The Commonwealth. Nearly 27,400 student loan borrowers in Pennsylvania approved for Public Service Loan Forgiveness

To mark Public Service Recognition Week, the U.S. Department of Education (Department) announced this week that it has approved nearly 616,000 borrowers nationwide for approximately $42 billion in Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) since October 2021.

PSLF covers public employees — such as teachers, firefighters, and members of law enforcement, as well as those who work for a non-profit organization — in a variety of fields by forgiving the remaining federal student loan balance for those who make the required 120 qualifying monthly payments.

$1.8 billion

Between October 2021 and May 2023, the Department has approved nearly 27,400 borrowers in Pennsylvania for more than $1.8 billion in loan forgiveness under temporary changes the Biden-Harris Administration made to the PSLF Program. That’s nearly $67,000 per borrower.

More Pennsylvania borrowers will benefit as the program continues.

Public Service Recognition Week celebrates individuals who serve the United States and local communities as employees of federal, state, local or tribal government.

Improvements to the application process

The department also announced that for the first time, borrowers can now sign and submit their PSLF forms digitally and closely track their status through the process.

These changes to the PSLF application process create a faster, more straightforward, and more transparent process for borrowers.

The changes also improve the experience for public service employers, who now can confirm a borrower’s employment digitally via DocuSign.

For more information, visit StudentAid.gov/publicservice.