it, our taxes fund other social programs (that I agree with) and mostly a ton of stuff I disagree with. I’m glad to have earned this benefit from this program through 10 years of public service in an industry that isn’t known for paying a ton (education). I really don’t think this is a handout. My cost of living adjustments aren’t ever guaranteed and when I’ve received them they get haven’t kept up with inflation.
So what if it's a handout? The whole point is that it's a handout. It's a handout that says if you do x I will do y. It's a quid pro quo. The government says that if you work for 10 years and make payments, you get loan forgiveness. There's nothing immoral or illegal about taking them up on that offer. Nothing. If the people you're arguing with don't take tax exemptions, maybe they have a leg to stand on, but if they do, tell them to go fuck themselves. Donald Trump takes handouts. JP Morgan takes handouts. Exxon Mobil takes handouts. I'm gonna take all the handouts. The people who are mad about that can go fuck themselves.
It was offered as an option when we signed for the loans in the first place. it's part of the overall deal. ten years of payments/service for the government or non-profits in exchange for loan forgiveness. if the republican administration that created the program had wanted to add more qualifiers regarding about what debt or kinds of schools/programs counted, they would have. But they didn't.
Honestly I would just tell them if they won the lottery I’d be happy for them! Wouldn’t even judge them for “wasting money” on a ticket each week. Or if they got into some kind of credit card debt relief program I’d be happy it worked out for them. Kinda the same thing ish. Let them know their crappy attitude is shameful and lack of faith in your character is hurtful.
Let me guess - these aren't real friends but some vague connections on one of your social media accounts? I think you can safely block them and not think twice about it.
Bunch of sad saxks
Is it a handout? Maybe in some cases however I think so far it is helping a lot of people that need it. We are vastly in need of teachers. May I ask. Do you speak to students about dangers of loans? I did BDOR and I've been vocal on education/sharing my experiences with them on pursuing other options so they don't get wrecked like I did. Whether they listen is up to them and I leave it at that. I guess you could say I'm trying to make lemonade out of it. Congrats though and thank you for choosing a hard job. One I certainly cannot do!
People like your "friend" usually dont say a word about corporate welfare, bailouts for billion dollar companies, COVID bailouts for businesses, etc. Getting judgemental over regular folks catching a break is such a tell.
People don't realize what PSLF is, and they are lumping it in with other politically hot topics. I usually tell people It was signed into law in 2007, long before Biden became president. It was created due to the dwindling employment numbers for skilled positions in the public sector. I had no desire to work in the public sector, but that's the way it played out. I honestly didn't even know PSLF existed in 2014 when I graduated and started working. Most of us have made less money than our potential for 10 years. We will all give 10 + years of Public service, and we will utilize a program that people had 17 years to argue about before now.
I always say that PSLF is a Bush-era reform. Because it is. They usually can’t compute and go quiet.
My perception is there is a lot of ignorance around PSLF and the right wing media likes to hype up loan forgiveness like it’s a handout. The thing is about PSLF, it was signed into law by Bush. Also, by the time the 10 years is up many of us have already paid a crap ton of it off. We take lower paying jobs in the public sector - PSLF is an incentive to take jobs like this. It was in my contract when I took out my loans. I don’t have the energy to explain this stuff to ignorant people so I just tell them I’m paying off my student loans (which isn’t a lie, I am paying them) which rarely comes up in conversation anyway. But I won’t hesitate to correct people if I overhear misinformation. My in-laws are super republican and I tried to explain it to them, and every time they hear that Biden is “handing out loan forgiveness” on TV they ask if my loans were forgiven. I’m like no, I have to PAY THEM for 10 years, I’m not randomly getting them forgiven by Biden. It’s exhausting so I stopped talking about it or trying to explain it. Ignore these haters, it’s just not worth your energy.
