Farm workers can get student loans erased if they stay in farming.
S. 5388 — Student Loan Forgiveness for Farmers and Ranchers Act · Filed by Christopher Murphy (D-CT) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Sep 14, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill lets certain farm workers erase their federal student loans. Workers must make 120 monthly payments while working full-time on a farm or ranch. Borrowers under 40 must stay in farming for at least 7 years. Borrowers 40 and older must stay for at least 3 years. Military service counts as an exception to these time rules.
Who it affects
The program helps beginning farmers, women and minorities in farming, and veteran farmers. It affects the Secretary of Education and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. These agencies must verify that workers stay employed on farms.
One thing to notice
Borrowers who leave farm work before the time is up lose the loan forgiveness. They must then pay back their loans. The bill does not say if erased loan money counts as income for taxes.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 2 Democrats.
- Sep 14, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Sep 14, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- federal student loans — Money the government lends to students to pay for school.
- Secretary of Education — The government official who runs the U.S. Department of Education.
- U.S. Department of Agriculture — The government agency that helps farmers and manages farm programs.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (5,469 characters) on Sep 21, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,522 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-22.
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