Magaziner Introduces Bipartisan Bill to Expand Public Service Student Loan Forgiveness for National Guard Members and Reservists

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Representatives Seth Magaziner (RI-02) and Trent Kelly (MS-01) introduced the bipartisan National Guard and Reserve Student Loan Fairness Act to ensure National Guard and Reserve members can count their full service toward student loan forgiveness under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program.

Under current law, individuals who work for government or nonprofit organizations, including military service members may have their direct federal student loans forgiven after 120 months of employment. However, part-time National Guard and Reserve members are currently not allowed to count all of their days of service toward loan forgiveness under the program, particularly when called to duty for scheduled training, short deployments, and emergency response efforts. The National Guard and Reserve Student Loan Fairness Act would fix this disparity by allowing part-time Guard and Reserve members to count all of their service toward loan forgiveness through the PSLF program. 

“Service members in the National Guard and Reserves answer the call to duty, often on short notice and for long periods of time, but aren’t given the credit they deserve,” said Magaziner. “This bipartisan bill will ensure that those brave Americans who serve our country are able to earn student loan forgiveness for every day that they work on our behalf.”

Qualifying employment for the PSLF program includes being employed by a government organization (including the U.S. military), a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, or certain other private nonprofit organizations that are providers of enumerated public services.

This bill improves PLSF and honors service members by ensuring that part-time National Guard and Reserve members’ time on duty is counted as eligible qualified service for the program. 

Read the full text of the bill here.