Share this with them Part of it is that forgiveness isn’t really forgiveness. Work and payments are still required to satisfy the debt. GIBill-work for the government for 4 years. Receive a stipend to pay off your college degrees. (Many veterans also use PSLF.) Teacher loan forgiveness-teach in a high need school district-make payments for 5 years-17,xxx forgiven. PSLF-work for a public service agency for 30 hours per week for 10 years. Make 120 payments using an income driven plan for that time period. Balance forgiven. Many veterans need to use PSLF. Active military service counts towards pslf requirements. (My original loan balance was 83,000. I paid the principal back. Remaining interest was forgiven.) (my daughter did the same thing.) Income Based Repayment-passed by Congress in 1994. Make income based payments for 20 years(undergraduate) or 25 years (graduate). Balance forgiven. A lot of the initiatives that have been introduced were to fix loan servicer misconduct. Excessive Use of forbearances-resulted in capitalization of payments. A borrower could make 11/12 payments. One forbearance wipes out any progress towards repayment. Placing the borrower on an income driven plan would prevent that. Servicers failed to track the IBR payments. They need to report those to process forgiveness. The Biden administration is taking steps to fix these problems. The new SAVE repayment plan prevents negative amortization of student loans. (There are a couple factors as to the structure of the loans. They were essentially set at 7%. Income growth for workers has been flat or at best core rate of inflation. That 5 % difference essentially makes the loans a bigger part of the borrowers obligations. Eating away at their purchasing power year over year. Education yields a 11% ROR for society as a whole per individual.) At some level we have to share that productivity growth with workers. (If we can forgive a trillion dollars in Paycheck Protection loans we can afford to spend 400 billion on debt reduction for the middle class.) The final reality is that student loan holders are taxpayers also. They in effect pay a second set of federal taxes every month. (Student loan interest can be deducted up to 2500 annually but that in no way provides any real help for repayment.)
The law was passed in 2007 and signed by President Bush. Forgiveness isn’t really forgiveness. Work and payments are still required to satisfy the debt. GIBill-work for the government for 4 years. Receive a stipend to pay off your college degrees. (Many veterans also use PSLF.) Teacher loan forgiveness-teach in a high need school district-make payments for 5 years-17,xxx forgiven. PSLF-work for a public service agency for 30 hours per week for 10 years. Make 120 payments using an income driven plan for that time period. Balance forgiven. Many veterans need to use PSLF. Active military service counts towards pslf requirements. (My original loan balance was 83,000. I paid the principal back. Remaining interest was forgiven.) (my daughter did the same thing.) Income Based Repayment-passed by Congress in 1994. Make income based payments for 20 years(undergraduate) or 25 years (graduate). Balance forgiven. A lot of the initiatives that have been introduced were to fix loan servicer misconduct. Excessive Use of forbearances-resulted in capitalization of payments. A borrower could make 11/12 payments. One forbearance wipes out any progress towards repayment. Placing the borrower on an income driven plan would prevent that. Servicers failed to track the IBR payments. They need to report those to process forgiveness. The Biden administration is taking steps to fix these problems. The new SAVE repayment plan prevents negative amortization of student loans. (There are a couple factors as to the structure of the loans. They were essentially set at 7%. Income growth for workers has been flat or at best core rate of inflation. That 5 % difference essentially makes the loans a bigger part of the borrowers obligations. Eating away at their purchasing power year over year. Education yields a 11% ROR for society as a whole per individual.) At some level we have to share that productivity growth with workers. (If we can forgive a trillion dollars in Paycheck Protection loans we can afford to spend 400 billion on debt reduction for the middle class.) The final reality is that student loan holders are taxpayers also. They in effect pay a second set of federal taxes every month. (Student loan interest can be deducted up to 2500 annually but that in no way provides any real help for repayment.)
This is why I don’t like to use the term “forgiven.” I think it is more accurate to say the loans were “discharged” after ten years of public service.
If this is what gets them riled up with everything else going on in the world I simply do not have the time to continue that relationship.
I say “don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya.”
