Just 206 of 41,000 student applicants had loans discharged under the government's loan forgiveness

Just 206 of 41,000 student applicants had loans discharged under the government’s loan forgiveness program

The share of borrowers who had their student loans wiped away through a beleaguered forgiveness program ticked up slightly over the past few months, but the rejection rate remains at 99%.

As of Sept. 30, more than 41,000 borrowers applied to have their loans discharged under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, an initiative signed into law in 2007, which allows public servants to have certain federal loans forgiven after at least 10 years of on-time payments. So far, just 206 have had their loans discharged, according to data published by the Department of Education Thursday.

This week’s report paints a slightly rosier picture than the last time the government published this data in September. At that time, officials reported that as of June 30, 28,000 borrowers had submitted their applications for forgiveness and just 96 had their loans discharged. Despite the marginal improvement this time around, the program’s acceptance rate remains at less than 1%.

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“Every piece of data we see demonstrates that the promises made to public servants throughout the country 10 years ago have been broken,” he said.

For borrowers to have their loans forgiven under PSLF, they need to meet a slew of requirements. They must have the right type of federal loan — only Direct Loans are eligible, — be in the correct repayment plan (not all federal student loan repayment plans qualify) and work in the right type of job, typically any level of government or a 501(c)(3).

More at https://www.marketwatch.com/story/just-206-of-41000-student-applicants-had-loans-discharged-under-the-governments-loan-forgiveness-program-2018-12-21?mod=newsviewer_click