Education Officials Quietly Lock Public Service Workers Into Extra Student Loan Payments, Cite Unspecified “Errors” to Justify Broken Promises

August 19, 2026 | WASHINGTON, D.C. — Earlier this week, POLITICO reported that the Trump Administration planned to unwind progress towards Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) previously approved by Education Department officials and government contractors. This unprecedented reversal may require teachers, nurses, servicemembers, and other public service workers to make years of additional student loan payments before obtaining the debt relief guaranteed under PSLF; it might even result in reinstated loans, dragging public service workers back into debt. 

Since the first public service workers became eligible to have their loans canceled under PSLF in 2017, the program has been mired in scandal after scandal, as corrupt government contractors and captured federal student loan officials conspired to deny debt relief to millions of borrowers serving our country or serving in their communities. In 2021, Education Department officials enacted a series of emergency reforms to the PSLF program following years of lawsuits by state attorneys general, failed independent government audits, and calls for action by lawmakers. These emergency actions addressed the legacy of corruption and abuse that plagued PSLF and delivered debt relief to more than 1 million public service workers.

Trump officials blamed unspecified “errors” for this new, dramatic shift in public policy. The decision to increase the cost of student debt for teachers, nurses, and other public service workers marks a sharp break with nearly two decades of bipartisan consensus that preserved PSLF even as Republicans in Congress pared back other paths to student debt relief. These troubling changes also follow decisions by multiple federal judges to strike down a Trump executive order weaponizing the PSLF program. The Administration’s efforts to keep workers crushed by debt appears to be the latest attempt by Education officials to target the PSLF program and punish public service workers.

“Borrowers who could see the light at the end of the tunnel are now being forced to pay more and defer their dreams for months and years on end,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten. “The Department of Education needs to ensure no public service worker pays the price for someone else’s mistake.”

“The people who get Public Service Loan Forgiveness have spent 10+ years working in service based on a promise of loan forgiveness. They’ve been jerked around by the Department of Education and by servicers who care more about making a dollar than upholding the law,” said Julie Margetta Morgan, President of The Century Foundation and a former Education Department official responsible for driving debt relief to more than 1 million public service workers. “Someone needs to stand up for borrowers: make sure public servants get what they’re owed, make servicers pay for errors they caused, and make Federal Student Aid accountable for the problems it created. Do all of that before you even think about reinstating a single loan.”

“Trump’s Education Department is led by serial liars and political opportunists itching to show their boss that they can hurt the people he dislikes—teachers, nurses, and other workers serving in our communities,” said Mike Pierce, Executive Director of Protect Borrowers. “In 2026, as costs keep rising and Congressional Republicans are desperate to show voters they can be trusted to govern, this move and its timing are baffling. It is just another example of Trump’s fixation on winning the culture war at the expense of the central promise he made to voters—making it more affordable to live in America.”

Earlier this year, Protect Borrowers and Democracy Forward won a lawsuit striking down the Trump Administration’s first effort to deny PSLF to certain public service workers, representing the AFT and a broad coalition of cities, labor unions, and nonprofits.  

Attacks on public service workers’ right to student debt relief come amid a broader, coordinated effort by the Trump White House to strike back at public service workers, who the President believes to be his political enemies. In the first months of the Trump Administration, Elon Musk’s DOGE shut down entire federal agencies and attempted to fire workers across the federal government. Many of these actions were ultimately blocked by federal judges or reversed under public pressure. President Trump also worked with Congress to pass a party-line budget bill that cut back federal funding to state programs that provide healthcare, food assistance, and other essential services—shrinking Americans’ safety net and hollowing out the public service workforce at the state level. Just this week, reports indicate that active duty members of the military aboard the U.S.S. Lincoln are facing grueling living conditions, food shortages, and other cutbacks that show President Trump’s continued contempt for those who serve our country in uniform.

Further Reading

Press Release Announcing Victory in Lawsuit Against Unlawful PSLF Rule: Local Governments, Labor Unions, and Nonprofit Organizations Triumph in Challenge to Trump-Vance Administration’s Weaponization of Public Service Loan Forgiveness

Protect Borrowers and The Century Foundation Report on Student Loan Borrower Distress: Student Loan Delinquency Spikes to Record 25% Under Trump, Destroying Credit Scores and Locking Millions Out of Economy

State-by-State Map Showing the Cost of Eliminating PSLF: Project 2025 State-by-State Map

186 organization letter to ED in response to ED’s notice about Negotiated Rulemaking to Implement a Trump Executive Order: Hundreds of Democracy, Labor, and Civil Rights Organizations Warn Trump Education Officials: Do Not “Weaponize PSLF”

AFT and Protect Borrowers’ statement on PSLF Executive Order: Advocates Blast Trump Plans to Sign Executive Order to Weaponize Public Service Loan Forgiveness and Stifle Free Speech Across America

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About Protect Borrowers

Protect Borrowers (formerly Student Borrower Protection Center) is a nonprofit organization led by a team of experts, lawyers, and advocates fighting to build an economy where debt doesn’t limit opportunity. We investigate financial abuses, take predatory companies to court, and push for policies to protect working people from debt traps. We aim to deliver immediate relief to families while building power, driving systemic change, and fighting for racial and economic justice.

Learn more at protectborrowers.org or follow us on social @BorrowerJustice.

About the AFT

The AFT represents 1.8 million pre-K through 12th-grade teachers; paraprofessionals and other school-related personnel; higher education faculty and professional staff; federal, state and local government employees; nurses and healthcare workers; and early childhood educators.

Learn more at aft.org or follow AFT on Twitter @AFTunion.

About The Century Foundation

The Century Foundation (TCF) is a progressive, independent think tank that conducts research, develops solutions, and drives policy change to make people’s lives better. We pursue economic, racial, gender, and disability equity in education, health care, and work, and promote U.S. foreign policy that fosters international cooperation, peace, and security. TCF is based in New York, with an office in Washington, D.C. Follow the organization on Twitter at @TCFdotorg and learn more at www.tcf.org.