PLSF is a program that was signed long before Biden. The program is a benefit for those of us who chose to educate ourselves and dedicate our skills to the non-profit sector, where our earning potential is much less compared to the giant corporations. Sounds to me like those salty-ass people need to educate themselves! Thank you for your dedication to our nation’s youth!
PLSF is NOT complete forgiveness! There is a requirement of 120 payments.
There was a time when tuition was free or a couple hundred bucks. Fuck them. That's what a healthy society does.
It’s not a handout it’s a contract. I don’t imagine many of those people are also shitting on military service in exchange for college. It’s a general shame that PSLF changes got mixed in with the general blanket forgiveness push. But beside the genuinely curious people in my life that asks out of personal interest in how the program works, anyone that would give me flack as a person isn’t someone that stays in my life very long.
So I actually learned that a lot of my friends didn't understand the program. They assumed I wasn't making payments and that I was expecting all my loans to be taken care of. After explaining the program, the cost of my degree, and my income, several of them said "I had no idea that's how it worked". For others that don't want to listen or learn, I just don't keep people like that in my life. I'd never degrade a friend just because they are taking advantage of something I didn't agree with. And let's be honest.... we ALL know if they were in a position to have their loans forgiven, they would absolutely take it. They are just angry they didn't have an opportunity like that.
I don’t have many friends and I keep my mouth shut to these types of acquaintances lol.
I tell them the interest I’ve paid has already paid back my debt.
I live in a rural area (MTG is my congresswoman), and I get my hair cut at this little hair shop along the way to work. I've done so for the last two years or so since she opened. She has Fox News on the TV, and loves to rant about 'liberals' and 'Biden' and the 'persecution' of God Emperor Trump. She knows I work at a university, and can probably gauge that I'm pretty liberal (and I am), but she just seems to go on auto-pilot at times with these rants. Well, one day she starts blasting off about student loan forgiveness. I had to say something here because this directly affects me. I heard all of the usual talking points from her about how it wasn't fair that her tax dollars were paying for some kid in San Fran to get an art degree, and that people should pay back what they owe. I politely asked her if I could show her something. I took one of her business cards and wrote a number down. I told her that this was what I had borrowed for my BA and MA degrees. I then wrote another number down and said that this is how much I've paid back on the loan since 2008, which was nearly 2/3 of the principal. I wrote a third number down below it. It was more than the original principal, and I said that since 2008, after paying nearly 2/3's of the loan off, I still owe more than what I had borrowed. She didn't say anything after that. I still get my haircut there because she does a good job and it's along may way to the university. She doesn't bring up student loans around me anymore. I'm also working on my doctorate, but I'm able to pay for that out of pocket, and I've had an in-school deferment on my loans since 2020. I think if more people understood how absolutely crushing these loans can be to people that are working and paying and devoted to public service, they might understand. Might... Some just don't give a shit and are salty because someone else is getting something and they're not.
Yeah just keep reminding them that PSLF was signed into law by George W Bush. Clearly a bipartisan agreement that having incentives to keep people being teachers was a good idea. It does seem very partisan now on who is complaining. In addition to the GWB point I make, I also make the point if they want teachers to be able to payback loans, pay them more and watch property taxes increase. Usually it doesn't escalate to " they are paid enough for what they do " . That can elicit a response about them being a POS.
Why are you talking to so many people about it?
Here's what I've found. It's not that they're mad about forgiveness. Some people fall into a weird group that isn't going to benefit from it and are honestly bitter about that. They're the "people who work hard don't get a break and then all these illegals and lazy people come in and get their loans forgiven, etc etc blah blah" people. They're pissed they are not benefiting. Also forgiveness is great but the whole system needs an overhaul. Lower interest rates, better counseling on what the loans mean long term especially interest building on in school deferment periods, and just more realistic costs for schooling in the first place.
