The PSLF program cancels the debt of qualifying government and nonprofit workers who have made 10 years of on-time monthly payments. Though the program was established with noble intentions, in practice, very few people were actually able to have their debt discharged before President Joe Biden took office.

But his administration has made a number of changes to the program over the past few years. And on Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Education announced several more. A major one: Starting July 1, 2023, borrowers will receive credit toward the 120 total PSLF payments they need even if they make them late, send partial payments, pay in installments, or are in forbearance or deferment. The rules are being changed through updated federal regulations.

Under current rules, payments are only eligible if they are made in full within 15 days of the due date. And certain deferment and forbearance periodsincluding those for military service, cancer treatment, economic hardship, and time served in AmeriCorps, the Peace Corps, and the National Guardwill count.

Additionally, borrowers will no longer lose all of the progress theyve made toward forgiveness if they consolidate their loans. Instead, they will receive a weighted average of their qualifying payments made under the old loan and the new loan.

Under the new regulations, for example, a borrower with 60 qualifying payments on Direct Loan with a balance of $30,000 who consolidates their loan with another Direct Loan with a balance of $30,000 with zero qualifying payments will have a new payment count of 30 payments, the departments announcement reads.

The department is also adopting a single standard for full-time employment that counts under the program. Borrowers must work 30 hours a week to qualify.

The adjustments will be made automatically, but to qualify, borrowers must have direct loans. Those with a Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) or a Federal Perkins Loan must consolidate into the direct loan program before July 2023 to benefit.

The department also provided more information on the one-time account adjustment that is being made to income-driven repayment (IDR) accounts that it first announced back in April. Borrowers in these plans could have all of their past payments recounted, with more counting retroactively toward the total they need to receive forgiveness.

The department will adjust borrower accounts to give them credit for any months they were in repayment (regardless of if they were made on time or not) as well as for some forbearance and deferment periods.

If the account adjustment gets borrowers to the number of payments they need for forgiveness (thats 240 for 20 years and 300 for 25 years), then those borrowers could see the relief reflected as soon as next month. Those who still need to make additional payments to have their debt forgiven will see the account adjustment in July 2023.

Limited PSLF waiver is about to expire

The news comes just days before a temporary waiver related to the PSLF program expires. Using the waiver, qualifying borrowers can have previous partial or late payments, or those made in the wrong repayment track, counted toward the 120 total they need for forgiveness.

The waiver is meant to make up for years of bureaucratic mismanagement and confusion related to the forgiveness program. The Biden administration announced changes to the PSLF program in October 2021 to make it simpler for those who have made 10 years of on-time payments to actually have their debt discharged as the program originally promised.

U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), who has introduced changes to the PSLF program in the past, applauded the announcementbut said the Biden administration should also extend the deadline for the PSLF waiver.

Todays announcement means millions of public service workers will now have a second chance at loan forgiveness, Menendez said in a statement.

Other Democrats have also called for the waiver to be extended.

According to the Education Department, 236,000 borrowers have received $14 billion in student loan forgiveness as a result of the temporary waiver.

Future of widespread student loan forgiveness still unknown

All of this is separate from Bidens plan to forgive between $10,000 to $20,000 in federal student loan debt for most borrowers.

That program, which his administration announced in August and recently opened applications for, applies to most federal borrowers with incomes under $125,000 in 2020 or 2021 (double that income limit for married couples).

Though the administration is still encouraging borrowers to applythe application takes about five minutes to fill out on StudentAid.gov, according to those who have submitted oneit cannot actually forgive any student loan debt yet owing to a court order.

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Hernandez was able to provide the loans averaging $33,000 each after his organization received a two-year, $100,000 grant from the Latino Community Foundations Latino Entrepreneurship Fund in July 2021. He says the money from the community foundation helped his nonprofit secure more funding from other foundations and corporations, such as Wells Fargo, enabling his fund to do more lending.

Hernandez leads Creser Capital Fund, which lends to people traditional banks often are reluctant to help.

The growth his organization has experienced is the result of a growing effort by private foundations and nonprofit organizations like Latino Community Foundation and Hispanics in Philanthropy to advance economic growth for Latinos in the United States. Foundations have committed nearly half a billion toward economic development over the course of seven years, according to data compiled by Candid and Hispanics in Philanthropy.

