ST. CLOUD -- The Biden Administration announced Wednesday that they are making changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.

The program forgives federal student loans for people who work in government or non profits while making payments on their loans for 10 years after they graduate. It is designed to encourage people to work in the public sector.

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The program is known for having a complicated system of requirements. Borrowers often find out, after planning their careers around the program, that years of payments don't qualify.

Mike Uran is the Director of Financial Aid at St. Cloud State University. He says borrowers had to choose from several payment plans, but only some qualify for the program.

They find out that the last year's worth of payment or however long you were doing this doesn't count because you weren't in the right type of repayment plan. So, the Biden Administration made this change to say you know what, we don't care what kind of repayment plan you were in. If you were making payments, we're going to let those count towards qualifying for Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

He says the Biden Administration is loosening the requirements on which payment plans qualify for forgiveness.

This gives people an opportunity to kind of reset, and say you know what, I was making payments the way I thought I was supposed to. Now, I have the opportunity to go back and have those count towards my 10 years of public service, which then positions me for potentially having some of my loan forgiven.

Borrowers have also had issues getting information about the program from the servicers who answer phone questions about it. Uran says if you don't get the information you need, you should be patient and keep calling until one of the servicers gives it to you.

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