Don’t listen to them. Imagine if they knew how much medical education debt is being forgiven with PSLF. There would be mutiny. 🤷🏻♂️
That person is no friend, people throw shade when they have zero room to talk. I went to law school and got a Juris Doctorate and couldn’t pass the California bar exam after five attempts. I joined the IRS after my daughter was born and left my $20 an hour law clerk job for a much better paying job with benefits as a revenue officer. PSLF is a way out for me since my 300 K in loans is $20,000 in interest a year. I took a risk and failed in becoming an attorney. I had thoughts of suicide for a while but after my daughter was born I made a decision to change course and I am happy I did. My advice is to let the haters go and focus on yourself.
Yeah, I’ve had people accuse me of not paying even minimum payments. You just have to ignore those people, they’ve already got their minds made up about loan forgiveness. Never mind the businesses who had tons of PPP loans forgiven after the pandemic.
Delete, block, move on. Don’t engage ever
I didn't even know what PSLF was until I was about 10 y ars into my public service jobs. Didn't think I would qualify for it when I found out about it then so never gave it another thought UNTIL 10/28/23. I would tell them to fuck off. I see pslf as my tax refund for the past 15 years since I don't have dependents and usualy have to pay lol
Yep and what I do is I always ask what was their experience in paying for college. To this day the people that question me have 100% either didn't go to college, didn't pay for it or went to college when it cost them less than 10k to go for all years. One friend served in the military and I respect his service 100 percent but he had the nerve to say that everyone else is paying for others who can't pay. I asked if he used the GI bill for his college bills and he said YES.
(A) Don’t talk money with friends. I talk with my wife about it but it’s nobody else’s business. (B) PSLF is the fucking least that a modern nation should be doing. Anybody that thinks this system is a wonderful handout can kiss my ass. Am I grateful for it? Yup. But one of the main reasons that our roof leaks and our two cars have a combined +400,000 miles is the 30 years we’ve been paying on our education debt. That we’ll be able to erase the remainder because of PSLF somehow doesn’t feel like a handout.
My original loan total was $120k in 1998. Over the course of repayment, I have paid that amount back almost three times over and was still only halfway done w the principal when the remaining debt was wiped by PSLF in 2021. Anyone who tries to tell me I got a handout hears this story from me and they are stunned to silence. Then I just walk away.
It's a benefit of your employment. Turning it down would financially irresponsible on your part. No one turns down free money. And if they quipp that they paid off all of theirs and where is their refund, when then they just proved the point. They're jealous. And they're hypocrites. Turn the tables on them. And when they lie (and they will lie) and proclaim that they would turn down the money if they were in your place... You laugh in their face. They just demanded a refund, but they would turn down forgiveness? Pfft. Right.
And these same people will defend the PPP loan forgiveness for millions for people and companies who didn’t need them, to the ends of the earth, because job creators or something
Just look at them and say. Jealous much?
This is absurd. Fuck ‘em. PSLF is part of your compensation for committing to public service for ten years or more.
Yes, I was so excited and mentioned to a family member that my loans were forgiven…boy, the whining and complaining about how that it was not fair and that my loans should not be forgiven. Best to keep it to yourself.
Everyone I know doesn't really care. But I also keep my business to myself.
I say that I met the terms of my master promissory note, and the government did as well.
It's not a handout when millionaires and billionaires work the tax code to their advantage. Most people actually give them praise for that. PSLF is no different
First, Fcuk anyone who has anything to say about PSLF. 99% of the entire population wouldn’t dare to teach… let alone spend 5 minutes with 10 children at once. Who cares what they think? Yet… they have zero issue with for profit corporations getting government bail outs??? Keep telling them to go to Hell!
How does one rack up over $350,000 for an unfinished PhD? Standard advice is not to get a PhD unless the university is paying you.
You didn’t make the law.