And such giving seems to be on an upward trajectory in the wake of both COVID and the racial reckoning, which revealed that Latinos have been neglected by financial institutions and government. In May 2020, the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative found that 86% of Latino business owners reported they immediately felt a negative impact on their businesses because of the pandemic. They were also less likely to receive federal loans and assistance than white business owners during the crisis. The Hispanic or Latino unemployment rate was more than three percentage points higher than the white unemployment rate in December 2020.

It was important for us to make sure that, as we moved into this crisis mode of COVID, that Latino- and immigrant-led businesses werent an afterthought, says Jacqueline Martinez Garcel, CEO at the Latino Community Foundation, a grant maker that supports Latino-led organizations in California.

The foundation started the Latino Entrepreneurship Fund in 2020 with $4 million from the James Irvine Foundation to help Latino entrepreneurs and community financial lenders assist Latino businesses. Since then, it has provided $1 million to help start three new community-development financial institutions, including Creser Capital Fund. Such financial institutions, which have charity status, typically provide loans of up to $75,000 to low-income entrepreneurs or small businesses owned by people of color.

In July 2020, Hispanics in Philanthropy, an organization that works to attract charitable funds to serve Hispanics, launched the PowerUp Fund to help Latino-owned small businesses in California, New York, and Texas. Google.org, the tech giants philanthropic arm, gave $3 million toward that effort. Then PowerUp awarded $5,000 grants and business coaching to 500 Latino business owners, including Laura Bruce, who owns Mi Casa Es Tu Casa in Austin, Texas.

Bruce used the money to help keep her employees working during the pandemic and to move its Spanish music classes for young children online.

I was able to invest in a new idea that actually ended up being super successful, she says. Two years later, that virtual program has helped bring families from across the country to her classes. The business coaching also was among the most valuable part of the grant, according to Bruce. I was able to get kind of one-on-one attention into some questions that I have for my business.

The fund also awarded a grant to Jessica Betancourt, owner of Bronx Optical Center, after a looting spree left her store with $170,000 in losses in the summer of 2020. Betancourt used the money to pay overdue bills and to purchase fliers and marketing materials to promote the store.

Meanwhile, the Aspen Institute Latinos and Society Program, which researches ideas to advance economic mobility for Latinos, raised more than $1.6 million in corporate and foundation funding in 2021 from Google.org, the Coca-Cola Company, and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation for its Action Lab program.

The program brought together leaders in six cities to devise solutions that provide capital and other forms of support to help Latino-owned businesses thrive. As part of the program, the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Chicago developed training to help businesses secure government contracts, according to Domenika Lynch, executive director of the Aspen Institute Latinos and Society Program. While in Miami, leaders are working to create a project that will advise entrepreneurs seeking loans and other resources.

Funding small businesses also builds on a strong interest in entrepreneurship among many Latinos. A report from the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative released last year found that the number of Latino-owned businesses grew by 34% over the last 10 years compared with just 1% for all other small businesses.

For Martinez Garcel, that trend presented a promising opportunity for the foundation. If we invest in Latino entrepreneurs, we would, in fact, really just begin to accelerate closing this wealth gap, but also lean into a strength in our community as immigrants who are very entrepreneurial, she says.

Other community foundations also have started to provide more grants to nonprofits building wealth for Latinos in their cities or states. The Boston Foundations Latino Equity Fund is supporting nonprofits advocating for state and local policies that help workers, as well as for organizations that offer training in English and low-cost housing.

The Oregon Community Foundations Latino Partnership Program will make its first grants of up to $10,000 each this year to nonprofits focused on building wealth. The foundation is part of the Latinx Community Wealth Building Network, a group of nonprofit and government leaders collaborating to advise philanthropy on wealth creation for Latino communities in Oregon.

When we started those conversations, the Latino leaders said, we really want to think about how we can truly support our community in Oregon beyond a survival state, says Mirna Loreli Cibrian, program officer at the Latino Partnership Program.

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This article was provided to The Associated Press by the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Kay Dervishi is a staff writer at the Chronicle. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. The AP and the Chronicle receive support from the Lilly Endowment for coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits. The AP and the Chronicle are solely responsible for all content. For all of APs philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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During economic upswings or downturns, investors will respond by holding on tight to their investments, or selling them as quickly as possible depending on which strategy they deem will yield them better returns. These phases are known as bear markets and bull markets. 

