Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei says the most important thing he does each day has nothing to do with training AI models or shipping products. Instead, he spends almost half his time working on company culture, he said.
“I probably spend a third, maybe 40%, of my time making sure the culture of Anthropic is good,” Amodei said in an interview on the Dwarkesh Podcast in February.
Amodei’s comments offer a rare window into how one of tech’s most closely watched CEOs manages a company that now sports 3,500 employees and is set to go public as early as next month in an IPO that could reach $2 trillion—potentially surpassing SpaceX’s recent $1.77 trillion public debut to become the most valuable of all time.
Ahead of its potential public listing, the company told investors this week that its third quarter revenue had jumped 50% to $16.8 billion and that the company was profitable on an adjusted basis, the Financial Times reported.
As Anthropic has expanded and its revenue has skyrocketed, it has become nearly impossible for Amodei to weigh in on every technical and product decision, he said. So rather than dig into the finer details, he has tried to focus on the bigger picture: making sure his employees like working for Anthropic; that the company’s mission and values are clear; and that all workers are working toward the same mission instead of against one another, as he said happens at other unnamed AI companies.
“I think we’ve done an extraordinarily good job, even if not perfect, of holding the company together, making everyone feel the mission, that we’re sincere about the mission, and that everyone has faith that everyone else there is working for the right reason,” he said.
Key to Amodei’s approach to culture is constant communication and extreme sincerity. Amodei said he speaks candidly about his vision for the company in a biweekly all-hands he called a “DVQ,” short for Dario Vision Quest—a name he tried to resist at first because of its potential psychedelic connotation, but later accepted.
During these meetings, Amodei stands in front of the entire company with a three- or four-page document and speaks for an hour on topics ranging from product strategy to geopolitics, as well as the broader AI industry. A large fraction of the company attends, either in person or virtually, he said.
Amodei says he speaks plainly with his employees, answering questions and avoiding what he calls “corpo speak.” He also has an active Slack channel where he writes responses to employee questions or his own thoughts about the company throughout the week.
Amodei’s blunt approach to communication echoes the “radical transparency” leadership style pioneered by Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio. As part of his management style, Dalio encourages employees to give honest feedback even to senior members of the firm. Dalio argues the method helps improve the company’s standards, but some critics have said allowing a no-holds-barred culture of communication could potentially make employees more closed off.
Anthropic earlier this year updated its Responsible Scaling Policy, dropping its pledge not to continue training its AI after it had reached a certain level of capability unless it could guarantee its safety measures were adequate. Anthropic said the change was driven by competitive pressures and a lack of regulations. Critics have implied the move shifts Anthropic’s mission away from the safety-first identity on which it was founded. At the same time, Amodei and Anthropic have been among the loudest voices calling for regulation for AI companies.
When it comes to company issues, Amodei said on the podcast, he takes an “unfiltered” approach. Inside Anthropic, he can be completely candid with his employees about the company’s direction and the issues it faces. That openness, he said, is what keeps everyone on the same page—even as pressure may be building externally to reach profitability and outcompete other companies like ChatGPT maker OpenAI.
“The point is to get a reputation of telling the company the truth about what’s happening, to call things what they are, to acknowledge problems, to avoid the sort of ‘corpo speak,’ the kind of defensive communication that often is necessary in public,” he said. “But if you have a company of people who you trust—and we try to hire people that we trust—then you can really just be entirely unfiltered.”
A version of this story was published on Fortune.com on Feb. 26, 2026.
Google Quantum AI researchers have reported a significant experimental advance on their Willow superconducting processor, successfully implementing a method known as magic state cultivation that cuts error rates by roughly forty times relative to conventional preparation techniques.
The result, detailed in a paper published in Science on October 15, 2026, and summarized on the company’s research blog, marks the first practical hardware demonstration of a long-theorized approach to overcoming one of quantum computing’s most stubborn resource bottlenecks.
For two decades, specialists have recognized that performing the non-Clifford operations required for universal, fault-tolerant quantum computation depends on high-quality “magic states.”
Generating these states through traditional distillation protocols has been projected to consume the vast majority of a machine’s physical qubits—estimates have run as high as 95 percent—leaving scant capacity for useful computation.
Once consumed, a magic state cannot be reused, further constraining scalability.
The cultivation protocol, refined from earlier theoretical work by Google researchers including Craig Gidney, Noah Shutty, and Cody Jones, treats the process more like selective filtering than mass production.
A noisy candidate state is injected into a compact patch of qubits.
