In 2019, AFT filed suit against the US Department of Education (Weingarten v DeVos) over the US DOEs failure to properly manage the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program (PSLF). The US DOE settled this lawsuit entitling anyone who was previously denied student loan forgiveness under this program will now have an opportunity to have their loans re-evaluated for forgiveness. Further, the DOE has changed its policies to better serve those holding student debt rather than serving the loan management companies.
This is of particular importance for CT State Employees as the PSLF guarantees that those who work in public service and consistently pay their monthly student loan bills will have the balance of their loans forgiven after 10 years. This means, state employees who consistently make student loan payments may now qualify for the elimination of any remaining debt.
AFT (A&R is a local of AFT) has committed to continue its fight to reduce the crushing impact that student can create and has also partnered with an online resource called Summer (www.meetsummer.org). AFT will provide this resource for free to all AFT/A&R members. The goal is to help union members reduce the impact of student debt but also to limit the all-to-often traps that have been set by student loan management companies. If you are an A&R member and you want to better manage your student debt, we encourage you to follow this link to the AFT website.