By David Kociemba

This is the seventh in a series of Academe Blog guest posts arranged by the AAUP Committee on Contingency and the Profession in celebration of Campus Equity Week. For information on and resources for CEW, see the national website at http://www.campusequityweek.org/2013/.

There’s a new benefit worth tens of thousands of dollars that will cost your institution nothing—but they’ll fight to deny it to you anyway. It’s the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Act, which forgives certain kinds of education loans of individuals working in public service jobs… if they’re certified as full-time. There’s the catch: qualifying for this program by working 30 hours a week in public service also might qualify you for eligibility for health care under the Affordable Care Act. Unlike the ACA, however, hours working multiple part-time jobs can be combined to meet eligibility requirements.