Rose M: Planning for the Future

Both Rose and her husband earned their undergrad degrees (and now masters), yet the degrees came at a steep price: massive loans for tuition along with working 2–3 jobs during undergrad just to be able to afford the basics such as rent, food, etc. Now, Rose Mettlen is a continuing medical education coordinator at Children’s Mercy Hospital, based in Kansas City, Missouri.

As someone who has always worked at nonprofit hospitals, Rose fully anticipated working towards PSLF.

“It was always part of the plan back then, but as time went on I didn’t know what to do. Working at a nonprofit hospital, I always had more work to do than hours in a week, so I put off working on the PSLF until the time came. I would occasionally pull up info to see what I needed to do and would realize that I’d need to revisit when I had more time and so I’d procrastinate a little longer.”

As is the problem with so many other borrowers working towards the same goal, the wording around eligibility is confusing and unclear. Back in 2016 when she first began digging around for more information, it appeared as though one had to be an actual nurse or nurse practitioner to qualify.

Around the time Rose did become eligible, the Covid-19 pandemic was hitting the world full force, putting practically everything on hold.

“Working in a not-for-profit hospital, you can understand that this was one big crisis which meant there was suddenly 0 time in my day when I could do anything except work and care for my child — which happened simultaneously much of the time during the first year of the pandemic when I was working mostly remotely and my son’s school went virtual.”

In 2021, Children’s Mercy, alongside TIAA, announced its work with Savi.

“When Children’s Mercy made this announcement I thought: ‘I could do this if I had help!’ and I immediately paid the $60 annual membership to get that extra help.”

During Rose’s first consultation with Savi, she and a support team member went through everything piece by piece. When it got to the section regarding loan type, it was discovered that Rose did not have the right loan type and was therefore ineligible.

“I had worried for years that there would be a barrier, but never did I think it would be my loan type. This was so difficult to accept and almost painful… made me feel like I had fallen through the cracks. I was kind of devastated.”

However, Savi continued to give her hope and encouragement.

“I had been moving along, for 12 years, working ONLY for not-for-profit hospitals, and no one had told me I had a small issue with my loan type that would ultimately disqualify me from being eligible for PSLF. It was super discouraging and difficult to wrap my mind around or accept.”

Weeks later when the PSLF Limited Waiver announcement came out, Rose, filled with excitement, immediately reached out to Savi again. Rose’s Savi support member worked with her to consolidate under a Direct Loan and then work on her Employee Certification Forms (ECF). This turned out to be a long and exhausting process to find the necessary W2 forms as she had worked for 6 different hospitals in two different states. Savi stayed with her through all the ups and downs and helped her throughout the entire process.

“If it wasn’t for Savi, I would have given up… I am so grateful to Savi.”

Rose states how she and her husband are grateful to be able to save for their son’s future education as they do not want him to have to work 3 jobs in college like they did.

“The other day when we were talking he asked, ‘Am I going to have to work on Saturdays in college?’ which is such a weird question for an 8 year old to be having to think about but he’s heard a lot of conversations lately and has a deeper understanding than most kids do at his age about how valuable education is and how hard it is for some people to obtain.”

“We feel so grateful to be able to now be able to look ahead. . . to look forward rather than backwards. We can contribute more to retirement and for our son’s future education. I don’t have to worry about still paying for my own education which I acquired 12 years ago; now I can plan for 12 years from now.”

Children’s Mercy employees and/or TIAA plan participants can also take advantage of the resources available at Savi as a benefit available at childrensmercy.bysavi.com