Few student borrowers working in the public sector are finding loan forgiveness

About year ago, the U.S. Department of Education started accepting applications from public servants to have their student loan balances wiped away. Twenty-eight thousand borrowers applied for forgiveness in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program; 96 were approved. To qualify, applicants must spend at least 10 years working for government agencies or certain kinds of nonprofits and make at least 120 monthly payments on their federal loans. In a report this week, the Government Accountability Office said borrowers are in a state of confusion about the program’s rules, largely because of the way the program is being run. The Education Department, according to the GAO, hasn’t provided proper instructions to the company hired to manage the program.

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