Coordinated measurements then identify and discard flawed attempts while the surviving, higher-purity state is expanded or “grown” into a more robust encoding.
On Willow, the team achieved T-states (a key variety of magic state) with a reported logical fidelity of 99.99 percent.
They also demonstrated the ability to transfer purified states between different error-correction codes—specifically grafting from a distance-3 color code into a distance-5 surface code—showing that the technique integrates with the processor’s existing architecture.
Researchers note that the advance could, in principle, allow meaningful programs to run with substantially fewer qubits than previously estimated, potentially on the order of one-tenth the earlier projections.
Google Quantum AI emphasizes that larger-scale demonstrations are still required and that numerous engineering hurdles remain before the method supports practical applications.
Nonetheless, the work converts a paper concept into an experimentally verified reality on real hardware and advances the broader goal of building error-corrected quantum machines capable of tackling problems beyond classical reach.
This progress arrives amid growing caution from researchers about the eventual implications for cryptography protecting bitcoin and other digital assets.
Earlier analyses, including work associated with Google Quantum AI published in March 2026, revised downward the estimated hardware resources needed to attack the elliptic-curve cryptography used in bitcoin signatures.
Those estimates suggested that a sufficiently advanced superconducting system with fewer than 500,000 physical qubits might solve the relevant discrete-logarithm problem in minutes—roughly a twenty-fold reduction from some prior figures.
While no existing quantum processor, including Willow’s 105-qubit array, comes close to that scale, and experts stress that cryptographically relevant machines remain years away, the combination of improved error handling and lowered resource thresholds has prompted calls for accelerated migration toward post-quantum cryptographic standards.
European regulators and others have separately highlighted that threats could materialize before commercial quantum systems become widely available, particularly for addresses whose public keys are already exposed on-chain. The cultivation result itself does not enable attacks on current cryptocurrency security, yet it contributes to the steady reduction of the practical barriers between laboratory milestones and larger, more reliable systems.
“The share of San Jose listings offering concessions has fallen by more than half in a year, from 51.9% to 24.3%, while rents have climbed to record levels. The AI boom is fueling demand, and landlords are responding by tightening terms.”
Affordable alternatives and a Sun Belt correction
Out-of-market migration is reversing declines across lower-cost cities. In the third quarter of 2026, 45.4% of St. Louis rental demand originated from Chicago, where the median asking rent hit a new high of $1,909 in September, up 2.3% year over year.
St. Louis flipped from a 4.4% annual decline to a 2.0% gain; Minneapolis, drawing 27.3% of its out-of-market traffic from Chicago, moved from a 3.4% decline to a 1.7% gain.
In the Sun Belt, supply-driven declines are narrowing. Austin’s annual drop eased from 7.8% in September 2025 to 2.3% in September 2026; Phoenix from 5.8% to 1.9%; Oklahoma City from 6.5% to 1.4%.
For brokers, the September data reinforce a geographic imperative. With high mortgage rates continuing to weigh on the US housing market through 2026, local rent dynamics — surging in AI corridors, stabilizing in affordable alternatives — will shape renter-to-buyer conversion well into year-end.
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A public service job for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) means working an average of 30 hours a week for a U.S. government agency at any level, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, or another nonprofit that provides specific public services. Your job title doesn’t matter. Your employer does.
For-profit companies never qualify, even government contractors and staffing agencies placing you at a hospital or school. Labor unions and partisan political organizations are excluded too.
The Education Department’s 2026 rule that would have let it disqualify nonprofits with a “substantial illegal purpose” was vacated by two federal courts on June 30, 2026. The Department is appealing, but the rules on this page are the ones in force today.
A public service job, for PSLF purposes, is any full-time job at a qualifying employer. Federal Student Aid (FSA) puts it plainly: qualifying employment “isn’t about the specific job that you do for your employer, it’s about who you work for.” A janitor at a public school qualifies. A nurse at a for-profit hospital does not. That one distinction explains most of the confusion in the 40-plus reader comments on this page, and it is the first thing to check before you count on student loan forgiveness.
Here’s who qualifies, who doesn’t, how FSA defines “full-time,” what happened to the 2026 employer rule, and how to check your own employer in about two minutes. If you already know your employer qualifies, skip ahead to which payments count.
Table Of Contents
Why This Is Important
So What Exactly Are Public Service Jobs?
Government Organizations
501(c)(3) Organizations
Not-For-Profit Organization That Is Not A 501(c)(3) Organization
AmeriCorps And Peace Corps
What Counts As Full-Time For PSLF?
