sept08c.indd


W. Alston Roberts III W a s h i n g t o n  H o t l i n e  

New loan forgiveness legislation 
helps librarians reduce student loan 
expenses 
ALA is pleased to announce that, before leav­
ing for the August recess, Congress passed 
the Higher Education Opportunity Act (H.R. 
4137). The President is expected to sign the 
bill soon. 

The bill extends current law Perkins loan 
forgiveness to additional categories of bor­
rowers who meet eligibility criteria and work 
as librarians, prekindergarten or child care 
workers, full­time faculty at tribal colleges 
or universities, and speech and language 
therapists. Specifically, the language includes 
service as a librarian with a master’s degree 
working in: 

• an elementary or secondary school 
eligible for assistance under title I of the El­
ementary and Secondary Education Act; or 

• a public library serving an area con­
taining an elementary or secondary school 
eligible for assistance under title I of the 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act. 

The bill authorizes a discretionary loan 
forgiveness (excluding consolidation and 
PLUS loans) of $2,000 a year (up to $10,000) 
for service in “areas of national need.” Un­
der this program, librarians are specifi cally 
listed as an “area of national need” as long 
as the individual is employed full­time in a 
high poverty area for five consecutive years. 
Specifically, the individual must work in: 

• a public library that serves a geographic 
area within which the public schools have a 
combined average of 30 percent or more of their 
total student enrollments composed of children 
eligible for assistance under title I of the Elemen­
tary and Secondary Education Act; or 

• an elementary or secondary school with 
greater than 30 percent of its students eligible 
for assistance under title I of the Elementary 
and Secondary Education Act. 

W. Alston Roberts III is communications director at ALA’s 
Washington Offi  ce, e-mail: wroberts@alawash.org 

Several bills dealing with federal student 
loan forgiveness have emerged from the 
U.S. House of Representatives and Senate. 
Examples of these bills follow below. In order 
to make this information as clear as possible, 
the ALA Washington Office has created a fact 
sheet explaining each bill. 

The LIBRARIAN Act of 2007 (H.R. 1877 
and S. 1121) 
You qualify to benefi t from the LIBRARIAN Act 
if you meet the following criteria: You are cur­
rently employed as a librarian with a master’s 
degree in library science and you obtained a 
Perkins loan in pursuit of your graduate studies. 
And you work in a public library that serves 
a geographic area that contains one or more 
schools eligible for assistance under Title I of 
the Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965. 
And/or you work in an elementary or second­
ary school library that is eligible for assistance 
under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary 
Act of 1965. 

The College Cost Reduction Act of 
2007 (H.R. 2669) 
You qualify to benefit from the College Cost Re­
duction Act if you meet the following criteria: 

You are currently employed as a librarian 
with an undergraduate or master’s degree 
and you obtained a Direct Loan during your 
studies.1 And you have been employed as a 
librarian for ten years or more and have made 
consistent payments on your loan. 

For more detailed information on loan 
forgiveness visit the Washington Offi ce Loan 
Forgiveness Fact Sheet.2 

Notes 
1. Direct Loans are Direct Stafford loans (Sub­

sidized or Unsubsidized), Direct PLUS loans, 
and Direct Consolidation loans. Consolidation 
of loans may lead to disqualification from any of 
the above programs. Check with your borrower 
before deciding upon consolidation plans. 

2. WOLFFS, www.ala.org/highered. 

C&RL News September 2008  494 

www.ala.org/highered
mailto:wroberts@alawash.org