Karen Tongson didn’t imagine a day when she wouldn’t have to repay her student loans.

As a professorLos Angeles residents can apply for admission to the University of Southern California. the public service loan forgivenessHowever, she had too many stories about borrowers who didn’t get the promise to cancel their debts from the government that it was impossible for her to believe they would.

Tongson, 48 said, “No one had faith.” When I shared my plans with friends and colleagues, they said, “That’s not going to happen.”

The truth was that she had heard no forgiveness after 16 years of student loans payments totaling over $90,000.

The 2007 law allowing public service loan forgiveness was signed by George W. Bush. It allows government and nonprofit employees to cancel their student loans after 10 years or 120 payments. Those who do receive relief have been unable to overcome the problems. a rarity.

Higher education experts estimate that around 8.300 people had received their loans forgiven by the program in June 2021. Mark Kantrowitz. There have been more than 400,000.

Public service employees often think they are paying for loan cancellation, but this is not the case. that they don’t qualifyThese are often used for technical and unclear reasons. Lenders have been blamed for misleading borrowersThey are also rushing their timelines.

Tongson explained that she noticed that many of the payments she made didn’t get counted. “And I never understood why.”

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Tongson borrowed money to get an education. She said, “I’m not from a well-resourced background.”

When she was 10, her mother Maria Katindig Dykes and Jimmie Dykes moved her with them to the U.S.

Although her parents were musicians, she and her mother settled in Riverside, California to find other work. Her mother worked for Sears and K-Mart.

Even though her parents couldn’t save enough for college, she said that her parents wanted her to go to school and achieve goals they could not. She said that her parents emphasized education as a means to achieve social mobility and class mobility.

Tongson studied English for a while at a local college before being accepted to University of California Los Angeles. Tongson then received her PhD from Berkeley.

Tongson had many jobs over the years. One of them was at a local store. Tongson was also awarded fellowships but these were only $12,000 per year.

Imagine trying to afford rent in the Bay Area, with this much money. “I used to live so hand-to-mouth.

Tongson explained, “There was once a time when I just lived off one frozen Costco chicken bag during grad school.” It was a staple of my diet for over a month.

To get by she needed student loans of $70,000. She said, “It enabled me to keep pace with my peers in education.”

She has come a long way because of her education.

Today she’s a professor at University of Southern California where she teaches English literature, American culture, and race. Her department is Gender and Sexuality Studies at USC. She has also published. multiple books.

Even so, she still lived paycheck-to-paycheck, she said, because of her student loan payments, which have ranged from hundreds of dollars a month to thousands. Sarah Kessler with whom Sarah shares a Los Angeles house, has no student loans or savings and doesn’t have any emergency funds.

Tongson explained, “It felt very disconcerting that I was struggling so much.” That was all about to change.

Tongson realized last month that her student loan debt had fallen to $0.

The U.S. Department of Education also refunded her overpayments for many years, which gave her $20,000 instantly in her bank account. It was “pure, pure relief,” she stated.

Tongson was surprised by the result reforms the Biden administration has been making to the public service loan forgiveness program. After reassessing borrowers’ claims and recounting their payments, it estimated that approximately 500,000 more people could be on the verge of forgiveness. Other borrowers may be due to refunds as well.

Tongson’s wife and she didn’t host a party, or go to a fancy restaurant for the occasion. She instead transferred $20,000 to her savings. She said, “This is my first savings account.”

She hopes other borrowers can expect to receive the forgiveness promised.

She stated, “I hope it doesn’t feel like I won the lottery.”

That is exactly what she felt.