175,000 public servants with student debt have seen $10 billion in relief in the last 10 months, after years of flaws in the loan forgiveness program

• The Education Department has now approved $10 billion in student debt relief for 175,000 public servants.
• This is a result of a temporary waiver the department announced last year and expires on October 31.

Temporary reforms to a student-loan forgiveness program for public servants have brought thousands of borrowers over $10 billion in relief.

On Tuesday, the Education Department announced it has approved more than $10 billion in loan forgiveness for over 175,000 borrowers in the last ten months following reforms to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. This program is intended to forgive student debt for public servants, like government and nonprofit workers, after ten years of qualifying payments. In October, the department established a temporary waiver — set to expire October 31, 2022 — that would allow any past payments, even those previously deemed ineligible, to count toward forgiveness, and Tuesday's announcement is a result of that reform.

"For far too long, teachers, nurses, veterans, government employees, and countless others dedicated to serving our country found Public Service Loan Forgiveness to be nothing more than an empty promise, and before President Biden took office, only 7,000 borrowers ever managed to qualify," Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement.

"Today's announcement that we've surpassed $10 billion in forgiveness for more than 175,000 public servants shows that the Biden-Harris administration's efforts to cut red tape are turning the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program from a promise broken into a promise kept," Cardona added. "We're committed to helping borrowers who choose to pursue careers in education, public health, social work, law enforcement, and other critical fields receive the benefits to which they're entitled for leading lives of service."

Leading up to Biden's presidency, 98% of borrowers who were applying to PSLF were denied, leading the Education Department to implement temporary reforms — along with putting forth proposals to permanently improve the program in its regulatory rulemaking process. However, Democratic lawmakers have expressed concerns with the October 31 deadline for the temporary relief. On Tuesday, 117 lawmakers called on Cardona to extend the waiver through July 2023 to ensure all eligible borrowers will have the time they need to access relief.

"Since the deadline of October 31, 2022 to qualify for PSLF under the waiver program is rapidly approaching, we ask that the Department extend this deadline in order to ensure that all public servants with federal student loans are able to benefit from this historic waiver," the lawmakers wrote.

Regardless, the department is continuing to communicate the October deadline and has not commented on a possible extension.

The announcement of this relief also comes at a consequential time for millions of federal student-loan borrowers: Biden is expected to announce broad student-loan forgiveness, along with an extension of the payment pause, on Wednesday. For now, though, the department maintains that public servants should use the next two months to take advantage of the temporary relief while they can.