Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
PROVO — Forty million Americans have at least one outstanding student loan. Recently, a couple of Utahns discovered their payments were not being credited to a loan forgiveness program as they expected.
When Mike Long finished his undergraduate degree, masters and law degree at BYU, he walked away with plenty of debt. According to Equifax, the average student loan debt totals $29,000, and Long owes twice that.
"At the time, I had a small family," Long said. "But student loans were the only way to support us during that time."
He got a job with the state and qualified for a Public Service Student Loan Forgiveness Program.
The remainder of his loan would be forgiven as long as he made qualifying loan payments for 10 years.
"I was making my payments on time, all the time for the amount I was required to pay, and I was working for the state," Long said.
After making payments for five years, Long discovered his loan payments did not count toward the program because his loans were not consolidated. His federal loans were the wrong type.
The fact that I missed what kind of loans I had, I was disappointed that I had missed that. But on the other hand, it's confusing.
–Mike Long
"The fact that I missed what kind of loans I had, I was disappointed that I had missed that," he said. "But on the other hand, it's confusing."
A friend of his, who also works for the state, ran into the same problem.
That friend created a White House petition Wednesday to try to get them credit for their previous public service work.
"If it's a common issue with people who have had student loans, maybe there's something we can do to fix it," said Long.
The petition needs 100,000 signatures to get a response from the White House.
"We're going to keep working to try and see who we can talk to in the federal government that works with loans," Long said. "Just see what we can do."
If he cannot get credit for the five years he worked for the government and was paying his loans, Long estimates the mistake will cost him about $6,000 in the long run.
Related Story
