Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Student Loan Forgiveness topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Employee Benefits Division reviews $917,000 three-year contract to advise employees on Public Service Loan Forgiveness
Summary
The Employee Benefits Division discussed a proposed contract to hire a firm to advise state employees on the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Staff outlined scope, costs and participation estimates; the transcript records a request for a motion but no recorded vote.
Members of the Employee Benefits Division discussed a proposed contract to hire an adviser to help state employees navigate the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. Grant Wallace, director of the Employee Benefits Division, presented the contract and answered members’ questions about cost, scope and program risk.
“This is not a racing of student debt,” Wallace said, describing the PSLF program. “These are individuals who have been working and making regular contributions and payments on their loan for a hundred and 20 months.” He said the contract would bring an adviser to work with state employees to verify employment and payment histories, conduct on-site and virtual sessions, and provide one-on-one assistance.
Wallace gave the contract’s fiscal outline: the first-year payment is $304,000; the initial three-year cost is $917,000; and the total cost if the contract ran seven years would be $2,100,000. He warned the contract is tied to the federal program’s existence: “But if for some reason, through an act of congress, if this were to go away, this contract would also end at that time period.”
A meeting participant identified as a senator asked how many employees typically complete the PSLF process; Wallace said, “I want to say it's something around, like 10% actually make it all the way through.” He and other members discussed an eligible population figure: Wallace said the number used for planning was “around 6,000.” The transcript records follow-up questions about whether the state could provide the service internally and whether the firm would place advisers on-site; Wallace said the vendor would provide multiple advisers, on-site visits, group sessions and one-on-one counseling.
When asked what happens if the contract is not approved, Wallace said the state would continue efforts and emphasized the proposal’s intended aim: mitigating employee financial stress and improving retention. The transcript ends with the chair asking if anyone would move to approve the contract; no vote or final decision is recorded in the provided excerpt.
The transcript does not identify the vendor by name in the provided discussion, and members did not record a final vote in the excerpt.
