119-hr4893

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4893 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

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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