PSLF Program Overhaul | Statewide FAFSA Filing Goal | Cumulative Debt Report | New Podcast Episodes

EVERY FIFTEEN DAYS
Updates From the Office of Higher Education Twice a Month

Serving the public will once again pay off to thousands of federal student debt holders

The Department of Education has announced a set of actions that will overhaul the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program. The PSLF is an important program to provide debt relief to support teachers, nurses, firefighters, and others serving their communities. By cancelling loans after 10 years of public service, PSLF removes the burden of student debt on public servants, makes it possible for many borrowers to stay in their jobs, and entices others to work in high-need fields.

The Department of Education will offer a time-limited waiver so that student borrowers can count payments from all federal loan programs or repayment plans toward forgiveness. This includes loan types and payment plans that were not previously eligible. They will pursue opportunities to automate PSLF eligibility, give borrowers a way to get errors corrected, and make it easier for members of the military to get credit toward forgiveness while they serve. And they will pair these changes with an expanded communications campaign to make sure affected borrowers learn about these opportunities and encourage them to apply. Learn more about this overhaul below.

A New Goal for Minnesota Students to File for the FAFSA Has Been Set

To help increase the number of Minnesota students filing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), the Office of Higher Education (OHE) has set an annual goal for FAFSA filing among high school seniors.

In coordination with the Minnesota Department of Education, OHE has set a goal of increasing FAFSA filing by 5 percentage points every year for 5 years, with a focus on closing gaps in FAFSA filing for Black, Indigenous, and other students of color. Therefore, for the class of 2022, our state’s goal is to see FAFSA filing increase to 53%, while closing gaps in FAFSA filing by race/ethnicity.

Learn more about the Statewide FAFSA Filing Goal, dive into the data, and find resources to help the state achieve this goal with the button below. 

How Much Debt do Graduates from Minnesota Colleges Have?

The Office of Higher Education has released the report Cumulative Median Student Loan Debt in Minnesota, 2019-2020 Academic Year presenting the results of the 2019-2020 Cumulative Median Debt survey. The survey is sent annually to Minnesota postsecondary institutions eligible to participate in a Minnesota-funded financial aid program to measure how much students borrow to fund their postsecondary education.

For Associate degrees, the average cumulative median debt for students graduating with debt from these programs was $15,175. And for Bachelor’s, degrees the average cumulative median debt for students graduating with debt from these programs was $24,793.  

Debt figures do not include any debt incurred from previous institutions, and students who graduate with no debt are not included in the median. In addition, debt from students who do not complete a degree is not included. 

Download the report with the button below or explore the interactive chart on our website. The interactive chart allows you to filter cumulative median debt data by type of award received and/or institutional sector level.

Listen Now: New Episodes Released

The 11th and 12th episodes of our podcast, Life After Now, have been released — check them out! In episode 11, Liz Bolsoni talks to Jesus Hernandez Mejia, Dean of Financial Aid at Gustavus Adolphus College. And in episode 12, she chats with Yese Ruiz about the MN Dual-Training Pipeline Program, her experiences as a first-generation college student, and using bilingualism as an advantage.

Listen on: Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, Anchor, Breaker, and Pocket Casts. Subscribe and share!