Headline Roundup • November 4th, 2025
21 Blue States Sue Education Dept Over New Rule Limiting Student Loan Forgiveness
Summary from the AllSides News Team
21 blue states are suing the Department of Education over a new regulation that would limit student loan forgiveness under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
The Details: The regulation, which is set to take effect on July 1, 2026, would deny student loan forgiveness to workers whose government or nonprofit activities are found to have a "substantial illegal purpose." The lawsuit, which was filed in Massachusetts federal court on Monday, claims that the regulation is unlawful and would be used to "target President Trump's political opponents." Federal officials defend the change, saying it ensures taxpayer money does not support illegal activity. The lawsuit represents borrowers in cities such as Boston and Chicago who are health care workers, first-responders, and teachers.
Key Quotes: “Public Service Loan Forgiveness was created as a promise to teachers, nurses, firefighters, and social workers that their service to our communities would be honored,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said. Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent said, "This is a commonsense reform that will stop taxpayer dollars from subsidizing organizations involved in terrorism, child trafficking, and transgender procedures that are doing irreversible harm to children."
For Context: In March, President Donald signed an executive order that proposed revisions to the program, which applies to government workers or nonprofit employees after 10 years of payments. Currently, over 42 million Americans have a total of about $1.7 trillion in student loan debt.
How the Media Covered It: Politico (Lean left bias) reported that critics contend the specific issues chosen for the regulation exclude organizations that work with immigrants, LGBTQ individuals, and transgender children whose views don't align with the Trump administration. There was less coverage of the proposed regulation on the right, though Newsmax (Right bias) quoted the Education Department as saying it would enforce the regulation "neutrally," focusing on activities rather than the mission, population, or ideology of the employer.
Written by the AllSides staff (of humans). Learn more. Suggest an improvement to this summary.
Featured Coverage of this Story
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images
The U.S. Department of Education released its final rule on Thursday aimed at limiting eligibility for a popular student loan forgiveness program for public servants.
The rule, which takes effect July 1, 2026, will change the definition of a “qualifying employer” under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. PSLF, signed into law in 2007 by George W. Bush, offers debt cancellation after a decade to borrowers who work for non-profits and the government.
Under the new Trump administration policy, organizations “that engage in unlawful activities” such as “supporting terrorism and...
The attorneys general of 21 Democratic states and Washington, D.C., as well as a pair of advocacy groups, sued the Education Department on Monday over a recent rule change to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) student debt relief program.
The Trump administration finalized a rule change last week that said those who are engaged in what it called “unlawful activities” won’t qualify for student debt relief under the PSLF program, which allows government workers or nonprofit employees to receive forgiveness after 10 years of payments.
Democratic attorneys general in 21 states and Washington, D.C., on Monday sued the Education Department over its Public Service Loan Forgiveness rule change.
Last week, the Trump administration finalized a rule change that said those who are engaged in “unlawful activities” would be unqualified for student debt relief under the PSLF program, which applies to government workers or nonprofit employees after 10 years of payments.
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