“Go
into
public
service
to
pay
off
your
student
loans,”
they
said.
So
you
did
—
you
took
a
job
that
paid
less
than
you
could
have
made
elsewhere,
but
you
figured
it
was
a
small
price
to
pay
for
doing
a
little
bit
of
good
in
the
world
as
you
earned
debt
forgiveness.
At
least
you
did
the
good,
right?
Many
who
enrolled
in
Public
Student
Loan
Forgiveness
did
their
years
of
work
and
on-time
payments
only
to
discover
that
the
government
didn’t
uphold
their
half
of
the
bargain.
The
American
Federation
of
Teachers
isn’t
having
it.
Forbes
has
coverage:
A
major
national
labor
union
filed
a
class
action
lawsuit
against
the
Trump
administration
on
Tuesday,
alleging
that
the
Department
of
Education
and
Secretary
of
Education
Linda
McMahon
are
unlawfully
blocking
student
loan
forgiveness
for
hundreds
of
thousands
of
borrowers
across
multiple
programs,
including
several
income-driven
repayment
plans
and
Public
Service
Loan
Forgiveness,
or
PSLF.
…
“For
those
borrowers
who
have
satisfied
the
statutory
requirements
to
have
their
debts
cancelled
but
whose
loans
the
Department
has
not
cancelled,
they
are
trapped
in
a
debt
that
legally
they
should
no
longer
owe.
This
debt
continues
to
appear
on
credit
reports
restricting
borrowers’
ability
to
access
credit
to
purchase
homes,
cars,
and
other
necessities,
and
with
looming
tax
consequences
if
action
is
not
taken
swiftly.
These
borrowers
must
also
make
payments
on
a
debt
that
should
no
longer
exist
for
fear
of
becoming
delinquent,
or
agree
to
be
placed
in
a
forbearance
with
no
clear
end
date.”
Hey,
its
like
“owner
responsibility”
for
anyone
who
borrowed
from
the
government
to
get
a
degree!
I
only
jest
in
part
—
telling
a
class
of
people
that
they
can
work
off
a
debt
and
then
continuing
to
demand
payment
after
they’ve
worked
it
off
doesn’t
sound
too
far
off
from
debt
peonage
to
me.
And
this
is
bigger
than
just
PSLF;
people
who
should
have
had
their
loans
forgiven
through
income
driven
repayment
(IDR)
are
getting
shafted
too.
Most
of
the
popular
rhetoric
against
debt
forgiveness
is
couched
in
the
assumption
that
the
loan-takers
were
just
lazy
or
didn’t
read
their
contractual
obligations,
but
that
doesn’t
count
for
the
government
straight-up
scamming
folks
out
of
the
payment
plan
they
worked
for.
Group
Files
Class
Action
Lawsuit
Over
Blocked
Student
Loan
Forgiveness
[Forbes]
Chris
Williams
became
a
social
media
manager
and
assistant
editor
for
Above
the
Law
in
June
2021.
Prior
to
joining
the
staff,
he
moonlighted
as
a
minor
Memelord™
in
the
Facebook
group Law
School
Memes
for
Edgy
T14s
.
He
endured
Missouri
long
enough
to
graduate
from
Washington
University
in
St.
Louis
School
of
Law.
He
is
a
former
boatbuilder
who
is
learning
to
swim, is
interested
in
critical
race
theory,
philosophy,
and
humor,
and
has
a
love
for
cycling
that
occasionally
annoys
his
peers.
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at [email protected]
and
by
tweet
at @WritesForRent.