What is a bear market? 

The SEC defines a bear market as a time when stock prices are declining, at least 20% over a two-month period, and market sentiment is generally not very optimistic. Bear markets typically result from an economic downturn fueled by geopolitical risks or market bubbles bursting.  During bear markets, many investors will try to cut their losses by selling their investments, which contributes to already plummeting prices.

Bear markets usually are fueled by uncertainty in economic or asset value growth causing investors to lack confidence in growth prospects for assets leading them to sell, says Veronica Willis, investment strategy analyst at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. 

In the past 92 years, there have been 21 bear markets in the S&P 500 prior to the current one, according to Yardeni Research. The longest bear market was in 1930 and lasted for 783 days. The shortest bear market was just 32 days and occurred at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020.

What is a bull market? 

On the flipside, a bull market usually happens when the economy is on the up and up and a broad market index sees a 20% increase over at least a two-month period. During this phase, investors are feeling good about keeping their money in the market and, in hopes of cashing in on rising stock prices, many investors will hang onto their current investments and potentially put even more of their money into the market to try to capitalize off of these conditions. 

The good news: bull markets usually last longer than bear markets, with the average bull market lasting for 3.8 years, according to Investech Research. 

What are the key differences between the two? 

Bear and bull markets can impact several economic indicators differently. From the cost of goods, to the unemployment rate, interest rates, and more. Knowing the major differences between these two market phases can help you make more informed decisions as an investor. 

A few key differences include: 

• Supply and demand: During bull markets, the demand for securities increases, which in turn drives up their prices. The opposite tends to happen during a bear market. Investors are looking to minimize their losses and sell quickly to recoup their funds, which increases the supply of available securities and lowers share prices. 
• Investor sentiment: Investor sentiment describes investors overall attitudes toward the current stock market conditions, and it can tell you a lot about how the market is performing and which direction it may be headed in. While investors may be more willing to buy during a bullish market, a bearish market will likely lead them to sell and move their money into low-risk investments. During a bear market or economic recession, shifting to higher-quality large caps from small caps can help to reduce exposure to areas most at risk, says Willis. 
• Changes in GDP: Bear markets usually signal a slowdown in the economy, which may make consumers less likely to spend and, in turn, lower GDP. In a bull market, companies tend to generate more revenue and as the economy grows, consumers are more likely to spend.
• Changes in the unemployment rate: When companies are growing and generating more revenue during a bull market, they may need to hire more employees and will likely have the capital to do so, which may help lower the unemployment rate. During bear markets, companies may freeze their hiring pipelines or even reduce the number of employees they have to cut costs. 

How to invest during each market phase  

When the market gets bumpy, you may feel inclined to act quickly to protect yourself and your finances. But hasty decisions could cost you in the long-term. While there is no tried-and-true advice that will protect you during every market phase, there are steps you can take to cover your bases and try to come out on top regardless of whether its a bear market or a bull market.

1. Dont try to time the market 

The stock market is unpredictable, and trying to time it is risky business. You could miss out on some major returns by being too quick to sell, or holding off on investing altogether. Rather than timing the market, focus on time in the market, says Dan Tolomay, chief investment officer at Trust Company of the South. Investors often fear that the market will fall if they invest, but the opposite is also true, What if you dont invest and the market rises?

2. Rethink your strategy

Rather than dwelling on if you should be investing or not, think about how youre investing. 

Regardless of cyclical swings, historical experience shows the best time to invest is consistently, says Michael Weisz, President and Founder of Yieldstreet, an alternative investment platform. Using a strategy like dollar-cost averaging and investing consistently could help reduce the impact of market volatility on your portfolio and take the emotion out of investing if market swings make it difficult for you to stay the course. 

3. Diversify your portfolio

If the market is making you uneasy, consider diversifying the mix of assets you hold, rather than selling. Staying the course and spreading your risk across asset types could make sharp swings easier to handle. Decide on an asset mix thats right for your goals and risk tolerance (not based on what the market has done or what you think its going to do) and stick to it, says Tolomay.