Thank you to our colleagues at California Community College Independents (CCCI) and the Santa Barbara City College Faculty Association for their persistence in getting the answers part-time faculty need to know about the Public Interest Loan Forgiveness Program from the Chancellor’s Office.  Part-time faculty teaching at California community colleges may now combine the hours that they work at each CCC district to meet the minimum qualifications for this program.  See the copy of the Chancellor’s Office email below (any text highlighted or in bold were added by the SBCC Faculty Association).

CCCI is a consortium of independent California community college faculty unions that include Pasadena City College, Santa Barbara City College, and Santa Monica City College among other colleges; we share knowledge, lobbying efforts, legal strategies, and various ways that our unions can support our faculty.

Thank you,

The PCC Faculty Association

===EMAIL FROM THE CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY COLLEGES CHANCELLOR’S OFFICE===

From: LeForestier, Marc <mleforestier@cccco.edu>

Date: Mon, Oct 3, 2022 at 5:23 PM

Subject: Public Interest Loan Forgiveness Program: Part-Time Employees

To: <CEO-ALL@listserv.cccco.edu>

Dear Colleagues, I write to address questions that have reached the Chancellor’s Office related to the eligibility of California community college part-time to benefit from the U.S. Department of Education’s Public Interest Loan Forgiveness program.  Information about the program can be found here.

The Chancellor’s Office has confirmed that employees (including faculty) who work part time for multiple community college districts may add the hours they work for each district together to reach the thirty-hour-per-week threshold to qualify for loan forgiveness.  In addition, Education Code section 87489 requires community college districts to credit faculty employees with “at least 3.35 hours worked for each hour of lecture or classroom time” on the employer portion of the employment certification form. USDOE [U.S. Department of Education] is aware of this multiplier, and will honor it.  Accordingly, when requested, please certify the part-time hours worked by your employees (and for part-time faculty apply the 3.35 multiplier) so that they may accumulate their hours and apply for loan forgiveness.

Thank you for your attention.

Marc.