Trump administration drops appeals against student loan forgiveness ruling

The Trump administration has dropped two legal appeals aimed at overhauling the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. The Department of Justice withdrew the appeals following a June federal court ruling that blocked a plan to narrow eligibility for the debt relief program.

The proposed rule would have empowered Education Secretary Linda McMahon to exclude employers from the program if their work was deemed to have a ‘substantial illegal purpose.’ This included organizations providing gender-affirming care or assisting undocumented immigrants. Advocacy groups, including Student Defense and Democracy Forward, had argued the rule was an unlawful attempt to use the program for political retribution.

While the dismissal of these two appeals preserves current eligibility for millions of public service workers, the legal battle is not entirely over. A third appeal involving 22 states remains pending in court. The PSLF program is designed to forgive federal student debt for government and nonprofit employees after 10 years of qualifying payments and has canceled billions in debt for over one million Americans.