OHIO — There’s concern about a loan forgiveness program signed off on by Congress years ago and what may happen to it now that President Trump is back in office. This, as other student loan forgiveness initiatives through the Biden administration, remain in limbo. 

Ohio Education Association President, Scott DiMauro said maintaining widespread access to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program is important.

“People go into education. They spend a lot of money on college to get their degree, and proportionately, educators just tend to take a larger chunk of money in student loans, especially in relation to their projected income than just about anybody else,” DiMauro said.

He said that those who student-teach cannot get a second job to help offset expenses. 

“Then they go into the classroom and, and, you know, tend to make lower salaries than people in other professions,” he said. “And so that student debt burden carries with them throughout their career oftentimes.”

He said if people know their loans will be forgiven when choosing education as a profession; it becomes an incentive to not only enter the profession, but to remain in it.  

“During the first Trump administration, under Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, 90% of people or more who applied for loan forgiveness were denied,” DiMauro said.

When Biden took office, he said the administration made it a point to implement the law the way Congress intended,

“So, we saw the number of people who were able to get student loan forgiveness go up dramatically,” he said.

Larry Carey is one educator who received student loan forgiveness in Sept. 2024. He said as a young person, just getting his start in education, while letting go of other opportunities, was tough, especially in the beginning. He watched half of his check go toward his loans. It wouldn’t take long before Carey would end up behind on his payments and be unable to afford his other bills. 

“I actually had to move back in with my mom,” Carey said. “So, really, it was a shock to my inner core.”

Swallowing his pride, Carey reached out for student loan assistance. It was then that things started to shift. 

Still, he was limited in things he could do. One of his daughters was in dance, but that was short-lived. 

“I had to take her out that one that she was in, cuz it’s kind of costly.”

He also started picking up extra work to make ends meet. After dealing with the loans for over a decade, a break finally came for Carey toward the end of 2024, when he received a letter.

“Congratulations. The Biden-Harris administration has forgiven all portions of your federal student loans,” the letter said.

“It feels fantastic,” Carey said.

While it’s only been a few months, Carey’s been able to pay off his car, afford extracurricular activities his daughters take part in and buy items for kids he coaches, which has given him the chance to say yes to more things.

Although Carey received student loan forgiveness, DiMauro said it’s too early to tell how the Trump administration will handle things this time around with the PSLF. The hope is that there will not be a reversion back to his first term when many were denied.