Recommendation: The Chief Operating Officer of the Office of Federal Student Aid should integrate the TEPSLF request into the PSLF application, for example, by including a checkbox on the PSLF application, to provide borrowers a more seamless way to request TEPSLF consideration. (Recommendation 1)
Agency: Department of Education: Office of Federal Student Aid
Status: Open
Comments: Education agreed with this recommendation. To make the TEPSLF loan forgiveness process easier for borrowers, Education stated that it will integrate the TEPSLF request into the PSLF application as part of the improvements planned for the PSLF application under its new online interface for student borrowers. On April 15, 2020, Education published a notice in the Federal Register, seeking comments on its plans to consolidate the forms that borrowers must complete if they want to request either PSLF or TEPSLF loan forgiveness, so that borrowers would only need to submit a single form to obtain public service loan forgiveness. In June 2020, Education reported that its consolidated form to request PSLF or TESPLF loan forgiveness is in the final stages of the Office of Management and Budget clearance process, and they expect it to be finalized by October 2021. This consolidated form should provide borrowers a more seamless way to request public service loan forgiveness for whichever program they are eligible for. We will update the status of this recommendation once this consolidated loan forgiveness form is in place and borrowers are able to use it.
Recommendation: The Chief Operating Officer of the Office of Federal Student Aid should provide certain borrowers, for example, those who are denied TEPSLF for not having 120 qualifying payments, with more information about options available to contest TEPSLF decisions on the TEPSLF website and in their denial letters. (Recommendation 2)
Agency: Department of Education: Office of Federal Student Aid
Status: Open
Comments: Education agreed with this recommendation. In March 2020, Education reported that it will add language to the TEPSLF website to provide borrowers with information on available options for contesting TEPSLF decisions. With respect to including this information in denial letters, Education noted that it is creating a new student loan infrastructure (Next Gen) and that it is not worth the time and resources to update the denial letters in the old system. However, Education reported that it will incorporate this information in denial letters created in the new Next Gen infrastructure, which is expected to be in place in October 2021. We will consider closing this recommendation when Education provides documentation that it has included information about options available to contest TEPSLF decisions on the TEPSLF website and in denial letters, as recommended.
Recommendation: The Chief Operating Officer of the Office of Federal Student Aid should include TEPSLF information in its PSLF Online Help Tool. (Recommendation 4)
Agency: Department of Education: Office of Federal Student Aid
Status: Open
Comments: Education agreed with this recommendation and stated that it will include TEPSLF information in the PSLF Help Tool. In March 2020, Education noted that it is creating a new student loan infrastructure (Next Gen) and that it is not worth the time and resources to update the PLSF Online Help tool with TEPSLF information under the old system. However, Education reported that it will respond to this recommendation when the new Next Gen infrastructure is in place, which is expected to be in place in October 2021. We will consider closing this recommendation when Education provides documentation that it has included TEPSLF information in its PSLF Online Help Tool.
