NEW YORK (AP) – When Melissa Martinez applied to have her student loan debt forgiven more than a decade ago, the U.S. Department of Education told her she was ineligible.
Martinez, a professor, tried again this past year and managed to erase the last $6,000 she owed for her doctorate. She wasn’t alone – according to new federal figures, more than 145,000 borrowers have had the remainder of their federal student loan debt canceled through a program for people who work for schools, governments or nonprofits.
Hundreds of thousands more have completed the paperwork for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, and officials say many more likely qualify. An Oct. 31 deadline to apply under the less stringent rules is fast approaching.
There’s a broader conversation underway in America about how to handle student loan debt. An estimated 43 million Americans carry student loans worth $1.6 trillion, according to federal figures. Federal student loan payments were paused during the coronavirus pandemic and will remain so until at least Aug. 31. President Joe Biden is expected to make some sort of announcement about student loan relief before then.
Nearly all of the cancellations through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program have come since last October, when the government temporarily relaxed the complex requirements. Before that, the program had rejected more than 90% of applicants, the Department of Education said in 2019.