Anyone who stays up-to-date on current topics knows that student debt is one of the most pertinent issues facing young people in the United States. A university graduate is lucky to finish with less than $25,000 in loans, to be ideally paid in ten years or realistically paid in much longer. This kind of debt significantly delays a graduate’s ability to buy a home or start a family, and the issue doesn’t appear likely to disappear anytime soon.

In the article ‘Student Debt Is Hurting the Nonprofit Workforce—and You Can Do Something About It’, we learn that young Americans are not the only group impacted by the burden of student loans. Middle-aged Americans are also impacted, and the community of nonprofit workers is especially and uniquely impacted. Debt effects nonprofits’ ability to hire and retain staff, in particular staff of ethnic minorities.

The proposed solution is the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, or the PSLF. Loan forgiveness is possible and attainable, but unfortunately a majority of graduates with loans are uninformed about this helpful option. Keeping staff informed about the PSLF is an important way that today’s nonprofits can work for the benefit of both their members and their own organizations.

Berlin, Nancy. Nonprofit Quarterly. “Student Debt Is Hurting the Nonprofit Workforce–and You Can Do Something about It” DISQUS. 2016. Web. (3 December 2016)

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Last updated on January 15th, 2026 at 11:12 pm