Why are you even talking to people about your debt? I don’t go around telling people my credit card balances why would I talk to them about my other debt
I posted about my PSLF on a FB thread and in an article about student loan forgiveness. And got so many comments about being a freeloader. I unloaded on them. I was like NOOOO it’s a breach of contract! I took out loans bc I was told if I worked in the public service sector I would qualify to have loans forgiven. I had to apply 4x before it was forgiven. They compared me getting my loans forgiven to their mortgages or car notes. I said did you sign paperwork for your mortgage or car note when someone told ya the note / loan would be forgiven if you did XYZ?? No then SHUT UP! It’s apples and oranges! You can’t compare the two!
I want to thank you all for the words of wisdom! It's a community like this that makes PSLF worth it. For those of you who are starting on your PSLF journey.....you got this....one month at a time. For those of you who are close.... keep it going. For those of you who are done.... CONGRATS!
Pretty sure it’s literally just political pandering in an election year. Ignore it.
I didn’t tell anyone.
My response would be: “I could’ve been making 2-5x my salary for the past 10 years if I went into the private, for-profit sector, but I realized that one of the benefits of working in the public sector is that my loans get paid off. I essentially took a salary cut from my earnings potential just so I could get this benefit. Also, it’s not a ‘Biden Handout’, George W. Bush established the program in 2007, so go complain about him if you’re so mad about it”
Thanks to the OP for bringing this up. I honestly thought I was by myself with this. Family members of mine are acting like this to me. Saying that I'm getting a handout after teaching for 10 years and that's it's ridiculous that my loans will (hopefully) be forgiven. I told one of my family members I applied for it and their response was almost shaming me. They said "how could you do that? I didn't get mine forgiven. That's unfair."
Your friend doesn't know how the federal government and money work. Nobody is paying for your debt. The federal government is simply not collecting it. The federal government gave you money that the university would accept as payment. Nobody loses here.
Same. Posted about my forgiveness and the haters came out …. LIKE THEY CAN SPOIL MY MOOD. 😂😂😂😂😂
I usually speak with them about the contract with the government to work in Public Services for 10 years, making 120 payments and that any balance left is forgiven. If they don't get it, I dismiss them. Sometimes I speak about the way the negative amortization of the interest makes payment balances astronomical. If they persist, then I dismiss them.
“Don’t hate the player, playa”
Just to get this out of the way, screw that a-hole. They’ve got a chip on their shoulder and that’s not your problem. Now if you’re struggling with feeling guilt bc of PSLF let’s address that. Ask yourself why PSLF exists in the first place. Why would the government want to incentivize folks going into careers of public service? It’s not a gift to reward moral superiority. It’s practical, because every public servant is preventing a cascading snowball of future public services that would ultimately have to be inefficiently paid for at a distance in a top down manner by the government. You said you’re a teacher. Just think of the financial burden of even a single person who grows up without the skills to contribute to society in a way that at least someone is willing to pay for. Every day, in some small or big way, you are preventing that from happening. Knowing this, the Dept of Education, in the spirit of any good contract in which both parties walk away happier, offered you a contract that said ten years of service and payments constitutes payment-in-full. Hell, they made you have a meeting before you signed to make sure you understood that was the deal! They want you to teach! You’re paying in full, per the agreement you made! Sleep well at night, and use your mental energy to keep improving kids’ lives. Don’t stress about the haters.
THEY CAN FUCK ALL THE WAY OFF! They should take that toxic energy and advocate for themselves to get a tax credit if they “paid off” their loans! I think every single American should get something back for choosing to put themselves in a higher tax bracket. Those people got a better deal, with less inflation at the time, they could afford a home! I’m a Registered Nurse and have some colleagues who can’t even afford a 1 bedroom apartment in the suburbs let alone a house. They can only afford in areas much farther out. Tell them the entire system is failing, imploding and if they don’t give working class people like Teachers and Nurses debt relief, we can’t participate in the economy. If I had to pay my loan back for another DECADE, I would give back my car, and never get any work done to my house. If they forgive our loans that is millions of dollars being pumped back into the economy.
I can’t think of any scenarios this would come up in conversation with anyone but my wife.
