October 8, 2024

Project 2025, the radical, sweeping Republican to-do list for Donald Trump if he wins the Nov. 5 presidential election, would eliminate the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, inflicting big financial pain on millions of public service workers with student loan debt.

According to an Oct. 2 study by the nonprofit Student Borrower Protection Center, more than 3.6 million public service workers would end up paying an additional $250 billion in student loan debt over the next decade if PSLF is cancelled.

In New York state alone, more than $19 billion in student debt relief would be denied if PSLF is terminated. Nearly 287,000 public service workers—including UUP members along with social workers, police officers, firefighters and nurses—would lose an average of nearly $67,000 in debt relief.

“This is yet another reason why we must do all we can to get Kamala Harris elected on Nov. 5,” said UUP President Fred Kowal. “Thousands of UUP members have had their student loans forgiven or reduced through PSLF. We must defeat Donald Trump on Election Day and eliminate the threat he poses to unions across America.”

“PSLF was created in 2007 by Congress in a bipartisan effort to ease the repayment of student loan debt and incentivize a career in public service,” said statewide Secretary-Treasurer Jeri O’Bryan-Losee, who created UUP’s successful student loan forgiveness clinics. “There is only one way to save this important program: defeating Trump on Nov. 5.”

UUP’s twice-monthly online student loan forgiveness clinics have helped members get more than $13 million in student debt forgiven under PSLF. The clinics, led by O’Bryan-Losee, help members through the tricky loan forgiveness process.

Read more about the Student Borrower Protection Center study HERE.

Click HERE to register for UUP’s student loan clinics.