When the Supreme Court’s right-wing majority ruled President Joe Biden’s student debt relief plan was unconstitutional on June 30, hopes of getting $10,000 to $20,000 in debt canceled were dashed for most of the 40 million people with federal student loans.
Biden is now pursuing another option for student debt relief. His administration has begun the process of working under the authority of the Higher Education Act of 1965, which he said will take longer, but is “the best path that remains to providing for as many borrowers as possible with debt relief.” However, legal observers predict that any plan Biden proposes is sure to trigger future lawsuits by opponents.
But the estimated 25 percent of student debt borrowers who are employed in the public service sector have another option for erasing whatever debt remains after they’ve made payments for 10 years. It’s called public service loan forgiveness, or PSLF. Christina Ceballos, who’s worked her entire career in public service jobs, was able to partially erase her student debt by figuring out the system, then set up a Facebook page to help others. Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Ceballos about how she did it, and how others can benefit.
CHRISTINA CEBALLOS: In 2007, I returned from Peace Corps and moved to Austin, Texas and continued to work in public service. In October of that year, George W. Bush signed the law that enacted public service loan forgiveness. Public service loan forgiveness was passed because the government wanted to ensure an educated pipeline of talent to come into public service with the incentive that after 10 years of public service or 120 months of qualifying employment and 120 months of payments towards those federal student loans, the rest would be forgiven.
It doesn’t matter how much you make. What matters is who employs you, whether it’s government, nonprofit, or another public service entity, that you are full-time or working more than 30 hours a week. It does depend on your income. So if you’re a lower income individual in public service, you’ll have a smaller payment because public service loan forgiveness is a program built on the income-driven repayment program, which is an even older student loan forgiveness program. So while you’re in public service, you get on an income-driven repayment plan, so you actually pay a smaller percentage than what you would pay on a standard payment plan.
MELINDA TUHUS: Could you just explain a little about how you went from successfully dealing with your own student debt to reaching thousands of people in a similar situation?
CHRISTINA CEBALLOS: I did start off with myself, trying to navigate the program and got all my ducks in a row, got my paperwork in for all the public service employment I’ve had since 2007. And I was also at the same time looking for other support. At the time, I was mostly on Facebook, so I was looking there and I didn’t see too many active groups. So in 2018, I took the plunge and started this Facebook group called Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program Support. And it’s a private group, so you have to — for anyone out there who’s listening — you can join by answering a few simple questions. And over time, I have built a team of 17 other moderators and administrators to help me help many other people. So I have not done this alone. I knew I didn’t have all the answers either.
MELINDA TUHUS: How many people are involved in your group and how many loans have been canceled?
CHRISTINA CEBALLOS: So we have currently 160,000 members that are actively pursuing public service loan forgiveness. And so far, we have positioned $665 million in our group to be forgiven or has been forgiven under PLSF. And I think we’ll, we’ll definitely surpass $700 million and $800 million and possibly a billion before all this is done. (Laughs)
MELINDA TUHUS: Christina Ceballos, has the Supreme Court decision that President Biden couldn’t put his loan forgiveness plan into practice, had an impact on these public service borrowers?
CHRISTINA CEBALLOS: No, this has no bearing on people pursuing PSLF or who want to pursue PSLF. The Biden Harris forgiveness that was just struck down by SCOTUS, by the Supreme Court. It is completely different from public service loan forgiveness.
MELINDA TUHUS: Is part of the problem that people who are eligible don’t know they’re eligible?
CHRISTINA CEBALLOS: I had already known about public service loan forgiveness and honestly, I don’t remember (laughs) hearing anything about it at my exit counseling that you have to do at the when you graduate, it’s a requirement by the federal government when you take up federal direct loans. I honestly do not recall (laugh) being told about public service loan forgiveness, let alone about income driven repayment, which is an even older program.
The Federal Department of Education needs to be doing a better job of getting accurate information directly to the borrowers because borrowers are going to their loan servicers first and the loan servicers are not giving them accurate information and it’s not entirely their fault. And there are people who are falling through the cracks because they’re not getting the information that they need.
[Producer’s note: After this interview was recorded, Christina Ceballos emailed us with the following clarification – “I have not received full forgiveness under PSLF. I only got partial forgiveness in November of 2021. I have been fighting since to have what the DOE calls ‘hanging loans’ fixed. I have gotten the support of my U.S. representative to mediate between me and the DOE! I’m not done fighting.”]
For more information, visit Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program Support on Facebook at facebook.com/
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