Dallas County is joining the effort to spread awareness of a program that can make it easier for public employees to pay off their student loan debt.
The county held a webinar Monday morning in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Education that provided help with a limited waiver.
The deadline to apply is Oct. 31, which is why there's a recent push to get the word out.
"We've got so many people in the public sector and in our charities who work so hard for you and me, and it's great to see there's an opportunity for them to get that loan wiped our or drastically reduced," said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins. Get DFW local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC DFW newsletters.
The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program has been around since 2007 and is designed to forgive the remaining balance of a loan once there have been 120 qualifying monthly payments, which amounts to about 10 years of payments.
People who work in the public sector, meaning teachers, all levels of government employees, first responders, nonprofits, and those in the nonprofit hospital sector, are eligible.
But it's well known that it can be challenging to get into this program.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
"That program almost always denied people up until now. Now they've made it much easier to qualify so that everyone who's made basically 120 payments or had a furlough that counts towards those should be able to get substantial debt reduction," explained Jenkins.
The limited waiver stems from several changes during COVID-19 to help people who were out of work or unable to work during the pandemic.
The limited waiver relaxes some of the requirements.
For example, during the normal PSLF, those with Direct Loans, were only eligible. During this limited waiver, Direct Loans, Federal Family Educational Loans or Perkins Loans Qualify for the program.
Prior to the waiver, 120 monthly payments had to be made under the Standard Plan or Income-Driven Repayment plan. Now, until the end of October, past payments under any plan count.
Those who were denied in the past are encouraged to resubmit an application.
"One of our employees already got $65,000 off of her loans," said Jenkins.
Everyone's situation is different, so it's essential to read through all the details.
Click here to see if you qualify.
Jenkins says they plan to have more resources available.
On Nov. 1, the normal requirements will return.
