H.R. 4893

[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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