New federal student loan forgiveness program

In Sections 302 and 401 of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007, Congress has created a sound federal student loan repayment program for high-debt, lower-income graduates, including a loan forgiveness program for those who spend ten years in full time public service (government agencies and non-profit organizations exempt from taxation under Sec. 501(c)(3) of the tax law.  The loan forgiveness program is available to all persons who borrowed for higher education (including both college graduates and those who have gone on for graduate or professional degrees), but it will be particularly valuable to law school graduates who contemplate careers in public service, because many of them have especially high debt to income ratios and will therefore receive substantial forgiveness after ten years.  In a forthcoming article in the Hofstra Law Review, I review the details of the how the program will work, the magnitude of its benefits to representative borrowers, and proposals for additional legislation to address its few weaknesses.  This article may be accessed at https://www.law.georgetown.edu/news/releases/documents/Forgiveness.pdf
Philip Schrag