End of PSLF coming?

[Mman]

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So apparently Trump's proposed budget for 2020 calls for ending PSLF program which could have a big impact on plenty of young physicians. Politics aside, there is always danger in relying on something like this for 10+ years in the future in unknown political climates.

 

[Epilepsy365]

So apparently Trump's proposed budget for 2020 calls for ending PSLF program which could have a big impact on plenty of young physicians. Politics aside, there is always danger in relying on something like this for 10+ years in the future in unknown political climates.

Ahem... for future borrowers. We have too many sons and daughters of current Congress members for this program to be away for them.

I always anticipate of this possibility.

 

[The PA Investor]

I'm not sure of the status of the PSLF program in the future but as of right now its been rough. Since the inception of the program, less than 1% of applicants who have applied for forgiveness have had their loans forgiven.

Now obviously 10 years from now there are a lot of things can change but I'm personally against relying on this program. I personally think people can guarantee their freedom from their debt by living frugally and attacking their student loans aggressively. Until this program greatly improves, I personally won't use this program.

 

[RangerBob]

The program is not meant for high earners. I’m quite confident that once a lot of people start getting loan forgiveness there will be a lot of press about wealthy neurosurgeons driving Porches that got their 400k+ loans forgiven because they worked at a nonprofit hospital.

If happened in the 80’s when a number of high profile cases of doctors and lawyers declared bankruptcy to get out of their student loan debt. The media reported, the public got mad, and politicians overreacted and now its almost impossible to discharge student debt in bankruptcy.

It’s also a rather dumb program if you ask me. It’s meant to help teachers and social workers, not higher earners like doctors and lawyers. Obama proposed limiting forgiveness to $50k. That sounded like a reasonable plan to me.

 

[The White Coat Investor]

You guys all know that Obama's budgets all had the same recommendation, right? Yet here we are. I guess it really is Congress that makes the funding decisions.

 

[The White Coat Investor]

I'm not sure of the status of the PSLF program in the future but as of right now its been rough. Since the inception of the program, less than 1% of applicants who have applied for forgiveness have had their loans forgiven.

Now obviously 10 years from now there are a lot of things can change but I'm personally against relying on this program. I personally think people can guarantee their freedom from their debt by living frugally and attacking their student loans aggressively. Until this program greatly improves, I personally won't use this program.

This is incredibly misleading. The vast majority of those people didn't even qualify and almost all the rest couldn't fill out the paperwork correctly.

Don't expect very many docs to start getting forgiveness until 2022-2024.

 

[Dave1980]

I am hopefully getting it all discharged in 2022!

Make sure you have qualified loans and get every year of work certified by the Department of Education. They have messed up my paperwork a few times getting the certifications and I can imagine if you submit it all at once it would more likely than not get rejected due to small errors on your part or their part.

 

[The PA Investor]

This is incredibly misleading. The vast majority of those people didn't even qualify and almost all the rest couldn't fill out the paperwork correctly.

Don't expect very many docs to start getting forgiveness until 2022-2024.

100,835 applications have been rejected and 1,216 people have received loan forgiveness under the PSLF program.

• 55% of people are rejected for not having qualifying payments (this makes sense as you have to get to 120 payments)
• 24% for not filling out the form correctly
• 15% for not having eligible loans (either having FFEL or Perkins loans)

It was never my intention of being misleading. If you look at the breakdown that I have above you would hope that many professionals are eligible for the PSLF program. However, I personally don't want to be a guinea pig before the program improves, especially at roughly 7% student loan interest rates. The PSLF can provide a huge benefit to people if they so choose to follow it and I hope it does improve. More and more people will rely on it as student debt increases.

 

[Epilepsy365]

I am hopefully getting it all discharged in 2022!

Make sure you have qualified loans and get every year of work certified by the Department of Education. They have messed up my paperwork a few times getting the certifications and I can imagine if you submit it all at once it would more likely than not get rejected due to small errors on your part or their part.

If you do get your loans discharged, Please keep your mouth shut and not ruin it for the rest of us.

We don’t need any bad press.

 

[TMP-SMX]

2022 for me on track for PSLF. I agree the program should be changed and education costs reduced. Tuition and interest rates are not sustainable. As above any changes in the program would be for future borrowers.

 

[mvenus929]

Don't expect very many docs to start getting forgiveness until 2022-2024.

There are several in the PSLF Physicians group on Facebook on track to get forgiveness within the next year or so.

I'm hoping for early 2025. Which still seems so far away.