ABA Journal, These Public Service Loan Forgiveness Applicants Have Seen Their Student Debt Erased:
Renting apartments for years. Going without reliable transportation. Wanting to save for your child’s college education, but having to confront the reality that doing so was financially out of the question because your law school debt payment was more than a car note—or sometimes a mortgage bill.
Many public service attorneys, not unlike millions of Americans who attended college in pursuit of economic mobility, have been in that situation. They graduated and began paying down six-figure loans, but in some cases they were unable to pay daily expenses without going into forbearance. Often, they had an overwhelming feeling that massive student loan debt would travel through life with them.
But many of those attorneys got relief in the past year, thanks to recent changes to the federal government’s Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. … President Joe Biden’s administration made some changes to the program on the heels of a pandemic-related federal student loan payment pause that ended in September 2023. The plan included temporary and permanent changes that extended PSLF to more borrowers. Here are some of their stories.
- Marsha Griggs (J.D. 1996, Notre Dame; Law Professor, Saint Louis University): $243,800 PSLF balance eliminated
- Jessica Quincosa (J.D. 2003, New England; Executive Director, Community Legal Services, Prince George’s County, MD): $60,000 PSLF balance eliminated
- Adelle Settle (J.D. 2010, George Mason; Lawyer, U.S. Army, Washington, D.C.): $255,000 PSLF balance eliminated
- Jamila Wideman (J.D. 2008, Mercer; Associate, Copeland, Stair, Valz & Lovell, Atlanta): $322,447 PSLF balance eliminated
