Young clergywoman gets more than $44,000 in student loans forgiven

‘If you’ve wondered if you are worth it, you are. Apply,’ advises the Rev. Blair Moorhead

by Beth Waltemath | Presbyterian News Service

Community and mission are essential to the Rev. Blair Moorhead’s call in a career that has spanned social work and pastoring. (Contributed photo)

“I’m going to cry a little bit,” the Rev. Blair Moorhead wrote on her Facebook page the day she learned that more than $44,000 in her graduate school loans had been forgiven. “If you’ve wondered if you are worth it, you are. Apply. Ask for and receive help in applying,” she said in reference to the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and the coaching service offered by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) through a partnership with PeopleJoy to help guide the process.

If a person or parent has worked for 10 years cumulatively in public service, including working at churches and Presbyterian-related organizations, and has taken out loans for educational debt, they may be eligible for loan forgiveness. To help explore the eligibility of all employees of not just churches but any Presbyterian-related organization, including preschools, assisted living homes, colleges and seminaries, the PC(USA) has partnered with PeopleJoy to offer free webinars and free individualized coaching to take that person through the process until loans are consolidated and forgiven.

That’s even if they, like Moorhead would say, “just hate thinking about money.” Nevertheless, Moorhead started the process two years ago. It was a year before she would be eligible for loan forgiveness to pay off debt she acquired while pursuing a M.Div at Union Theological Seminary in New York City and an M.S.W. from Howard University in Washington, D.C. After graduation, Moorhead worked in social work for six years and transitioned into pastoral ministry after that. While serving as an associate pastor at Immanuel Presbyterian Church in McLean, Virginia, she saw the PeopleJoy webinar on loan forgiveness advertised through the PC(USA). She emailed the contact to get a copy and then signed up for the coaching service despite what she called her previous “avoidance strategy” in regard to being savvy about money. Moorhead said she had heard about the possibility of loan forgiveness but, for a number of reasons, wasn’t sure if she was eligible or that she’d be able to get all the documentation needed to demonstrate 10 years of public service through her multiple jobs in social work and her shorter stint in the church.

The Rev. Blair Moorhead (left) with colleagues in ministry at Immanuel Presbyterian Church in McLean, Virginia. (Contributed photo)

“I really recognize that if I had hit any of the snags or questions about whether that was eligible, I would have totally tabled it until I felt like I could get to it, and I have no idea how long I would be,” said Moorhead. However, whenever she got a question, she was able to reach out to her adviser at PeopleJoy, who helped her resolve it. This was the case when the initial reaction to her first job was that it “didn’t meet requirements.” PeopleJoy helped her find the documentation so that it would.

“With my anxiety and avoidance of all things kind of financial, I just know that I would not have continued pursuing it, either at the same rate or maybe even at all,” said Moorhead.

“My liaison answered every question promptly,” said Moorhead, who also noted that PeopleJoy sent periodic reminders to check in on the process as it does have multiple steps interspersed with waiting periods. Although the process took Moorhead two years to complete and her loan was forgiven a year after she would have been eligible, Moorhead will still receive $5,000 back in loans she had already paid as well as the $44,000 she had remaining at the time that her application was accepted.

“I know it is a common experience,” Moorhead said of pastors and others to have a position’s eligibility questioned, but Moorhead encourages her colleagues in social work, ministry and other public service jobs to remain persistent and get help from people who know the process well.

Now that Moorhead is not paying off her student loans, she is able to put that money into a 529 plan for her 4-year-old son and into savings, so she is prepared for the next round of educational costs. She is also prepped to take action if and when she may need to take out parent loans to pay for her child’s education. She noted how the webinar by PeopleJoy touched on how consolidated parent loans are also eligible for public service loan forgiveness. While consolidation takes an extra step, it is worth the payout for parents, especially under the guidance of PeopleJoy offered through the PC(USA).

“My advice would be, if people are on the fence because they are avoidant, like I was, then PeopleJoy is 100% the way to go, because you have that support all the way. They have your back. They have the expertise. If it feels just insurmountable, this is the way to go, because you’ll have someone to hold your hand through the whole process and get it done,” Moorhead said.

As a debt-free pastor, the Rev. Blair Moorhead invites people to open their palms in prayer to God. (Contributed photo)

The support of PeopleJoy in the public service loan forgiveness process is free to Presbyterian-related organizations, thanks to a partnership with the Office of Financial Aid for Service and the Board of Pensions.

Fall is the season for applying for undergraduate and graduate programs, so paying for these degrees weighs heavy on the hearts, minds and financial plans of many. Through the partnership with PeopleJoy, the PC(USA) seeks to help individuals and families who do or will qualify for public service loan forgiveness as they navigate the process of deciding on what they can afford, how they will pay and when they can apply for loan forgiveness. Applicants, students, graduates and parents can start by viewing a PeopleJoy webinar.

The next webinar entitled “Parent Plus Loans” is at 2 p.m. Eastern Time on Nov. 12. Click here to join. Previous webinars can be viewed here.

Reach out for more information or go here to learn more.

Read another story about people in the PC(USA) who’ve had their loans forgiven here.