LGBTQ+ Advocates Oppose Changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program

LGBTQ+ Advocates Oppose Changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program

GLAD Law has submitted a comment to the U.S. Department of Education in opposition to a proposed change to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program. The proposed rule, which follows from a Trump administration executive order issued in March 2025, represents an attack on civil society and unlawful targeting of groups disfavored by the administration.

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program was created by Congress in 2007 to encourage employment in public service. The program forgives the balance of a borrower's regular student loan once they have made 10 years of payments while working at a qualifying public service entity, such as a government agency or non-profit organization.

The proposed rule provides the Secretary of Education with significant discretion to disqualify an employer from participating in the PSLF program if the organization's activities fall under the rule's sweeping definition of "substantial illegal purpose." Such potential arbitrary disqualification from the program would both make it more costly and difficult for employers to recruit and retain employees and steers student borrowers away from public service.

GLAD Law's comment, submitted on behalf of multiple LGBTQ+ serving organizations, addresses the proposed rule's definition of "substantial illegal purpose" to include providing certain medical treatments to transgender individuals under the age of 19, the purpose and effect of which is to further the administration's targeting of transgender individuals and to make it more difficult for them to receive critical and lawful medical care.

GLAD Law's comment was joined by the following organizations:

• Advocates for Trans Equality (A4TE)
• Equality California
• Family Equality
• GLSEN
• Greater Boston PFLAG
• Lambda Legal
• LGBT Life Center
• National Women's Law Center
• National Black Justice Collective (NBJC)
• One Colorado
• Our Family Coalition
• OutFront Minnesota
• Resource Center
• SAGE
• SpeakOUT Boston
• The Center for HIV Law and Policy (CHLP)
• The Trevor Project
• Transhealth