This is a fantastic question!

Acoording to the Office of the Federal Register, a Final Rule must be published at least 30 days before it can go into effect. However, if the agency wants to make it effective sooner and can show “good cause” as to why it is in the public interest, they can do so sooner.

Thirty days is definitely enough time to file a lawsuit, but the shorter the window, the more difficult it becomes. Additionally, it is worth noting that we already have a really good idea of what the final rules will look like, so AGs in opposition to the forgiveness could already be preparing their lawsuits in anticipation of the new rule.

I can see that by having the opt out happen before the final rule is published it shortened the time before it can be implemented, but still, the new rule is not immediately actionable by the Department of Ed.

Obviously there isn’t a playbook for handling this exact situation, but I can share a couple of thoughts.

First, if you qualify for forgiveness due to your balance, it wouldn’t forgive all of the debt, it would just take you back to your original balance. Second, it is my understanding that Utah is not a state that taxes student loan forgiveness, so I’m not sure why you would be worried or care about what specific program the debt got forgotten under. (A quick call to your tax preparer to confirm would be a good idea.)

You may wish to call your servicer to ask this question, but I don’t know if they will be able to give you a definitive answer. Even if they could, and they told you that it wouldn’t interfere, it is still possible that it causes an issue due to a mistake on their end.

My instinct says to leave the door open to all forms of forgiveness, but I think this is a personal choice/doing what you are most comfortable with situation.

I’ll try to clarify. I only have two PSLF payments left, or would if not for the mandatory SAVE forbearance. I’m hoping to do “buyback” in October. I am thinking of opting out of this forgiveness because I don’t think I need it, even though I am fairly certain I will qualify because my loan balance is a lot more than my original loan amounts. I’m concerned there may be some delay/reversal of this targeted loan forgiveness, or some unforeseen tax implications down the road (I’m in Utah). However, I don’t want to delay my PSLF forgiveness by opting out, and it says I will be opted out of all IDR forgiveness for several months. I don’t understand if PSLF forgiveness is included in the several months delay they are describing.

I’m not sure I follow your question. This question only makes sense if you are opting out for some specific reason, but I think I’d need to have some idea of what your strategy is before I can offer any thoughts.

Because PSLF takes 10 years, and IDR forgiveness takes at least 20 (for now), the odds of an overlap are really low. What is the situation you are in and what would you be hoping to accomplish by opting out?

“Note that if you opt out, you will also be opted out of forgiveness under income-driven repayment (IDR) for the next several months and won’t have the option to opt back in.”

Does PSLF qualify as IDR forgiveness in this context?

Thanks for the kind words and the thoughtful suggestion!

The tricky part about this topic is that there is so much that we don’t know. Frankly, I’m not even sure if the majority that overturned Chevron fully understood the consequences of their decision.

Additionally, the Chevron analysis is probably best left to someone with a background in administrative and constitutional law. That said, what I may be able to do is find some scholarly articles from true experts in the field and then explain how that would impact student loan borrowers.

Your idea is a really good one, and I’ll keep you posted if I come up with anything useful.

This could be a disaster for the IDR recount because that is based on the Dept of Ed’s judgement of financial impact of forbearance steering, more specifically the Dept of Ed’s changing forbearance and deferment months into repayment months isn’t explicitly granted in the HEA.

Whether this would affect SAVE is another issue, I’m not sure if the negotiated rule making progress would be sufficient to withstand a Chevron challenge. But I’m far from an attorney and would love to see someone like yourself tackle this!