Contractors, Staffing Agencies, And 1099 Workers
What Are Not Considered Public Service Job Organizations?
What Happened To The 2026 PSLF Employer Rule?
How To Check If Your Employer Qualifies
Thoughts On The PSLF
Frequently Asked Questions
Why This Is Important
PSLF has forgiven the loans of more than 1.1 million borrowers, and employer eligibility is still one of the main reasons a PSLF application fails. Federal Student Aid’s cumulative PSLF report shows $87.6 billion discharged for 1,183,600 borrowers through September 30, 2025, including the formal program, TEPSLF, and the 2021–2022 waiver. The program crossed 1 million borrowers in October 2024.
That is a long way from where PSLF started. FSA began accepting forgiveness applications in 2017, ten years after the program’s October 1, 2007 start date, and in the first two years it rejected roughly 99% of them. The reasons were mostly mechanical: not enough qualifying payments, missing information, the wrong loan type, and employers that didn’t qualify. The program was working as written. Borrowers hadn’t been told how it worked. Our PSLF checklist covers the loan-type and repayment-plan pieces. This page covers the employer piece.
One more reason to get this right in 2026: since July 1, 2026, the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) counts for PSLF but only if every payment is made in full and on time, and the Tiered Standard Plan does not count at all. Certifying the wrong employer for a year under those rules costs you twelve payments you can’t buy back cheaply. Here’s which payments and periods count.
So What Exactly Are Public Service Jobs?
FSA recognizes three types of qualifying employers, and any full-time job at one of them is a public service job for PSLF:
A U.S.-based government organization at any level: federal, state, local, or tribal. The military counts as federal service.
A nonprofit that is tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Any other nonprofit that devotes a majority of its full-time-equivalent employees to providing one or more of these public services: emergency management, military service, public safety, law enforcement, public interest law services, early childhood education, public service for individuals with disabilities and the elderly, public health, public education, public library services, and school library or other school-based services.
Full-time AmeriCorps and Peace Corps service also counts as qualifying employment, and so does military service as federal employment.
What you do at that employer is irrelevant. FSA’s PSLF FAQ is explicit that eligibility turns on the employer, which is why the mayor’s assistant, the school district’s teacher aide, the county’s tax clerk, and the nonprofit hospital’s billing manager all qualify, while the surgeon employed by a for-profit physician group generally does not. If you’re weighing a job change for forgiveness, our PSLF strategy page for 2026 walks through the trade-offs.
Includes the military, public schools and colleges, and special districts such as transit and housing authorities. Any job counts.
501(c)(3) Nonprofit
Yes
Charities, private nonprofit schools and colleges, nonprofit hospitals, religious organizations. Religious work hours count.
Other Nonprofit (501(c)(4), 501(c)(6), Etc.)
Only If
Must devote a majority of full-time staff to a listed public service: public health, public safety, public education, legal aid, and eight others.
AmeriCorps Or Peace Corps (Full-Time)
Yes
Service counts as employment. Payments during service must still be under a qualifying plan.
Payroll Company (PEO) For A Qualifying Employer
Yes
You’re treated as a direct employee of the nonprofit or agency, not the payroll company.
For-Profit Company Or Government Contractor
No
Includes staffing agencies and physician groups, unless state law bars the hospital from hiring you directly.
Labor Union
No
Being a union member is fine. Being employed by the union is not.
Partisan Political Organization
No
Campaigns and party organizations are excluded by rule.
Bank Or Credit Union
No
Banks are for-profit. Credit unions are tax-exempt under 501(c)(1) or 501(c)(14), not 501(c)(3).
Source: Federal Student Aid. The College Investor.
See If Your Job Is Eligible For PSLF At StudentAid.gov
Enter your employer’s Employer Identification Number (EIN) from box b of your W-2 into FSA’s PSLF Employer Search. It tells you whether the employer is eligible, ineligible, or needs review, and it’s the same database FSA uses when it processes your PSLF form. If your employer isn’t listed, you can open a review case and upload your W-2. Here’s the rest of the PSLF form process.
Government Organizations
Any U.S. government employer at any level qualifies: federal agencies, the military, state agencies, cities, counties, tribal governments, public school districts, public colleges and universities, public child and family service agencies, and special governmental districts such as transit authorities, water districts, bridge districts, and housing authorities. FSA lists those examples in its qualifying-employer FAQ, and our PSLF checklist covers what government employees still have to certify.
