The wrinkles continue on the story that first appeared last December about folks being denied PSLF-eligibility for jobs they’d previously gotten approval for. From the NYT (emphasis mine):
Last week, the [Education] department filed a reply that said that FedLoan’s responses to borrowers’ certification forms cannot be trusted.
A FedLoan approval letter “does not reflect a final agency action on the borrower’s qualifications” for the forgiveness program, the department wrote.
You know it’s bad when one federal agency says its partner cannot be trusted.
This is one of those situations where the actual detail at stake is not particularly concerning, but the underlying capriciousness certainly is. This all centers on FedLoan approvals for non-501c3 nonprofit organizations.
There is no evidence that the department has any basis or plan for disqualifying the kind of work most doctors do in academic or government (federal, state, local) medicine. Indeed, with the way the law is written, this tactic really wouldn’t work because there is no individual interpretation required for most qualifying work.
But for those who are still years away from achieving PSLF in a career that essentially requires forgiveness to make any sort of financial sense, this remains unreassuring.
This program is not going to last forever.