College Tuition Assistance

01/28/2025

Ya better listen!

01/28/2025

01/28/2025

Wow! Just look!

12/07/2024

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09/08/2020

This can not be true! WTH!

New Orleans|A Caucasian male in his 40s was declared dead yesterday after he suddenly fell during a hostile argument with a black female. According to eyewitnesses, the man was being racist to the black female who obviously practices voodoo. They exchanged harsh words for a while and no one was able...

01/06/2019

I found this link in USA Today!

Federal data released this week show that 41,000 people applied for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. As of Sept. 30, only 206 had received it.

10/30/2018

How To Get $350 Million Of Student Loan Forgiveness

There’s $350 million of student loan forgiveness up for grabs on a first-come, first-served basis.

Here’s what you need to know and how to apply.

Student Loan Forgiveness: The Relief Fund

In May, the U.S. Department of Education announced the details of the Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. This program provides for $350 million in funds for student loan borrowers who previously chose an ineligible repayment plan as part of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.

If you meet all the requirements for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, but were enrolled in an ineligible repayment plan (such as the graduated or extended repayment plans), then you may have a second chance for student loan forgiveness.

According to data from the New York Times, as of September 28, there have been 28,207 borrowers who applied for the Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Of that total, 21,672 were deemed ineligible, and approximately half of the remaining 6,535 were rejected for other reasons. This means that approximately 3,000 applications are still under consideration for student loan forgiveness.

How To Apply For Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program is a federal program that forgives federal student loans for borrowers who are employed full-time (more than 30 hours per week) in an eligible federal, state or local public service job or 501(c)(3) non-profit job who make 120 eligible on-time payments over 10 years.

Here’s what you need to know to ensure that you qualify:

1. You must work for a qualifying public service employer in a qualifying public service role

Typically, there are two types of employers:

- state, local and federal government

- 501(c)(3) non-profit

2. You must have direct, federal student loans

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program does not forgive private student loans – even if you work in public service.

If you’re not sure what type of student loans you have, check with your student loan servicer or through Federal Student Aid.

If you have FFEL loans, you need to consolidate your student loans into a Direct Consolidation Loan with the federal government to qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

3. You must be enrolled in a federal repayment plan

You also must be enrolled in an income-driven federal repayment plan, and make the majority of your payments under the plan. You can determine which student loan repayment plan works best for you with these student loan calculators.

4. You must have applied for Public Service Loan Forgiveness

You must have applied for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and made some or all of your payments under a repayment plan that did not qualify. However, you do not need to wait to be rejected for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program before you apply.

How do you apply for Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness?

There are two easy steps:

Email FedLoan Servicing at [email protected] to request that the Education Department reconsider your eligibility for Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
Include the same name under which you submitted your Public Service Loan Forgiveness application and your date of birth in the email.

Here is a sample template email that you can use:

To: [email protected]

Subject: TEPSLF request

I request that the U.S. Department of Education respectfully reconsider my eligibility for public service loan forgiveness.

Name: [Enter the same name under which you submitted your Public Service Loan Forgiveness application]
Date of Birth: [Enter your date of birth in MM/DD/YYYY format]
Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Your Name

You will receive a response from FedLoan Servicing once your request has been reviewed. Separately, you can contact FedLoan Servicing at 1-855-265-4038 from 8 a.m.– 9 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday.

What if you don’t work in public service?

While you could try for student loan forgiveness through a federal repayment plan, it may take 20 to 25 years to receive forgiveness and your student loans may be paid off by then.

There’s a more proactive approach.

Student loan refinancing can lower your interest rate, which can save you substantial money in interest payments.

With student loan refinance, you can combine your existing private student loans, federal student loans or both into a new, single student loan with a lower interest rate and one monthly payment.

You won’t have access to federal repayment plans and benefits, but many private student loan lenders now offer forbearance and deferral programs for economic hardship.

The higher your student loan balance, the more you can potentially save.

10/09/2018

Teachers Sue Navient Over Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program

A group of teachers and college professors, backed by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), on Wednesday filed a class action lawsuit against Navient, claiming the federally-contracted student loan servicer misled borrowers in an effort to prevent them from enrolling in Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF).

In the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the nine plaintiffs claim Navient is actually incentivized to prevent borrowers from enrolling in PSLF in order to "retain more fees for itself," and thus encourages employees to steer borrowers away from the program.

A spokesperson for Navient said the company is not commenting on the pending litigation.

The lawsuit comes on the heels of newly-released data from the Department of Education (ED), showing that the vast majority of PSLF applications submitted to date have been denied, either for not meeting the requirements for forgiveness, or for having missing or incomplete information on their applications. Policymakers and advocates, including NASFAA, have pressed ED to provide more information on the program and conduct more comprehensive outreach to borrowers regarding PSLF. Congress also in the 2018 spending bill allocated $350 million for ED to extend eligibility to borrowers who may have enrolled in the wrong repayment plan.

Other groups have sued different loan servicers, as well as ED, for issues related to determining eligibility for and enrolling borrowers in PSLF.

One of the plaintiffs in the new lawsuit, first-grade teacher Michelle Means, alleged that when asked about loan forgiveness options for teachers, Navient did not give her information about the PSLF program, and later told her that she would be ineligible for PSLF if she did not make 120 consecutive, on-time payments, or went into forbearance or deferment. In order to qualify for PSLF, the 120 payments do not need to be consecutive, and going into forbearance is not a disqualifying factor. Means claimed that in later conversations, Navient representatives also steered her away from enrolling in income-driven repayment plans, and rather toward forbearance or other non-qualifying repayment plans, according to the lawsuit.