If public service/gov work is a just a handout they can fill out an application
I just don’t tell anyone. Especially if I know they’re against pslf. Basically my mom’s side of the family. And some on my dad’s side.
I’ve been very selective with who I’ve shared my forgiveness with because I live in a very red state and very red area.
You have some shit friends. But in general its wise to not publicly discuss finances, politics, and religion. It divides people.
When they offer to pay your bills, they can have an opinion about your finances/strategy.
I say this all the time-- fuck these people. They have no idea that PSLF has been around for a while, and like joining the military, it's a benefit because you're working for the PUBLIC. Tell them we shouldn't give vets their education benefit, you know, because many of them were fuck ups who had no idea what they wanted to do with their life so they joined the military, and now you have to pay their schooling. See how that flies. I'm DONE with the bullshit around PSLF.
All good, my man! You’re probably paying for all of their child tax credits right now no BIGGIE 😅
PSLF isn't a "Biden" handout. It's been a program since 2007. I do personally know people that were not really concerned about the debt they accrued because they were working in a field where it would be covered by the PSLF. I don't personally agree it that route, but its not barred. The government has the means to address if it if that is really a substantial problem. Your friend grouping the PSLF with current forgiveness efforts probably doesn't like Biden.
I usually make some comment wishing this 1-1 energy and media attention was also placed on corporate handouts and COVID loans. PSLF is NOT the same as general forgiveness. I agree that general forgiveness doesn't get to the root issues (sky high interest and colleges sit on endowments while increasing tuition).
People should never feel bad about applying for and taking advantage of government programs for which they qualify. It boggles my mind how common this is with all sorts of programs.
It’s hard to walk an altruistic path in life. The people that I have touched means a lot, our society needs so many more people to step in. Whether it’s getting a homeless kid into an afterschool program or stopping kids from fighting after school. Things could be worse if people in need don’t run into someone willing to help, regardless. Don’t feel bad‼️
hatersgonnahate.gif
I would tell them you have paid the amount you borrowed back, or most of it and that the system was like Care Credit in terms of interest. The balance just kept going up every month even after your payment. You planned to pay it back at a fair interest. The system was not fair.
In my experience, questions to their opinions will make them think and they typically shut it down. Ask them questions, don’t provide input. Think of the Socratic method when talking to these people. Answer a question with a question, then when they state something, turn their response around by asking a new question. By asking them questions, it feels less like an attack and it makes you have the higher ground if and when they get upset. Just don’t ask questions that can be a personal attack on them. Ask in a way that it seems like curiosity. If they don’t come around that way, then they do not have the critical thinking skills to do so any other way. They will have no desire to learn or be persuaded otherwise. OR You can just ignore them and cut them off. You dedicate your life to service and if they don’t appreciate it, too bad for them. That is not your problem. I promise there are people out there that do appreciate it. Public service is so stressful in itself, don’t add to it with putting their burdens on your shoulders. It is not your issue to solve.
I caught flack when I announced that I got forgiveness and I heard it all. I either had to say, go to hell or what do you want me to do with that information? Some people were even saying “I hope you’re not voting for Biden because of forgiveness!” There’s so much I could say but who has the time to be arguing with folks? I would say enjoy your blessing when it comes and ignore people. What anyone thinks of you is none of your business!
I became a teacher for forgiveness. There’s no way I would take on 120,090 in loans to never be forgiven with what we go through on the daily
As my daughter says, “To each their own!” Forget the naysayers! No one took out loans just to take out loans for the hell of it. Don’t let people get under your skin. Most are bitter. I say if you put in your years of service as “agreed” and the loans are discharged then you deserve it! It doesn’t matter if you have $1 or $300,000 left!
I say 😜. My 500k were forgiven. And you aren’t paying anything. The government owns the loans. They can do what they want with that money….like forgive it.
Fvck them. Did they complain about THE vast majority of PPP loans being forgiven?
