Is your nonprofit having trouble attracting quality employees? The Department of Education just made it a little harder for religious organizations.
The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program allows grads who take public-service jobs and make on-time loan payments for 10 years to have any remaining student debt erased. Huffington Post reports that seminaries across the country believed this program applied to them, even conducting seminars to explain the program to their employees.
However, the DOE recently released new guidelines for the program explaining that the definition of public service does not include “religious instruction, worship services, or any form of proselytizing.”
But there remains hope for workers at religious organizations. According to a DOE spokesperson, if a job at a religious organization requires one to “perform at least 30 hours of non-religious activities,” it still qualifies for relief under the foregiveness program. As such, the program will still likely apply to employees of faith-based social service groups.
The DOE is planning on publishing a technical amendment soon to provide further clarification and promises that Q&A’s are coming soon to the DOE website.