The CAP urged the Department of Education to improve their Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF) policies by providing additional information about forensic pathologists and their public services.

The US Department of Education oversees the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF) to maintain a highly educated public service workforce to serve as teachers, nurses, and physicians that serve our communities. Concerns about shortages across the public sector and public service workforce have persisted for decades, especially in the forensic pathology section.

In the September 25 letter to the Department of Education, the CAP urged officials to expand forensic pathologists’ loan forgiveness program eligibility. Currently, forensic pathologists are not considered within the public service definition, but the CAP asked the Department of Education to consider including them because of their public health roles involving acute drug intoxication deaths, homicides, and COVID-19. Without including forensic pathologists in the PSLF, the critical shortage of these important public servants will be detrimental to public health and communities.

“There is a national shortage of forensic pathologists so a federal loan forgiveness program specifically structured for practicing forensic pathologists is needed. Forensic pathologists are experts in the investigation of sudden, unexpected, suspicious, and unnatural deaths, and most work as governmental employees in medical examiner/coroner (ME/C) offices at the local (county) or state levels,” the CAP stated in the letter. “A public health workforce loan repayment plan for forensic pathologists will help to ensure an adequate supply of, and encourage recruitment of, these public health medical professionals to eliminate critical ME/C workforce shortages in local, State, and Tribal jurisdictions. As medical school loan debt is a significant deterrent to choosing a career as a government FP, funding loan forgiveness programs would encourage medical students to choose forensic pathology as a career.”

Congress enacted the College Cost Reduction and Access Act in 2007, creating a range of new benefits and protections for student loan borrowers, including the PSLF program. PSLF offers loan cancellation for Federal student loan borrowers who make 120 qualifying payments made while engaging in eligible public service work. The Department is committed to addressing the barriers to attaining PSLF and to providing debt relief to public service workers.