FCPS Employees To Get Help With Public Service Loan Forgiveness Application

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — Employees in Virginia's largest school division will get a helping hand to join a student loan forgiveness program that they may qualify for.

While a more expansive student loan forgiveness program is on hold as the Supreme Court makes a ruling, qualifying people can already get relief through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.

Under this U.S. Department of Education program, federal student loans can be forgiven for eligible people after 120 qualifying payments made over 10 years. The program applies to employees who work for a public service employer. That includes public school divisions like Fairfax County Public Schools.

During the school division's budget approval last week, the Fairfax County School Board approved an initiative to help employees enroll for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. The initiative was an add-on motion introduced by Providence District representative Karl Frisch and Mason District representative Ricardy Anderson.

The new initiative at FCPS will help employees enroll and maintain eligibility in the program. The School Board's motion directs the superintendent to create a Department of Human Resource program for the School Board to approve.

"The burden of student loan debt can be crushing. The more we can do to help teachers and other school division employees sign up for and maintain eligibility in the U.S. Department of Education’s Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, the better," said Frisch in a statement. "This is about putting more money in educators’ pockets by helping them access federal student loan forgiveness in exchange for their service and dedication to our students and schools."

A news release from Frisch cited the concern of teachers around the U.S. not being accepted into the program even though they qualified through their employers. Eligible Americans whose loans were forgiven or expected to be forgiven had about $67,000 forgiven on average, according to November 2022 Department of Education data reported by NerdWallet.

According to the School Board motion, "the effort should target focused outreach on likely eligible employees such as new hires and those who have recently graduated from college, previously applied for tuition reimbursement, moved over a column by completing an advanced degree, or previously sought assistance with verification for a qualifying federal student loan repayment program or the [Public Service Loan Forgiveness]."