There is still more work to be done, but as of today, one million people who chose work in the public sector after college have had their student loan balances canceled. $74 billion, so much of it in accumulated interest, is now gone. The nurses, teachers, doctor and lawyers working in nonprofit agencies, the social workers and community college advisors, all now have money to invest in their families and their communities.
Congress passed the program in 2017 to acknowledge that people who didn't enter lucrative careers after college were often from lower-income communities and that there was a public good in making it affordable for college graduates to work in public schools and in government and nonprofits even if they didn't have parents who could pay their rent or give them down payments for houses. The intent was that people who worked in the public sector could apply for debt forgiveness after ten years.
The program had been flawed. Very few people ever had their applications approved. Until now.
A million people. That's good news today for college graduates from poor and working-class families and for students weighing their career options.