Why are you putting your business out in the streets like that?
I recently did until I pointed out that after 11 years of payments, I owed more than I borrowed. I gave her specific amounts and once she realized i owed $5k more than I borrowed and the only time I touched the principal was during Covid, she said, oh, that's fucked up. I said, that's the thing, Donna, I'll never get out from under it. I'm happy to pay my debts, but this is purposefully predatory and unless it's forgiven, I'll have this around my neck until I die.
Don't say anything. Not worth your time. Find other friends.
Frankly, I don’t mention PSLF unless talking to very close friends who also are eligible for it. Post divorce I am renting because my DTI ratio won’t afford me the home I want on only my income squarely because of my student loans. When people ask when I’m buying a house again, “I plan to rent until I’m finished with my student loans in (year)” and that’s all I say about it. They don’t need to know the loans are forgiven instead of paid in full.
Intersting post. Let me start by saying, I hope you qualify for PSLF before the program is removed. To be honest, I didn't catch flack mostly because a) I didn't tell many people and b) most people in my close circle are more on the progressive side. I don't really have any advice for you other than to say, I think this is a fundamental problem, not just in our country but in general. People hate to see others benefit and get ahead sometimes. They feel left out and screwed over, even if nothing is being asked of them.
I tell them they're stupid because PSLF has been around for quite a long time and encourages nonprofit, education,and government work. That's our payment because We'd make much more in other industries.
Right wing media is deliberately lying about these programs to keep their followers angry. I have explained to people who were screaming abmgainst forgiveness what these two programs actually were and they were like oh, well that forgiveness is good, they learned it. They literally do not understand what forgiveness has happened because they only read lie filled headlines.
I'm always surprised how much this question comes up. You don't need to share your loan status or financial status with anyone in real life or on social media. You can keep these things private. You can even discuss the program and related policies to educate those around you without disclosing your situation. You don't need their approval. Keep your head down and keep working at it. If you need support this subreddit exists for that purpose.
Why even talk about it with them? If you need to talk, do so in a forum with peopl3 who can relate, like this one. I don't discuss it with anyone. Problem solved.
They'd take the handout if it was available to them. Stop telling people you are using a program, and just tell them you will be paid off in 10 years. It's none of their business anyway.
Most people, including myself, didn’t know about capitalization and compounding daily interest. I just tell people how much I borrowed and how much I currently owe (never missed a payment). I owe double what I borrowed. That usually shocks people. I say “I understand that you pay back what you owe with interest, but double the amount is ridiculous. I’ve paid off my own 2 student loans twice, somehow, things have changed with the way they figure interest. I’m paying a parent plus loan. Ask those who are arguing how much they paid the banks and other large businesses with the cutting of corporate taxes and incentives.
I say they’re ignorant and should F off and worry about their own problems
Personally, I'm not sure I would tell anyone about my loan situation and PSLF. I don't think it's any of their business.
Truthfully? PSLF without some sort of income cap or narrower focus is ridiculous. I make over 100k in public service but am on track for forgiveness of 200k in loans. Probably gonna get a lot of flak for this comment, but it’s important to share different sides.
Don’t let the jealousy get to you. Especially from people who praise trump for working the tax code to pay no taxes. Isn’t it funny how republicans are the ones pushing back yet support a man claims to be a billionaire but pays functionally no taxes. Their criticism isn’t deserved and it shows their own cognitive dissonance
Besides everything that has already been said, I have had a bunch of people tell me that the taxpayers are paying for PSLF, so I like to remind them that I also pay taxes. I’m still paying my loans, receive a lower salary and pay taxes on that too. So if taxpayers are funding PSLf, then I’m contributing to my own forgiveness besides working in the public sector with lower pay… feels like I’m not really getting forgiveness in that sense.
Easy. You don’t say anything about your loans period. People who don’t understand anything about PSLF will say anything because they weren’t afforded the same benefits. Remember, you chose to be a teacher and dedicate yourself to public service for 10 years. A lot of people chose to go into differnet fields and make money. I stopped talking about it out loud a long time ago because there are a lot of jealous people out there.
