WA and other states win lawsuit protecting the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program

Washington and other plaintiff states have won their lawsuit to protect the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program for those working in public service careers, following the U.S. Department of Education dropping its appeal of a court ruling rejecting attempts to weaponize the program for political purposes.

"Across Washington and throughout the country, people have made the choice to pursue careers in public service-teaching our children, caring for the sick, and keeping the public safe. The loan forgiveness program helps make meaningful public service work possible," Attorney General Nick Brown said. "Our coalition successfully blocked this illegal attempt by the federal administration to withhold loan forgiveness for ideological and unlawful reasons."

The Department of Education's rule would have allowed the federal administration to strip loan forgiveness eligibility from employees of government and nonprofit organizations it disfavors based on vague, unsupported allegations of wrongdoing.

PSLF is the federal program that forgives the remaining federal student loans of borrowers who work in public service and make 10 years of qualifying payments. As part of a coalition of 22 attorneys general, Brown sued the administration in November 2025 over the rule and secured a decision from the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts throwing out the rule this past June. By dropping its appeal of that order, the Department of Education concedes the case, leaving the District Court's ruling in place.

Congress created the PSLF program in 2007 with bipartisan consensus to encourage college graduates to work in the public sector, where salaries are often lower than jobs in the private sector. The program helps nonprofits, the armed forces, and federal, state, and local government recruit and retain skilled workers who might otherwise be forced to turn to private sector employment to afford to pay their student loans.

The rule would have used an ambiguous standard to target legal conduct that is politically disfavored, including providing legal services to immigrants, and engaging in civil protest and assembly. In the June order, the court held that the U.S. Department of Education's regulations were contrary to law, arbitrary and capricious, exceeded the agency's statutory authority, and violated the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Assistant Attorneys General Julie Doyle and Erica Franklin and Paralegals Victoria Barbaglia, Connor Hopkins, Naomi Martin, and Kellie Tappan handled this case for Washington.

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