The role doesn’t matter. Mail carriers employed by the U.S. Postal Service qualify. So does every job in a public school building, from the superintendent to the teacher assistant who was told by a servicer that only “teachers” count. That advice confuses PSLF with Teacher Loan Forgiveness, which is a separate program with its own rules.
Two exceptions FSA calls out: a government contractor is not a government employer, and serving as an elected member of Congress is not qualifying employment. If you’re a federal employee with older FFEL loans, your employer qualifies but your loans may not until you consolidate.
501(c)(3) Organizations
A 501(c)(3) nonprofit qualifies automatically, whatever its mission. The IRS grants that status to organizations formed for religious, educational, charitable, scientific, or literary purposes, public-safety testing, amateur sports competition, and preventing cruelty to children or animals. Most private K-12 schools, private colleges and universities, nonprofit hospitals and health systems, and tens of thousands of charities are 501(c)(3)s.
Religious organizations are 501(c)(3)s and qualify. FSA’s current FAQ says all compensated hours count toward full-time status, including time spent on religious instruction, worship services, or proselytizing. That is a change from the pre-2021 rule, so older advice (including some of our own replies in the comments below) that said ministry work doesn’t count is out of date. One wrinkle: churches often don’t register their tax-exempt status with the IRS, so they may not appear in the employer search. Upload your W-2 when you request an eligibility review, and read how FSA’s green banner confirms you’re tracked once it’s accepted.
Two more 501(c)(3) rules that trip people up. A limited liability company that is a disregarded entity of a 501(c)(3) under IRS rules qualifies as a 501(c)(3) employer. And if you’re thinking about forming your own nonprofit to qualify for PSLF, the 30-hour rule and the W-2 rule both still apply to you.
Not-For-Profit Organization That Is Not A 501(c)(3) Organization
A nonprofit that isn’t a 501(c)(3), such as a 501(c)(4) social-welfare organization or a 501(c)(6) chamber of commerce, qualifies only if it devotes a majority of its full-time-equivalent staff to one of the eleven public services listed above. The same test applies to an LLC that is a disregarded entity of a 501(c)(4) or 501(c)(6). Our nonprofit forgiveness page has more on the tax-status question.
This is where most of the reader questions on this page land, and the answer is usually no. A 501(c)(4) wastewater utility that is jointly owned by two localities is more likely to be a governmental district (which qualifies outright) than a nonprofit providing “public safety,” so ask your HR department which it is. A regional transit nonprofit that provides federally mandated paratransit for the elderly and disabled has a real argument under “public service for individuals with disabilities and the elderly.” A chamber of commerce that runs a few classroom sessions a year does not devote most of its staff to public education, and in our experience those certifications get denied. If that’s you, other forgiveness programs may fit better.
If your employer is in this category, the employer search will often return “ineligible” or “needs review.” Don’t panic. Submit the PSLF form with the employer’s EIN, have the employer certify the public service it provides, and keep records. Our PSLF checklist covers what to keep.
AmeriCorps And Peace Corps
Full-time AmeriCorps and Peace Corps service counts as qualifying employment for PSLF, even though volunteers aren’t employees in the usual sense. FSA states this directly on its PSLF page, and the full list of forgiveness programs includes the separate AmeriCorps education award.
The catch is the repayment side. Volunteers often have their loans in deferment or forbearance during service, and months without a qualifying payment don’t count unless you were in one of the deferment or forbearance types FSA accepts or you later buy them back. If you’re serving now, enroll in an income-driven plan with a $0 payment instead of deferring, because $0 payments under a qualifying plan count.
What Counts As Full-Time For PSLF?
Full-time for PSLF means an average of at least 30 hours a week at qualifying employers, counted over the period you’re certifying, regardless of whether your employer calls you full-time. FSA’s definition adds three rules that help part-timers and educators, including nurses working two clinic jobs:
Two part-time jobs can add up. If you work 15 hours a week at a public library and 15 at a nonprofit clinic, the combined 30 hours is full-time. Each employer must qualify and each certifies its own hours.
Teachers on an 8-month contract count for the whole year. Anyone working a contractual period of at least 8 months in a year, such as K-12 teachers, is treated as full-time for all 12 months.
Adjunct and non-tenure-track faculty multiply each credit or contact hour taught per week by at least 3.35 to get their hours.
Paid vacation, paid leave, and FMLA leave count as hours worked. Unpaid volunteer time doesn’t. If an earlier PSLF form marked you part-time under an employer’s own definition but you worked 30 or more hours, you can resubmit for the same period and FSA will review it under the current rule. That can add months to your count without a buyback.