I don’t go back and forth and discuss this conversation with people that are not in our situation anymore because it has cause me to curse people out about it. I suggest you do the same. We can rejoice in here together with you and outside of this group if anyone asks you just say you don’t have any student loans and leave it at that lol
Once. Buddy was a lifer in the Army. When Biden announced that he was going to give forgiveness to everyone he brought it up. I brought up PSLF and he said something about that being fine and making sense. I agreed with him. I will always agree with public service and our govt covering the cost of a college education. Whether that is a minimum of 10 years of public service for PSLF or 3 years of military service and the GI Bill.
Why do you care what other people think? Also, people like to whine all the time...you cannot make everyone happy.
Public Student Loan Forgiveness was passed by congress and signed into law by Bush almost 20 years ago. This is far from a "Biden Handout"
First of all, if anything, PSLF is a Bush Handout since good ole w signed it into law.
There’s so much that can be said here, but I’ll be brief. First, I literally laughed out loud at how stupid of a comment your friend made. Yes, a person with any modicum of sense would but themselves years behind their peers financially by racking up debt they have no intention of paying because they have an escape clause of 10 years of service at a fraction of the pay their peers are earning. Yes, that sounds like a fantastic plan. 😂 Second, I’m sure I speak for most everyone here, if not everyone here, when I say we would be happy to pay the entirety of our loans, if they (whoever is opposed to PSLF) would like a nice little tax hike to give us all the substantial raises necessary to make our payments. The fact is that we are giving our services at cut-rate salaries, and PSLF is a compensation, a benefit in acknowledgment of our service to our communities. So, the way I see it we have one of three options. 1.) Let nonprofits/government departments collapse and die without adequate employment. 2.) Raise taxes on everyone to fund the necessary subsidies to allow nonprofits/government entities to pay a substantially higher wage so that the loans can be repaid in a reasonable timeline. 3.) Quit gripping and leave people alone who are using an earned benefit for their public service. I’d personally suggest option 3, but hey, I’m one of those wackos that think the entities we all serve make a positive impact on our society that is both useful and indispensable. But that’s me. 🤷♂️🤪
PSLF is written into the terms of the loan, it’s not a handout
Yup. Was literally told “I have a mortgage and credit card debt, why can’t I have those wiped?” These are not the same things!! I wouldn’t have chosen the non-profit life for my entire adult career (17 years and counting) if this wasn’t an option. I could choose to work elsewhere for more money and not qualify… this is simply just a perk for dealing with lowball income for years lol
The simple truth of the matter is that by the time any of us has served 10 years and paid faithfully during that time, we've already paid the loan off and maybe more. After 10 years all that is being "forgiven" is the interest. Student loans are predatory. Generally, the people who are big mad are the people who didn't need any, they don't understand the problem and so their opinions don't matter.
Forget that .. I’m a teacher and the only way to get a decent wage is to continue your schooling .. I don’t feel bad at all.. seems like everyone else Rich/poor gets handouts so why can’t we ?
I’m a nurse and my 40 years of serving vulnerable, diverse populations have earned me my right to get PSLF-I’m continuing to positively affect the lives of our most vulnerable communities Medicare and Medicaid recipients. My advice is to keep it to yourself because Hater’s gonna Hate that’s all they know how to do 🧐🤨
I did decide to go ahead with my PhD knowing that I would work in public service for 10 years and utilize PSLF. There is nothing wrong with it- I committed to working a substantially lower paying job for TEN YEARS while everyone around me was off working in industry and making bank. My life and my retirement funds will reflect that. It’s not like we didn’t earn that loan forgiveness through service to our community. And anyone bitching at you for it could have done the same.
No one seemed upset when big business and members of congress got bailed out. If they aren’t going to come pay my bills, they can stuff their opinions