Internal Government Communications and Records About the Process for Certifying Public Service Employment
In response to requests filed under the Freedom of Information Act, FSA produced more than 9,200 pages of documents and records. Due to the large size of this production, we have divided these documents and records into segments, which are keyword searchable and available for download below.
- [1 of 5] Internal Email Correspondence and Records Related to Certifying Employment for PSLF (21 MB/1164 pages)
- [2 or 5] Internal Email Correspondence and Records Related to Certifying Employment for PSLF (30 MB/1164 pages)
- [3 of 5] Internal Email Correspondence and Records Related to Certifying Employment for PSLF (27 MB/1156 pages)
- [4 of 5] Internal Email Correspondence and Records Related to Certifying Employment for PSLF (28 MB/1164 pages/page count)
- [5 of 5] Internal Email Correspondence and Records Related to Certifying Employment for PSLF (144 MB/1562 pages)
In addition to the thousands of pages of email correspondence produced in February 2019, FSA also produced a list of organizations that had previously been certified as eligible for PSLF through the end of 2016. This list was described by FSA at the time as “a list of approved employers categorized by type of qualifying employment.” We are providing this list in its entirety as it demonstrates the critical flaws identified in our report, including:
(1) Mischaracterized employers (e.g. government agencies designated as nonprofits as well as nonprofits characterized as government agencies);
(2) Employers documented on the list as qualifying employers for PSLF, but listed in other ED communications as ineligible;
(3) Employers that are deemed qualifying employers, but in subsequent communications by the Department (see “comprehensive list” below) are inexplicably missing.
- [1 of 2] 2016 List of Previously Certified “Public Service Organizations” for PSLF(67 MB/1505 pages)
- [2 of 2] Preliminary List of Previously Certified “Public Service Organizations” for PSLF(74 MB/1505 pages)
“Comprehensive” List of Public Service Employer Approvals and Denials
Through our effort to get answers for borrowers about the recordkeeping of approved and denied employers, we continued asking questions, including whether there existed an accurate and comprehensive list of employers. This ultimately ledFSA to produce a new series of records purporting to be a “comprehensive” database of all employer certification approvals and denials through June 2019. Until it was produced in 2019, the government had no complete record of these decisions.
AFT and the SBPC have elected to release this “Comprehensive” List of Public Service Employer Approvals and Denials in six parts, as it was originally produced by FSA. Users should note that this list codes employer certification decisions into five possible categories—(A) Approved, (D) Denied, (AR) Approved Religious, (I) Inconclusive, and (R) Review. We have also converted these files into a single .dta file for use by researchers, available for direct download at the link below.
- PSLF Organization Database- Part A(.xlsx/19 mb)
- PSLF Organization Database- Part B (.xlsx/17 mb)
- PSLF Organization Database- Part C (.xlsx/16 mb)
- PSLF Organization Database- Part D (.xlsx/22 mb)
- PSLF Organization Database- Part E (.xlsx/17 mb)
- PSLF Organization Database- Part F (.xlsx/17 mb)
- Complete “Comprehensive” PSLF Organization Database (.dta/633 mb)