The U.S. Department of Education will issue a Request for Information (RFI) to better understand the operational aspects of potentially expanding Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) for workers in early childhood education (ECE) settings.
“Early childhood educators help young children learn, grow, and thrive. But they are often poorly compensated, and student debt is a problem. If these educators can access Public Service Loan Forgiveness, we can help our youngest children, their families, and their communities,” said U.S. Under Secretary of Education James Kvaal.
Since its creation in 2007, PSLF has been available to Federal student loan borrowers employed by government or certain types of not-for-profit organizations. Participating borrowers see the remaining balance of their Federal student loans forgiven after making 120 qualifying payments on their loans, typically over ten years. Through the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to overhaul this program and provide relief to as many borrowers as possible, more than 900,000 borrowers have already been approved for $68 billion in forgiveness through PSLF.
While many borrowers have received relief under the current PSLF program rules, hundreds of thousands of ECE educators are excluded because of their employer’s tax status. The ECE workforce comprises almost entirely women, including a disproportionate number of women of color and immigrants. Additionally, it is among the lowest-paid categories of occupations in the country.
Based on data from the National Survey of Early Care and Education conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, extending PSLF eligibility to include employers of ECE workers regardless of their tax status could potentially allow more than 450,000 ECE workers—about 68,000 in home-based settings and 390,000 in center-based settings—to make progress toward PSLF if those workers have Federal student loans. This reflects roughly one-third of the overall ECE workforce.
Since day one, the Biden-Harris Administration has worked to improve the broken student loan system by making lasting improvements to the PSLF program. This request will help gather important information about how any potential expansion could be implemented for ECE workers.
In July 2022, the Department published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register that proposed improvements to PSLF to reduce regulatory and administrative barriers that have historically made it difficult for borrowers to make progress toward PSLF. In November 2022, final regulations were published but did not address whether private for-profit ECE providers employing borrowers working in ECE should be treated as qualifying employers for PSLF despite receiving many detailed comments on this issue.
The Department is now soliciting comments from researchers, academics, policy experts, administrators,and other individuals familiar with ECE employer data and administration about how employer eligibility would be determined if for-profit ECE employers were considered eligible under PSLF guidelines.Membersofpublichave30daystosubmitcommentsfortheDepartmenttoreview.Thecommentsreceivedinresponsewillnotbeusedaspartoftherulemakingrelatedtotreatmentoffor-profitemployersbutwillinformtheDepartment'sunderstandingofdifferentoperationalapproaches.