Contractors, Staffing Agencies, And 1099 Workers
You must be a direct employee of the qualifying employer. If a staffing agency, a for-profit physician group, or any contractor issues your W-2 or 1099, your employment does not qualify, even if you spend every working hour inside a public hospital or a government building. A 1099 means FSA sees you as a contractor, not an employee, and none of those months count.
There is one exception, and it is narrower than the “Texas and California doctors” shorthand you may have read. FSA’s rule applies where state law prevents a qualifying employer from hiring people directly for a position, most commonly states that bar hospitals from employing physicians, so the hospital contracts with a physicians’ group instead. In that case you report the qualifying employer’s EIN on your PSLF form, not the group’s, and an official of the qualifying employer certifies that your position can’t be filled by a direct employee under state law. Doctors and nurses are the borrowers this affects most.
Payroll companies are a different story. If a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) produces your W-2 under contract with a qualifying employer, FSA still treats you as a direct employee of that employer. Union membership doesn’t matter either way. What matters is whether the hospital, school, or agency employs you or the union does. If you work for a for-profit company and PSLF is off the table, check whether your employer offers student loan repayment assistance instead.
What Are Not Considered Public Service Job Organizations?
These employers never qualify for PSLF, no matter what work you do there:
For-profit companies, including for-profit hospitals, for-profit colleges, and government contractors
Labor unions
Partisan political organizations
Nonprofits that aren’t 501(c)(3)s and don’t devote most of their staff to a listed public service
Banks and credit unions are the most common surprise. A community bank that hires high-school tellers and offers senior checking accounts is still a for-profit bank. A credit union is tax-exempt under 501(c)(1) or 501(c)(14), not 501(c)(3), and doesn’t provide a listed public service. Bank employees with federal loans are better served by RAP or IBR than by chasing a certification that will be denied.
Being a foster parent isn’t employment at all, so it can’t qualify, though other forgiveness programs may apply. The same goes for being a student, a stay-at-home parent, or a self-employed consultant whose clients happen to be nonprofits.
No matter which category your employer falls into, you also need to meet the other four PSLF conditions: Direct Loans (or a Direct Consolidation Loan), a qualifying repayment plan, 120 qualifying monthly payments made after October 1, 2007, and qualifying employment at the time you apply for forgiveness. Our student loan basics page explains the loan types.
What Happened To The 2026 PSLF Employer Rule?
The Education Department’s rule letting it disqualify employers with a “substantial illegal purpose” never took effect. On June 30, 2026, a federal judge in Massachusetts vacated the rule in full, one day before its July 1 effective date, finding it exceeded the Department’s authority under the Higher Education Act, was arbitrary and capricious, and violated the First Amendment. The same day, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted summary judgment against the rule in a second case brought by nonprofits.
The rule, finalized October 31, 2025, would have let the Secretary of Education strip PSLF eligibility from nonprofits and governments it found engaged in activities including immigration-related work, gender-affirming care for minors, and certain protest conduct. The Department had estimated fewer than 10 employers a year would be affected, and past qualifying payments could not have been clawed back.
On August 27, 2026, the Department appealed both rulings to the First Circuit and the D.C. Circuit. As of this update, neither ruling has been stayed, no employer has lost eligibility under the rule, and the eligibility rules described on this page are the ones FSA applies. Briefing is expected to run into late 2026 with decisions possible in 2027. We’ll update this page if a court reinstates the rule. In the meantime, the right move is the boring one: keep certifying employment every year through the PSLF Help Tool.
How To Check If Your Employer Qualifies
Checking takes a few minutes and costs nothing, and it belongs at the top of the PSLF checklist. Here’s the order that saves the most time:
Run the EIN through the PSLF Employer Search. Use box b of your W-2. “Eligible” means you’re done with this step. “Ineligible” for a for-profit is final. “Needs review” or “not found” is common for churches, small nonprofits, and governmental districts.
Submit a PSLF form through the PSLF Help Tool anyway. FSA processes the form, certifies the employer, and updates your qualifying payment count. Do this every year and every time you change jobs. Since FSA took over PSLF processing on May 1, 2024, the count shows up under “My Loans” on your StudentAid.gov dashboard, and the green banner is how you’ll know you’re tracked.
If the employer has closed or won’t sign, upload W-2s or pay stubs for each year as alternative documentation. FSA will use them to classify the period as full-time or part-time.
