Donald Trump’s administration is considering introducing a new rule that would block college graduates with outstanding loans from having their debt forgiven if their employers are found to be “undermining national security and American values through illegal means.”
The proposal, announced this week by the Linda McMahon-led Department for Education, would bar people from being considered for the federal Public Student Loan Forgiveness program if the businesses they work for engage in “activities with a substantial illegal purpose.”
The examples given by the DOE of what offenses might qualify include “supporting terrorism, aiding or abetting discrimination or violations of immigration laws, or child abuse.”
Announcing the draft rule change proposal, Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent said: “President Trump has given the department a historic mandate to restore the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program to its original purpose – supporting public servants who strengthen their communities and serve the public good, not benefiting businesses engaged in illegal activity that harm Americans.
“The federal government has a vital interest in deterring unlawful conduct, and we’re moving quickly to ensure employers don’t benefit while breaking the law.”
The PSLF was first introduced in 2007 under George W Bush with the intention of rewarding graduates who enter public service professions like teaching or law enforcement by relieving them of the burden of student debt at the outset of their careers.
The DOE insists the rule change it is pitching is necessary to preserve the original spirit of the taxpayer-funded program while penalizing companies found to be operating outside of the law.
It is now soliciting public comments on its proposal until September 17.
According to CBS News, critics of the revision have already warned that it would open the door to DOE officials moving to “improperly exclude” public servants from the scheme on ideological grounds.
In advance of the draft proposal being published, the Student Borrower Protection Center campaign group slammed it last month as “harmful, horrific, and illegal,” warning it could empower the Trump administration to persecute agencies and firms whose work or ethos conflicts with its own goals.
“To be clear, if implemented this proposal would allow the secretary to disqualify from PSLF any employees of school systems that accurately teach the U.S.’s history of slavery, of healthcare providers who offer gender-affirming care and of legal aid organizations that represent individuals against unlawful deportations,” said the SBPC’s legal director Winston Berkman-Breen in late June.
The Independent has reached out to the DOE for further comment.
Earlier this month, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem offered student loan forgiveness as an incentive to encourage graduates to apply to join ICE as part of a massive recruitment drive to boost the administration’s crackdown on undocumented migrants.
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