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Bill
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To direct the Secretary of Education to deem each month for which certain Federal student loans are in deferment during a period of active duty service as months counted toward public service loan forgiveness, and for other purposes.

H.R. 9517 · 118th Congress · Sep 10, 2024 · Lineage

A BILL

Section 1 Active duty deferment periods counted toward public service loan forgiveness

Section 455(m) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087e(m)) is amended—
(1)
by redesignating paragraphs (2) through (4) as paragraphs (3) through (5), respectively;
(2)
in paragraph (1), in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking “paragraph (2)” and inserting “paragraph (3)”; and
(3)
by inserting after paragraph (1) the following:

“(2) Active duty deferment periods—Notwithstanding any other provision of this subsection, the Secretary shall deem each month for which a loan payment was in deferment under subsection (f)(2) of this section or for which a loan payment was in forbearance under section 685.205(a)(7) of title 34, Code of Federal Regulations (or similar successor regulations), for a borrower described in subsection (f)(2)(C) as if the borrower of the loan had made a payment for the purpose of public service loan forgiveness under this subsection.”

Sec. 2 Ensuring access to certain higher education benefits

(a)
Data matching required— Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, and on an annual basis thereafter, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Education shall jointly complete a data matching process—
(1)
to identify each individual who, while serving as a covered employee of the Department of Defense, made one or more student loan payments eligible to be counted for purposes of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program under section 455(m) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087e(m)); and
(2)
without requiring further information or action from such individual—
(A)
to certify the total period of such employment for purposes of such program; and
(B)
to count the total number of qualifying payments made by the individual for purposes of such program during such period.
(b)
Covered employee defined— In this section, the term “covered employee” means an individual who, at any time beginning on or after October 1, 2007, was a member of the Armed Forces serving on active duty for a period of more than 30 consecutive days.

Sec. 3 Report to Congress

Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Education shall jointly submit to Congress a report that includes—
(1)
an update on the status of the implementation of sections 1 and 2; and
(2)
recommendations for other actions that may be taken to improve the treatment of members of the Armed Forces and civilian personnel of the Department of Defense under the public service loan forgiveness program, including any additional resources or authorities that may be needed to carry out such recommendations.