If you’re about to consolidate, certify every employer first. Payment counts on loans consolidated after September 1, 2024 are carried over using a weighted average, and uncertified months are lost in that math. Consolidation after July 1, 2026 also limits you to RAP or the Tiered Standard Plan, and only RAP counts.
Once your employer checks out, the next question is which repayment plan gets you to 120 payments at the lowest total cost. Our free Student Loan Calculator app runs RAP vs. IBR side by side using your income and balance, and it flags when a plan change would cost you PSLF credit.
Thoughts On The PSLF
Eligibility is binary and it is about the employer, so settle it first. Before you take or keep a job for the forgiveness, confirm the EIN in the employer search, confirm you’ll average 30 hours, and confirm your W-2 will come from the qualifying employer and not a contractor. Then certify every year so a problem surfaces after 12 payments, not 120, when buying back the gap is far cheaper.
If the answer is no, don’t try to make it yes. Chambers of commerce, unions, banks, and for-profit contractors have been denied consistently for a decade. Your better options are the other forgiveness programs, an income-driven plan with RAP’s 30-year forgiveness, or for high earners with no forgiveness path at all, refinancing, which permanently gives up federal protections and should never be done by anyone who might still qualify for PSLF.
For borrowers who have confirmed they will never work for a qualifying employer, aren’t using an income-driven plan, and have the credit to beat their federal rate: compare rates at our best refinance lenders page. Refinancing federal loans ends PSLF, IDR, and federal forbearance eligibility for good.
If the answer is yes, the rest of the program is paperwork and patience. Here’s how to qualify for PSLF step by step, and here’s what PSLF reforms have been made through executive action over the years if you want the history. Readers who need a push to stay motivated through ten years of payments can start there.
Was this post helpful? Let us know in the comments if you’ve had trouble getting an employer certified.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does My Job Title Matter For PSLF?
No. PSLF qualifies employers, not jobs. A teacher assistant, custodian, or payroll clerk at a public school district qualifies the same way a teacher does, as long as the district issues the W-2 and the hours average 30 a week. The only job-specific test is the one that applies to everyone: full-time hours. Here’s how to qualify for PSLF.
Does Working For A Church Count For PSLF?
Yes. Churches and other religious organizations are 501(c)(3)s, and under FSA’s current rules all paid hours count toward full-time status, including worship services and religious instruction. A church treasurer, a pastor, and a parochial school teacher all qualify if the church or school employs them directly and pays them on a W-2. Older guidance that excluded religious work no longer applies. Our nonprofit forgiveness page covers the rest.
Do I Qualify If I’m In A Union?
Union membership doesn’t affect PSLF. What matters is who employs you. A unionized nurse employed by a nonprofit or state-owned hospital qualifies. Someone employed by the union itself does not, because labor unions are excluded employers. Here’s which payments count once you’re eligible.
Can I Switch Between Government And Nonprofit Jobs?
Yes. Each of your 120 payments is evaluated on its own, so you can move from a county job to a 501(c)(3) to a federal agency and keep every qualifying month. Payments don’t need to be consecutive either. A year at a for-profit pauses your count but doesn’t reset it. Submit a PSLF form for each employer before you leave, because certifying old employers later is harder.
Does A Chamber Of Commerce Or A 501(c)(4) Qualify?
Only if the organization devotes a majority of its full-time-equivalent employees to one of the listed public services, such as public health, public safety, or public education. Most chambers of commerce don’t meet that test, and we’ve seen those certifications denied repeatedly. A 501(c)(4) utility or transit authority that is actually a governmental district qualifies as a government employer instead, so ask HR how the entity is organized. Can you start your own nonprofit instead?
My Employer Search Says Ineligible But HR Says We Qualify. Who’s Right?
Submit the PSLF form with the employer’s EIN and let FSA decide. The search database isn’t complete, and “needs review” cases are common for small nonprofits and governmental entities. If FSA denies the employer, the employer, not you, can request reconsideration with documentation of the public service it provides. Keep your own copies of every form and letter. If you’re close to 120 and the denial would cost you months, PSLF buyback may still be an option.
Do Parent PLUS Loans Qualify For PSLF?
Only if they were consolidated into a Direct Consolidation Loan and placed on a qualifying plan. FSA now states that Parent PLUS loans and consolidation loans containing them are ineligible for RAP, and that those loans can’t continue to qualify for PSLF on the strength of past IBR or ICR enrollment. Parent PLUS borrowers had until June 30, 2026 to consolidate and preserve a path. If you missed it, read that page before assuming anything.
