This comment on the Department of Education’s proposed rule to change the terms of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program (PSLF) is from 70+ legal services organizations that work on behalf of low-income people.
The Higher Education Act defines qualifying public service jobs for PSLF as work for nonprofit 501(c)(3) employers and work for “public interest law services (including prosecution or public defense or legal advocacy on behalf of low-income communities at a nonprofit organization),” among others. Despite this explicit statutory definition, the Department’s proposed rule would redefine qualifying employers by placing new conditions on qualification and attempt to grant the Secretary novel new authority to revoke 501(c)(3) and legal services employers’ qualifying status based on Secretarial findings that the employer engaged in certain types of activities disfavored by the President.
Because the Secretary lacks legal authority to depart from the clear definition of public service jobs provided in the Higher Education Act, because the proposed rule threatens the integrity and reliability of a program that nonprofit legal services organizations rely on to recruit and retain staff to provide legal assistance to low-income people, and because the proposed rule would threaten the freedom of legal services organizations and chill them from providing important services to all lawful clients, we urge the Department to withdraw the proposed rule and to maintain its existing PSLF regulations.
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