Public Service Loan Forgiveness limited waiver deadline is Oct. 31

The PSLF waiver has the potential to eliminate student debt for qualifying graduates, says Rachel Kronick Rothbart, director of career services in USC Gould’s Career Service Office.

Graduates pursuing public sector careers encouraged to look into qualifications

Attention USC Gould School of Law graduates: a temporary waiver for student loans in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, announced last year, is still available – but graduates who qualify need to act fast to meet the upcoming Oct. 31 deadline.

The PSLF forgives the remaining balance on federal Direct Loans after the loan holder has made 120 qualifying payments while working full-time for a qualifying employer. The temporary waiver is among recent improvements to the program serving graduates pursuing public sector careers including legal services, government, judicial clerkships and non-profits, says Rachel Kronick Rothbart, director of career services in USC Gould’s Career Services Office.

“The program’s expansion under the limited PSLF waiver will benefit many Gould graduates who might not have qualified otherwise, potentially wiping away all of their student debt, thus making a difference for our alumni that serve the community,” Rothbart said.

The waiver may apply to graduates holding older loans such as federal Perkins loans, Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL) and other types of federal student loans that aren’t Direct Loans as long as they consolidate the loans into a Direct Loan program by Oct. 31, according to the Office of Federal Student Aid.

USC Gould’s Admissions and Financial Aid office has worked closely with graduates pursuing PSLF-qualifying employment through Gould’s Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP), created in 1986. Mary Bingham, director of financial aid for USC Gould, urges graduates to consider whether the PSLF waiver might apply to them.

“There may be graduates who changed to qualifying PSLF-qualifying employment later in their career, or who did not qualify for LRAP assistance, and therefore did not have that close contact with the Gould Financial Aid Office after graduation,” she said. “They may have thought they were doing all the right things to qualify for PSLF, only to discover later that they were in the wrong payment plan or had the wrong type of loan. These borrowers could greatly benefit from the limited PSLF waiver.”

For information on how to apply, who qualifies, an FAQ and more, go to https://studentaid.gov/announcements-events/pslf-limited-waiver. For assistance with PSLF or loan repayment, contact USC Gould Admissions and Financial Aid at admissions@law.usc.edu or (213) 740-2523.