Teacher denied loan forgiveness tells Congress why she's suing Betsy DeVos
A middle school art teacher who was denied loan forgiveness by the Department of Education is going to Capitol Hill Thursday to explain why she's suing Secretary Betsy DeVos over the alleged mismanagement of the program.
Kelly Finlaw, who teaches in New York, couldn't wait to apply for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, which cancels remaining debt for public sector workers after they make 10 years of payments.
But when her 10 years was up in 2017, Finlaw's application was denied because one of her loans was ineligible.
"If the PSLF program wasn't meant for me -- a teacher who loves her job, pays her bills, and comes from a family where loans were her only option -- who was it meant for," Finlaw is expected to say to members of the House Education and Labor committee, according to her prepared testimony.
"Teaching isn't a career that garners much respect from anyone outside the profession, but this promise was validation that the work we do every day is valuable," Finlaw's statement reads.
Congress created the program in 2007, aiming to help teachers, social workers nurses and others to remain in lower-paying, public sector jobs while they paid down their student debt. It was signed into law by President George W. Bush, but the first time anyone would have made enough payments to qualify was under the Trump administration, during the fall of 2017.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/teacher-denied-loan-forgiveness-tells-congress-why-shes-suing-betsy-devos/ar-AAHxpgs?li=BBnbcA1