Is TEPSLF Still Available If I Was On The Wrong Repayment Plan?
Yes, as of this update. Temporary Expanded PSLF is still listed by FSA as open on a first-come, first-served basis until its funding runs out, and it covers payments made under the graduated, extended, and consolidation standard plans. The Tiered Standard Plan doesn’t count toward TEPSLF. Here’s how TEPSLF differs from PSLF.
Editor: Clint Proctor
Reviewed by: Chris Muller
The post What Are Considered Public Service Jobs (For PSLF Eligibility)? appeared first on The College Investor.
Visible has a new offer for customers who bring their own phone, and the price works out to just $12.50 per month for six months.
New members can pay $75 upfront for three months of the standard Visible plan and get three months for free.
The plan includes:
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Taxes and fees included
OFFER LINK
Important Terms
New members only
You must bring your own compatible phone
$75 upfront payment
Regular $25/month pricing starts in month 7
Valid only on the standard Visible plan
Visible+ and Visible+ Pro are excluded
Cannot be combined with other service promotions
No promo code required
Offer ends October 29, 2026 at 11:59 PM ET
Guru’s Wrap-Up
This is a really cheap way to try Visible if you’re okay with the standard plan.
At $12.50 per month, you’re getting unlimited service on Verizon’s network for half the regular price. The main thing to keep in mind is that this is the base Visible plan, so you’re not getting the faster hotspot or other extras that come with Visible+ or Visible+ Pro.
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The Social Security Administration’s recent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) announcement likely made many retirees happy.
Earlier this year, Social Security benefits received a 2.8% COLA, which many seniors blasted as insufficient. On Oct. 14, a 3.6% Social Security COLA was announced for 2027, which is clearly a much more generous boost.
Image source: Getty Images.
Now that you know what the 2027 COLA is officially, you can apply that number to your monthly benefit to see how much your Social Security checks will increase in the new year. But if you’re on Medicare, it may be too soon to run that calculation.
Don’t forget about Part B premium hikes
You’d think calculating your raise for 2027 would be a simple matter of multiplying your monthly Social Security check by 3.6%. But no so fast.
If you’re enrolled in Medicare, as you may know, your Part B premiums get paid out of your Social Security benefits automatically. This means that if there’s an increase in the cost of Part B, it will reduce your COLA to a smaller amount.
During years when there’s a large Part B hike and a very small COLA, it’s possible for seniors to end up with no Social Security raise at all. Next year, that’s unlikely. Even if the cost of Part B increases significantly, a 3.6% COLA should be enough to far outpace it and leave seniors with something.
The average monthly Social Security benefit today is $2,088. A 3.6% COLA amounts to a $75 raise, not accounting for Medicare costs.
Last year’s Medicare Part B hike was a fairly large $17.90 per month. But even a similar increase in 2027 won’t completely wipe out the upcoming COLA for the average Social Security check.
Still, the fact that you’re now forced to wait on a Medicare announcement may be a big annoyance. And that’s understandable. But before you set your mind on any given increase to your monthly checks, it’s important to build in a buffer in case Medicare Part B’s standard premium increases quite a lot.
Some seniors could lose their COLA entirely
If your income has increased in recent years, you may have another Medicare surprise waiting in 2027 — IRMAAs. Short for income-related monthly adjustment amounts, IRMAAs are surcharges higher earners pay on their Part B premiums.
IRMAAs come out of Social Security benefits, too. And a large IRMAA could wipe out your 2027 COLA completely.
The silver lining is that if that happens, it means your income is likely high enough that you probably weren’t relying on that COLA so heavily to begin with. But it’s still a helpful thing to have on your radar so you aren’t caught off guard.
Leaders in the corporate world are familiar with a sports metaphor: They want to get a project across the finish line or make sure workplace standards are up to par. But many seemingly fail to carry forward the value athletes have in rest.
ServiceNow president and Chief Financial Officer Gina Mastantuono, who has espoused the benefits of fitness in both individual health and leadership, said that while the importance of recovery has broken into culture outside of athletics, it hasn’t fully permeated the vocabulary or habits of business leaders. Speaking at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in Santa Barbara, Calif. on Tuesday, Mastantuono said many senior employees still embody toxic ideas about overworking.
“There’s always been this—if you have to work 14-hour days and you get four hours sleep, and that shows that you’re working the hardest and you deserve the most,” she told Alicia Hatch, U.S. Sports chief commercial officer and women’s sports leader at Deloitte. “And in fact, that is such a terrible example for the people around us.”
