Law Schools, Public Interest, Student Loans

Lawyers Hoping For Public Service Loan Forgiveness Receive Rude Awakening Instead

This is an absolute nightmare.

onDecember 21, 2016 at 1:37 PMDecember 22, 2016 at 12:00 PM

‘What do you mean my loan won’t be forgiven?’

Paying off what can often be substantial student debt while working a public service job is difficult. The [Public Service Loan Forgiveness] program promised these dedicated lawyers a chance at financial stability in return for doing public service work. After following the rules, these people had the rug pulled out from under them. We cannot tolerate these actions of the Department of Education.

— American Bar Association President and Baker Donelson partner Linda A. Klein, in a statement about the lawsuit the ABA recently filed against the Department of Education, alleging that some public interest lawyers had been dropped from the Public Service Loan Forgiveness plan (PSLF) without warning after their employers were denied the required certification for the program. According to the complaint, in years prior, the government told many of these lawyers that their employment qualified for the PSLF program, and then their approval was retroactively denied.

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From Pilot and Above The Law

Lawyers eligible for PSLF must work for a 501(c)(3) or a nonprofit organization for 10 years and make 120 qualifying loan payments to have their debt forgiven, tax free. Their loan balances were set to be forgiven in October 2017.

(Flip to the next page to see a copy of the ABA’s complaint.)

Staci Zaretsky is an editor at Above the Law. She’d love to hear from you, so feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.