Colorado Bill Would Help Adjunct Professors Qualify For Federal Student Loan Forgiveness

By Sara Wilson, Colorado Newsline

February 10, 2023

Adjunct professors in Colorado could soon become eligible for a federal student loan forgiveness program, in recognition that their workload often exceeds their recorded instruction hours.

Senate Bill 23-84 would add a multiplier to the hours worked by adjunct professors — instructors who do not work full time for a school — so they can qualify for the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.

“This bill is about equity, and ensuring our hardworking adjuncts receive the critical student debt relief they deserve,” bill sponsor Sen. Janice Marchman, a Loveland Democrat, told reporters earlier this week.

The bill is co-sponsored by Democrats Sen. Julie Gonzales of Denver and Rep. Mary Young of Greeley.

Currently, public workers must work at least 30 hours per week to qualify for PSLF, which forgives debt after 10 years for people who make consistent payments. Adjunct professors, however, are only credited with the hours they spend in the classroom, not the time they spend on related work grading, planning and meeting with students outside of class time. The bill would multiply the number of hours an adjunct teaches by 4.35 to get them to that full-time status. It would not provide any additional benefits.

Adjuncts make up about 37% of Colorado’s higher education instructor workforce, Marchman said. They often make less than $30,000 per year and don’t have many benefits but do much of the same work as their full-time counterparts.

If passed, the bill could apply to about 8,500 adjuncts currently teaching and help thousands of others get credit for time previously spent working as an adjunct.

"I live in constant fear that my loans will become too much to handle. I worry that I will have a medical emergency and suddenly be in even more debt."

– Andrea Troncoso, adjunct professor

Andrea Troncoso, who currently teaches at the Community College of Denver and Metropolitan State University and said she works more than full-time hours, is saddled with over $130,000 in debt. In a written testimony for a Feb. 8 hearing with the Senate Education Committee, she shared how the debt and low pay as an adjunct makes it difficult to afford a car, housing or save for retirement.

“The biggest way loan forgiveness would help me is by giving me peace of mind. I live in constant fear that my loans will become too much to handle. I worry that I will have a medical emergency and suddenly be in even more debt. I worry that my spouse will never be able to retire from his job because I can’t afford health insurance,” she wrote.

“I lie awake at night staring at my ceiling wondering if I will ever be free. It’s exhausting and demoralizing. Loan forgiveness would lift a huge weight that I have been carrying for over a decade.”

Supporters of the bill testified to lawmakers that the legislation would also help with instructor retention in higher education.

“Our institutions are struggling to retain our workers. I know you are all challenged as well with throwing money at our institutions. So, this is a win-win. We see it as a way to relieve some of the financial burden that our adjuncts are facing without calling on you with a big fiscal note,” said Kallie Leyba, the executive director of the Colorado chapter of the American Federation of Teachers.

There was no testimony in opposition to the bill.

The bill made it through the Senate Education Committee on a 4-2 vote and now heads to the entire Senate for consideration. Republican Sens. Mark Baisley of Woodland Park and Janice Rich of Grand Junction voted against it.

“While this would help thousands of people, then the forgiveness of the loan has to be paid for by everyone else. It has a good, but then it has a harm to others,” Baisley said. “I can’t, in good conscience, make it unfair to everyone else while we help these folks.”

"California, Oregon, New York and Washington all have a similar multiplier for adjuncts. The legislation would not cost the state any money," according to an analysis by state staff.

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