By Stephen Barr
Friday, September 28, 2007; D04

Public service employees -- federal workers, soldiers, nurses, firefighters and others -- will have an opportunity to qualify for student loan forgiveness under a law signed by President Bush yesterday.

The law forgives outstanding education debt for public service employees who have made 10 years of monthly payments on their loans while serving full-time in government, public education or other positions related to public service.

The loan-forgiveness provision of the law takes effect Monday, which will start the clock ticking on when the government will take responsibility for paying outstanding debt. The benefit is not retroactive.

The measure is part of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, which also increases the maximum annual amount that can be awarded through Pell Grant scholarships and reduces interest rates on federally subsidized loans.

"This bill will help ensure that no qualified student is prevented from going to college because of the cost," George Miller (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee and one of the bill's chief sponsors, said yesterday. [Related article, A6.]

The law defines public service as a full-time job in several fields, including:

¿ Government, military service, emergency management, public safety, law enforcement, public health, public education.

¿ Social work in a public child- or family-service agency; public interest law services, including prosecution or public defense or legal advocacy in low-income communities for a nonprofit organization; public child care; public service for individuals with disabilities; public service for the elderly.

¿ Public library sciences, school-based library sciences and other school-based services.

According to the committee, undergraduate and graduate students who commit to teaching a "high-need subject in high-need schools" for four years can receive tuition assistance of $4,000 annually, a maximum total of $16,000, starting in 2008.

Some employees at nonprofit groups, as defined by the tax code, and full-time faculty members at tribal colleges or universities also will be eligible for student loan forgiveness, according to the law.

In his remarks yesterday, Bush said the law would also help military personnel who have taken out loans for college. Military personnel on active duty will be able to defer payments on their loans, and service members who are returning to civilian life will be able to defer payments for more than a year.

The Education Department will write rules to implement the law and determine how public service employees may seek loan forgiveness, the committee said.

The law will augment the student loan reimbursement program for federal employees. Under that program, government agencies may provide up to $10,000 a year to federal employees who sign an agreement to remain at their agencies for at least three years. The lifetime maximum for one employee is $60,000.

In fiscal 2006, 34 agencies provided student loan reimbursements to 5,755 employees. Although the federal employee program has grown in recent years, a number of agencies have said that tight budgets limit the amount of money available to help with educational debt.

Francis Eugene Johnson, a support service specialist at the State Department, retires today after 50 1/2 years of federal service. He served his entire career in the State Department's main building and from 1963 to 1999 was the chief of the communications and services section in the office of administration for the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.

Linda Kahan, deputy director of the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, retires today after 22 years of federal service. She played a key role in the implementation of the 1992 Mammography Quality Standards Act and the 1997 FDA Modernization Act.

Craig Jones, long-term care administrator for Worldwide Assurance for Employees of Public Agencies will be the guest on "FEDtalk" at 11 a.m. today on http://federalnewsradio.com and WFED radio (1050 AM).

W. Ralph Basham, commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, will be the guest on the IBM "Business of Government Hour" at 9 a.m. Saturday on WJFK radio (106.7 FM).

Stephen Barr's e-mail address isbarrs@washpost.com.