The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program has offered support to countless borrowers.
Brynn Anderson/AP
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Brynn Anderson/AP
President Donald Trump has enacted an executive order instructing the U.S. Education Department to deny specific federal student loan borrowers access to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
The order specifies that “individuals employed by entities whose actions are predominantly illegal” will be rendered ineligible for PSLF. This decision follows three weeks after Education Secretary Linda McMahon stated during her Senate confirmation that she would support the continuation of the program.
Established by Congress, PSLF forgives the federal loan debts of borrowers employed in public sector roles, including nonprofit organizations, after they have made payments for ten years while working for an approved employer.
The executive order tasks McMahon with redefining “public service” so that it “excludes organizations involved in activities that have a significant illegal intent.”
Among the cited activities are: terrorism support; child abuse, encompassing “the chemical and surgical castration or mutilation of children or trafficking them to so-called transgender sanctuaries”; “facilitating illegal discrimination”; violations of federal immigration law; and breaches of state laws such as “trespassing, disorderly conduct, public nuisance, vandalism, and obstruction of highways.”
Critics argue that this represents an infringement on the free speech rights of borrowers and organizations whose missions conflict with the administration’s agenda.
“What is unfolding is that debt is weaponized to intimidate dedicated public service workers from aiding the most vulnerable constituents of our society or opposing the Trump Administration’s extremist policies,” states Persis Yu, deputy executive director and managing counsel at the Student Borrower Protection Center.
PSLF law, which was signed by President George W. Bush in 2007, outlines the criteria for which public service employees qualify. Yu explains that altering these eligibility requirements would require an extensive federal rulemaking process.
Secretary McMahon and the White House could implement measures to redefine the law. This is akin to what the Biden administration accomplished in 2021, when it broadened the interpretation of PSLF.
One of the results of these reforms was a surge in loan forgiveness. In January, toward the conclusion of Biden’s tenure, the department announced that “the total number of borrowers approved for PSLF has reached 1,069,000, amounting to $78.46 billion. In stark contrast, only 7,000 borrowers had received PSLF at the onset of the Biden-Harris Administration.”
While the Trump administration has means to manage how PSLF is executed, Yu asserts the president cannot redefine the law and its qualification criteria through an executive order.
“These borrowers have entered into contracts [with the Department of Education] that guarantee their right to public service loan forgiveness,” explains Yu, who anticipates legal challenges to the executive order.
PSLF bears a complicated history. In a 2018 review, the U.S. Government Accountability Office discovered that when borrowers contacted the entity managing PSLF to verify their job eligibility, they sometimes received no feedback, as the Education Department had not provided the company with a clear list of eligible employers.
That same year, NPR reported that federal data indicated that 99% of applications for PSLF had been declined.
