Student loan debt trap entangles higher ed graduates

A 2018 Department of Ed report on the status of the loan program revealed that "of the approximately 29,000 applications that have been processed, more than 70% of them have been denied."

Today, despite efforts to fix the program, that denial rate is even higher.

"We need people who dedicate their careers to public service — including teachers, health care workers, and nonprofit leaders — for our communities to thrive," Bonamici said. "People across Oregon and our country took jobs in public service and planned their lives around the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, only to discover it was an empty promise."