Eliminate the date of October 1, 1998 as the starting date to qualify for the $17,500 in student loan forgiveness.

In order to qualify for student loan forgiveness, one must not have had a balance before October 1, 1998. This is causing undue hardship on many educators that are being forced into further education because of new licensure requirement despite not being financially ready to pay for such education. Extending this forgiveness to educators in math, science, etc, without a date limitation would enable teachers to focus on education and not how to pay for that education.