The Student Labor Action Project’s UCF chapter reached an agreement with university administration to change its policies regarding the federally-provided public service loan forgiveness program.
UCF agreed, according to documents provided by SLAP to Knight News and confirmed by Vice President Rick Schell’s office, to implement a program aimed at providing awareness to full-time employees of the PSLF in order to “encourage individuals to enter and continue to work full-time public service jobs.”
As correspondences between SLAP and UCF carried on, the university had already taken steps to increase awareness of the program to its employees, including providing a link with relevant information; providing three “educational sessions” about the program as part of an annual financial wellness series hosted by human resources; and sending an informational notice to all employees, which will be done twice a year. In early January, UCF’s annual benefits fair included a table which provided informational material about the PSLF as well as blank certification forms.
UCF expects employees to have their loan balances forgiven under the program beginning in October 2017.
In response to the agreement being finalized, SLAP took to social media to boast of its victory.
“After a year of campaigning, SLAP has gotten UCF to take action! We have implemented lasting policies to let employees know about PSLF and to help them through the process. The work we’ve done will ensure that 11,642 employees will have the ability to get their student debt forgiven and to live a #DebtFreeFuture,” a post on the group’s Facebook page said.
“SLAP fought and, in the words of Dr. Schell, can truly declare victory,” SLAP President Ofelia Sanchez said in a statement to Knight News. “We brought this to the attention of the University, were able to work with them, and brought about positive changes that will help out thousands of employees. UCF is one of the first universities to enact many of these policies regarding the PSLF program, setting a precedent for other universities. We hope this means that in the future, UCF will be more than willing to work with SLAP on our future campaigns.”
The PSLF, which was created under the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007, offers to forgive federal student loans after 120 monthly payments and 10 years of full-time employment for a tax-exempt non-profit organization, which includes public universities like UCF. It is currently administered by the US Department of Education.
While employers are not required to inform its workers about the program, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau provides resources so that both parties may take full advantage of the program, including an employee “action guide.”
The CFPB also outlines a non-binding pledge in which employers promise to provide workers with loan forgiveness options, help them prove their employment in the public sector, and “check-in with employees annually to make sure they stay on track.”
UCF plans on signing a similar pledge and presenting it to SLAP on Monday, but it is considered separate from the CFPB pledge. It is unclear as to why, but Sanchez said that the agreement would make them accountable to SLAP instead of the CFPB.
Knight News reached out to university officials for an explanation but has yet to receive a response.
Besides pledging to make its workers more aware of their loan forgiveness options and to train staff members in the human resources department to “address the PSLF program to employees,” UCF is also promising to maintain statistics of those who take advantage of the program and share these figures “in relevant benefits information sessions and in appropriate literature.”
A copy of the pledge, provided by UCF through a public records request, will be signed by Associate Vice President Gordon Chavis and Chief Human Resources Officer Shelia Daniels. The document does include a caveat, however, that its stipulations will be “subject to events that are not foreseen at this time.”
The finalized agreement marks the end of what SLAP called its Debt-Free Future campaign, which began when the group sent its first e-mail correspondence with the Office of the Vice President.
Besides hand-delivering dozens of letters to President John Hitt’s office, SLAP engaged in a series of direct actions aimed at getting the university’s attention and criticizing officials for alleged inaction. Late last September, the group disrupted Hitt’s State of the University address by holding up a banner saying “President Hitt doesn’t give a [s**t] about student debt.” The expletive was symbolized with the “pile of poo” emoji.
“We tried to contact President Hitt,” Nicole Hamm, SLAP’s outreach director, said at the time. “He sent us to [human resources] and they met with us and we’ve had correspondence with them but they refuse to sign the pledge or hold themselves accountable to their employees.”
Part of that speech was dedicated to addressing student loan debt, which to many showed that Hitt saw that as one of his concerns.
“This is his signature speech of the year, and the fact that it was addressed shows that he does care about student debt,” university spokesman Chad Binette said of the criticisms at the time.
SLAP also participated in UCF’s open forum last semester in which anyone could ask officials anything pertaining the university. At the time, Hitt declined to say whether he would sign a pledge nor did he say if he wanted to meet with SLAP to discuss a potential agreement. On Nov. 12, SLAP presented Hitt’s office with a giant a check of zero dollars in order to pay for the “cost of helping your employees forgive their student debt.”
Their efforts, while covered very little by the press at large, was criticized by some in the student media. Caroline Glenn, the content manager of the Central Florida Future, penned an op-ed calling the members of SLAP who protested Hitt’s September address as being “seriously out of touch” and having “[poop emoji] (sic) for brains.”
“Everything we did was purposeful, everything thought out, and we won because of all our efforts to bring attention to the topic,” Hamm said retrospectively about the article. “In the end, the University thanked us for bringing this issue to them.”
