[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4893 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 4893
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to ensure that members of the
reserve components of the Armed Forces receive appropriate credit
toward public service loan forgiveness, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
August 5, 2025
Mr. Magaziner (for himself and Mr. Kelly of Mississippi) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and
Workforce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to ensure that members of the
reserve components of the Armed Forces receive appropriate credit
toward public service loan forgiveness, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``National Guard and Reserve Student
Loan Fairness Act''.
SEC. 2. SPECIAL RULE FOR MEMBERS OF THE RESERVE COMPONENTS OF THE ARMED
FORCES PERFORMING CERTAIN DUTY.
Section 455(m) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
1087e(m)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(5) Special rule for members of the reserve components of
the armed forces performing certain duty.--
``(A) Calculation of qualifying payments based on
years of service creditable toward retired pay.--With
respect to a borrower who is a member of a reserve
component of an Armed Force, the Secretary shall--
``(i) in the case of a member who completed
a full year of covered service, deem each month
in such year to be a month for which a
qualifying payment was made under paragraph (1)
if--
``(I) for each such month the
borrower made a corresponding monthly
payment on an eligible Federal Direct
Loan; and
``(II) such corresponding monthly
payment--
``(aa) met the requirements
of paragraph (1); or
``(bb) in the case of a
borrower not employed full-time
in a public service job at the
time the payment was made, such
payment would have met the
requirements of paragraph (1)
had the borrower been employed
full-time in a public service
job at the time of such
payment.
``(ii) in the case of a member who
completed a partial year of covered service,
deem up to six months in such year to be a
month for which a qualifying payment was made
if--
``(I) for each such month the
borrower made a corresponding monthly
payment on an eligible Federal Direct
Loan; and
``(II) such corresponding monthly
payment--
``(aa) met the requirements
of paragraph (1); or
``(bb) in the case of a
borrower not employed full-time
in a public service job at the
time the payment was made, such
payment would have met the
requirements of paragraph (1)
had the borrower been employed
full-time in a public service
job at the time of such
payment.
``(B) Data matching required.--Not later than one
year after the date of the enactment of this paragraph,
and on an annual basis thereafter, the Secretary of
Defense and the Secretary of Education shall jointly
complete a data matching process--
``(i) to identify each individual who,
while serving member of a reserve component of
an Armed Force, made one or more student loan
payments eligible to be counted under this
paragraph; and
``(ii) without requiring further
information or action from such individual--
``(I) to certify the total number
of full or partial years of covered
service of such individual; and
``(II) to count the total number of
qualifying payments made by the
individual during such years.
``(C) Definitions.--In this paragraph:
``(i) The term `full year of covered
service' means any year for which a member of a
reserve component of an Armed Force was
credited at least 80 points toward eligibility
for retired pay under section 12732(a)(2) of
title 10, United States Code.
``(ii) The term `partial year of covered
service' means any year for which a member of a
reserve component of an Armed Force was
credited at least 50 but less than 80 points
toward eligibility for retired pay under
section 12732(a)(2) of title 10, United States
Code.
``(iii) The term `Armed Force' has the
meaning given that term in section 101 of title
10, United States Code.''.
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