The Trump administration has given up its court fight to overhaul Public Service Loan Forgiveness, the program that erases remaining federal student debt for teachers, nurses, public-interest lawyers and other public employees after 10 years of qualifying payments.

According to CBS News and the Washington Post, the Justice Department moved on Oct. 21 to dismiss two pending appeals in one-sentence joint filings, with each side agreeing to pay its own legal costs. Neither the department nor the administration offered a public explanation for the move, though it leaves in place federal court rulings that struck down the rule change over the summer.

The abandoned rule would have let the education secretary exclude employers found to have "a substantial illegal purpose" from counting toward the program's 10-year service requirement, reaching organizations the administration tied to immigration violations, so-called "chemical castration" or gender-affirming care for minors, or support for groups designated as terrorist organizations. Advocates had warned the standard was vague enough to sweep in workers at public schools, hospitals and legal-aid groups who had no role in setting employer policy.

How it got here

Two federal judges — Myong Joun in Massachusetts and Amir Ali in Washington, D.C. — separately vacated the rule change over the summer, ruling in lawsuits brought by more than 20 states, nonprofit groups and cities. Both judges found the administration had exceeded its authority and risked chilling free-speech-protected activity by employers. The administration's decision to drop its appeals, rather than keep pressing the case, leaves those rulings as the final word for now.

Nonprofit and borrower advocacy groups praised the decision, with one organization's leadership saying that with the appeal dismissed, the district court's order vacating the rule now stands on its own. Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent had said in June that the department was "evaluating next steps," leaving open the possibility of a later appeal — an option the government has now formally closed off, at least for this version of the rule.

THE ORDER VACATING THE RULE STANDS — A WIN FOR THE BORROWERS WHO BUILT THEIR CAREERS AROUND THIS PROMISE

Who benefits

PSLF forgives the remaining balance on federal direct loans for borrowers who work full-time for a government agency or qualifying nonprofit and make 120 on-time, qualifying monthly payments — a decade of payroll deductions many borrowers plan their entire careers around. ABC News reported that advocacy groups, including organizations representing nonprofit workers, praised the decision as removing a cloud of uncertainty that had hung over the program since the rule was first proposed.

Borrowers already enrolled in PSLF do not need to take any action; the program continues to operate under the rules that were in place before the attempted overhaul. The Education Department has not said whether it will attempt a narrower version of the employer-eligibility rule in the future.