Research has consistently shown the value of boundaries and the establishment of work-life balance. A University of Florida meta-analysis of nearly 200 studies, for example, found recovery from work is associated with better sleep, improved mental health, and increased long-term satisfaction with one’s life. But internalizing that rest is important is a different matter, Mastantuono noted.
“Recovery is part of the performance; it’s not secondary,” she said. “Muscle doesn’t grow when we pump out at the gym. It grows when we’re sleeping at night and letting the muscles recover.”
Mastantuono has noticed the benefits of recovery in her own life, attributing better work-life balance to a honed ability to listen instead of reaction, and maintain calm under duress and pressure, which has enabled her teams to execute more effectively.
“When we do focus on taking care of ourselves, then we are much better bosses, much better colleagues, much better parents,” she said.
Janet Evans, a four-time Olympic medalist and swimming and chief athlete officer of LA28, the organizing committee for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles, was well-versed in the importance of recovery in the context of competition, but has similarly needed reminders about taking a breather. Evans told Hatch about LA28 CEO Reynold Hoover, a three-star ex-U.S. Army Lieutenant General who frequently incorporates military parlance into in-office conversations.
“No one’s guns are drawn. No one is shooting each other,” Evans recalled Hoover saying. “So Janet, you’re gonna figure this out tomorrow.”
Mortgage rates have now fallen for five days in a row.
That puts the average 30-year fixed mortgage around 7.375%, a three-week low and roughly a quarter point below where they were earlier this month.
The strange part is that it happened right as we received two hotter-than-expected inflation reports in CPI and PPI.
Oh, and a hot retail sales report to boot.
The big question now: is this real, or just a tech selloff that will snap back next week? It could be a little bit of both.
Hot Inflation, But Lower Mortgage Rates? What Gives?
Consumer prices (CPI) came in hotter than expected on Wednesday, then wholesale prices (PPI) followed suit on Thursday.
As I’ve said before, that’s typically a recipe for higher mortgage rates. Sometimes much higher rates, especially in our current higher-for-longer environment.
Rates did start the day higher on Wednesday, which was the normal reaction to a hot inflation report.
But recovered nearly all of it (and then some by some accounts) by the close of business that day.
Then on Thursday we got an even bigger drop in rates, propelled by the tech selloff and accompanying flight to safety in bonds.
The 10-year bond yield, the bellwether for mortgage rates, nearly went below 5%, falling almost double-digits on the day.
It was a super unusual event that had a lot of folks scratching their heads, and for good reason.
So what gives? Clearly inflation isn’t abating, so what else was scaring investors out of stocks and into bonds?
[Compare mortgage rates and monthly payments side by side with my mortgage rate calculator.]
It Appears AI-Related Debt Is Now Helping Mortgage Rates
One of the side stories over the past few months, other than inflation and the conflict in the Middle East, has been the massive AI buildout.
I noted a while back that all the AI spending and related bond issuance could be crowding out other investments, namely investment in government treasuries.
Well, it seems this week investors finally got spooked that perhaps those juicy yields are telling them not all is well.
And that accepting a guaranteed rate of return above 5% is actually a pretty solid deal, especially if the stock market begins to crack.
When investors get nervous about stocks, they tend to flee to the safety of government bonds.
But that hasn’t happened for a long time, until this week, when stocks finally sold off and bonds became the darling of the market.
This is why mortgage rates finally reversed course and went a low lower.
Will This Bond Rally Actually Last?
Before we get too excited here, there are a couple issues.
First, a lot of prospective home buyer’s stock portfolios are getting pummeled right now.
That doesn’t owe itself to making the largest purchase decision of their lives.
Instead, they might say hang on, I’m just going to keep renting for now until this all shakes out.
Second, there’s no guarantee this bond rally even lasts. I always say nothing moves in a straight line, whether up or down.
Maybe the bond market simply needed a break, and we’ve yet to see the worst of it.
I wouldn’t get too confident here that the worst is over and that mortgage rates are going to continue dropping.
Sure, celebrate the fact that they’ve come down from recent highs, but remember they remain well above levels seen a year ago and even earlier this year.
To that end, bond yields are already higher today again and mortgage rates might snap their winning streak as well.
Read on: How are mortgage rates determined?
Before creating this site, I worked as an account executive for a wholesale mortgage lender in Los Angeles. My hands-on experience in the early 2000s inspired me to begin writing about mortgages 20 years ago to help prospective (and existing) home buyers better navigate the home loan process. Follow me on X for hot takes.
