The federal government has extended its pause on student loan payments, interest accrual and student debt collection until May 1. This means borrowers now have until the end of April to make plans on how they will restart their payments.
This is additional good news for borrowers after the expanded loan forgiveness provisions that were enacted via a federal waiver on Oct. 6. These updates are critically important for those who are going to be participating, or are continuing to participate, in Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
Education Minnesota’s Degrees, Not Debt program now has an online training available on the expansion of loan forgiveness options and the steps educators have to do in order to take advantage of this program.
Educators can access the training on the free professional development platform, MEA Online – https://meaonline.educationminnesota.org/dashboard. Search the catalog for “Degrees Not Debt” or going directly to this link, https://meaonline.educationminnesota.org/catalog/courses/2443790. By taking the training, those wanting support for loan forgiveness questions will have a solid foundation to understand options and from which to ask questions.
In general, an educator’s ability to access and/or apply for forgiveness is going to be dependent on a number of factors. There are a few options for loan forgiveness options out there, but each come with a different set of eligibility standards, which is why Education Minnesota suggests taking the online training to start the process.
Once the training is complete and you have found your federal loan information on studentaid.gov, Education Minnesota staff can help guide you throughout the whole process.
Find out more about the union’s Degrees, Not Debt program at www.educationminnesota.org/advocacy/degrees-not-debt.