United States Republican Senator, Marco Rubio (pictured) has joined with Democrat colleague, Senator Maggie Hassan in introducing legislation to expedite student loan forgiveness for members of the military.
The Recognising Military Service in Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Act would allow service members who pause their student loan payments while deployed or on extended active duty orders to count that period of time toward their PSLF progress — which is currently not allowed.
Senator Rubio said that active-duty members of the military got the short end of the stick when it came to benefitting from the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
“This shouldn’t be the case, our service members make an incredible sacrifice to serve our country, and we should do everything in our power to recognise their service and provide them with the option for loan forgiveness,” Senator Rubio said.
Senator Hassan said service members took enormous risks to protect the country’s freedoms.
“It is unacceptable that members of the military can return home after active duty and not be any closer to receiving loan forgiveness,” Senator Hassan said.
“This bipartisan Bill is a common sense fix to help some of our country’s most deserving Public Servants get out from under the burden of their student debt more quickly,” she said.
Under current legislation service members are eligible to enrol in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which allows them to have their loans forgiven after 10 years of qualifying payments.
However, when they place their loans in deferment or forbearance during deployment, that period of service does not count toward their 10 years of qualifying payments.
Washington, 3 May 2021