"Navient has purposely and systematically trapped teachers, nurses and other public service workers under a mountain of student debt instead of providing them with accurate information about their loan options and the loan forgiveness programs they qualify for and deserve," said AFT President Randi Weingarten, in a statement. "No one goes into public service to strike it rich; they do it out of a deep commitment to students, patients and the public good. But we cannot attract the best and brightest to these careers if promises of debt relief are deliberately broken."

Weingarten went on to say that Navient "deceived America's public servants and public servants-to-be," claiming the union has heard from teachers who have defaulted on their loans or can't afford to make payments on their children's loans.

The lawsuit details numerous ways in which the plaintiffs claim Navient has pushed borrowers away from PSLF, including telling them they are "on track" to receive forgiveness when they do not have Direct Loans, instructing borrowers not to submit Employment Certification Forms until they are ready to apply for forgiveness, and failing to inform borrowers of their need to recertify their income for income-driven repayment plans.

"This suit seeks not only damages but injunctive relief to protect the next generation of borrowers," Weingarten said. "We will have our members' backs as they pursue this complaint to not only achieve justice for Navient's 6.1 million federal student loan borrowers, but also uphold Congress'—and the American people's—intent when they created PSLF to help those who are helping others."

10/04/2018

Navient's Role in Loan Servicing Overhaul
Trump administration's list of primary finalists to operate an overhauled student loan servicing system excludes Navient, a large and controversial servicer, which instead is participating in the program as a subcontractor in a team.


When the Education Department announced a list of finalists for the student loan servicers that will receive contracts as part of a planned overhaul of the system, one name was noticeably absent.
Navient Corporation, one of the country's largest student loan servicers, was not listed as a finalist or as an organization that was tapped to lead team bids. Some consumer advocates and critics of the company saw it as a victory for efforts to hold Navient accountable for a track record of poor management. However, the company said it was selected to participate in the revised program, dubbed Next Gen, as a subcontractor and part of a team of servicers.
"Navient did not submit an individual bid for Next Gen -- we bid as part of a team, and our team was one of those selected to move forward," Paul Hartwick, a company spokesman, said via email.
The company's portfolio included $215 billion in outstanding student loan debt as of the last quarter of 2017 -- the third most of any loan servicer. In recent years, though, it became critics' poster child for the worst aspects of the student loan industry. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the attorneys general of Illinois and Washington sued Navient, saying it had illegally failed borrowers at every stage of the repayment process.
For example, the lawsuit alleged that Navient wrongfully assessed late fees even when borrowers made payments and steered other borrowers toward forbearance, leading to the accrual of interest on their loan principal, rather than other repayment options.
The Trump administration is conducting a competitive bidding process to select contractors for multiple components of the new servicing system. The Education Department plans to build a single website to manage loan payments that all borrowers will use regardless of their servicer. It also wants to break up several components of the back end of the loan servicing system and award separate contracts for functions like data processing to contractors.
Among the companies listed as finalists for a business process operations contract were Edfinancial Services LLC, General Dynamics Information Technology Inc., Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA), Nelnet, Oklahoma Student Loan Authority (OSLA), Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA), Teleperformance​, Trellis Company and Utah Higher Education Assistance Authority.
Colleen Campbell, associate director for postsecondary education at the Center for American Progress, said the fact that Navient was not included among those finalists was “absolutely” a reflection of the company’s prior performance.
“If you’re going to put into a contract solicitation and into appropriations language that past performance matters, there’s no legitimate way to put a company into the system that has such a poor track record of performance for borrowers,” she said.
Navient had argued the CFPB lawsuit was unfounded and politically motivated.
“We are pleased to be progressing through the process as a member of one of the selected teams,” Hartwick said.
Persis Yu, director of the Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project at the National Consumer Law Center, said it was notable that the company would not be a contender for one of the largest servicing contracts.
“It’s encouraging to see that, because Navient has had so many issues with compliance,” she said.
But Yu noted that other servicers have faced complaints from borrowers. For example, PHEAA has been sued over its management of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and the TEACH grant program.
She said the new servicing system must allow the department to hold servicers accountable for their performance.
“That’s always been our big concern -- making sure the government is able to hold individual contractors responsible while streamlining the experience for borrowers,” she said.

10/04/2018

Final 2019 Appropriations Bill Permits Expanded FAFSA Data Sharing

Karen McCarthy, NASFAA Policy and Federal Relations Staff

The final fiscal year 2019 appropriations bill signed into law by President Donald Trump last week permits schools to share FAFSA data with additional organizations that meet certain criteria, with the student’s written consent.

The fiscal year 2018 spending bill had allowed schools to share FAFSA data with scholarship providers and tribal organizations, also with the student’s written consent. The fiscal year 2019 spending bill expands that language to also allow an institution to share FAFSA data — with the student's written consent — with an organization "assisting the applicant in applying for and receiving Federal, State, local, or tribal assistance that is designated by the applicant to assist the applicant in applying for and receiving financial assistance for any component of the applicant's cost of attendance."

NASFAA has advocated heavily over the past year for a solution to the FAFSA data-sharing issue, and most recently supported the inclusion of this provision in its July letter to congressional appropriations leaders.

NASFAA has asked Department of Education staff if they plan to release any implementing guidance to schools.