Sponsor
Jahana Hayes
Representative · D-CT
Representative · D-CT
The bill simplifies and clarifies statutory language for administering teacher-related loan provisions but risks removing eligibility for some teachers and increasing borrowers' repayment costs and administrative burdens for agencies.
Loan servicers and borrowers (including teachers and students) will face clearer, narrower statutory cross-references, reducing ambiguity in administering teacher-related loan provisions and making eligibility determinations and servicing more straightforward.
Teachers and other student borrowers who previously qualified under the removed cross-reference (section 428J) may lose eligibility for certain teacher-related loan benefits and could face unexpected repayment obligations if forgiven-benefit pathways are eliminated, increasing their out-of-pocket costs.
Loan program administrators and the Department of Education may face increased administrative appeals, rulemaking, and compliance costs from narrower eligibility definitions, raising operational burdens and potential costs to taxpayers.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Narrows statutory cross-references and deletes an enumerated subparagraph affecting teacher loan forgiveness pathways in the Higher Education Act.
Official title: To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to change certain eligibility provisions for loan forgiveness for teachers, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 14, 2026 by Jahana Hayes · Last progress May 14, 2026
Amends the Higher Education Act to remove certain cross-references and an alternative subparagraph related to the teacher loan forgiveness provisions, narrowing which loan-forgiveness categories are referenced in three statutory lists. The changes delete references to one teacher-loan provision (section 428J) from two cross-reference strings and remove a parallel enumerated category in two lists, which narrows the set of categories that qualify under those provisions and may reduce or change eligibility pathways tied to teacher loan forgiveness rules. The bill is short and technical in form but substantive in effect: it adjusts statutory cross-references and list items rather than merely fixing punctuation, which changes how existing teacher-loan forgiveness provisions interact with other student-loan statutes.