Qualify Student Loan Forgiveness

Student loan forgiveness is one of the most valuable benefits that can come out of your college education. It provides you with an opportunity to pay off your student loans in full, or at least make them significantly more manageable.

While there are several different student loan forgiveness programs out there, not all qualify for all types of loans. In order to find out if your specific type of loan qualifies for any type of program, it’s important that you first know what kind of loans you have.

Qualifying for Public Service Loan Forgiveness

If you have a qualifying loan, have made at least 120 payments on your loans, and are employed full-time in a public service job, you might qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF).

To qualify for PSLF, you must:

• Have Direct Loans or FFEL Program loans*
• Be employed full time by a federal, state or local government agency or entity; a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit; or another organization that is considered tax exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.; or serving as part of AmeriCorps State or National program.

Qualifying for Income-Based Repayment

Let’s start by talking about who is eligible for income-based repayment, and what it is exactly. Income-based repayment (IBR) is a student loan repayment program that helps lower your monthly payments based on your income and family size. If you’re eligible for IBR, then your remaining debt could be forgiven after 20 or 25 years of qualifying payments—but only if they’re made on time.

Now let’s talk about how to apply and how it works. Applying for this program is easy: You fill out a form online at StudentLoans.gov or call 1-800-4-FEDAID (1-800-433-3243). There are no fees associated with applying; however, there will be an application fee each year during which you choose IBR as part of the federal loan rehabilitation process (about $50 per year).

Qualifying for the Perkins Loan Cancellation Program

For the Perkins Loan Cancellation Program, you must:

• Work full-time in a low-income school. You can be an elementary teacher, librarian, counselor or other staff member. You must also work at least 25 hours per week for five years in a low-income school.
• Be a full-time math or science teacher. If you are not a full-time math or science teacher, but want to qualify for this program anyway because your job meets some of its requirements (for example, if your job is less than 25 hours per week), then it’s possible that you could still qualify by doing one of these things:
• Take extra classes until they become full time;
• Write an essay explaining why you think this is important work; and
• Tell them about any other aspects of your career that make up for it being less than 25 hours per week

Qualifying for Teacher Loan Forgiveness

Student loan forgiveness is available to teachers who teach full-time in a low-income school. The student must have been a teacher for five complete and consecutive years as of October 1, 2016. The student also must be teaching at least half time at an eligible school and have been teaching for five complete and consecutive years as of October 1, 2017.

Teacher Loan Forgiveness is available to teachers who teach full-time in a high need subject area such as math, science or special education. These qualified students may receive up to $5,000 per year paid directly on their loans by their state department of education (up to $17500 total).

There are several ways student loan forgiveness programs can help you.

There are several ways student loan forgiveness programs can help you.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF): If you work for a qualifying employer and make 120 on-time monthly payments, the remaining balance of your eligible federal loans will be forgiven after 10 years. However, there’s a catch: if you switch employers or leave public service before the end of 120 monthly payments and then return to it later, your PSLF benefits could be lost.

Income-Based Repayment (IBR): This program allows borrowers to cap their monthly student loan payments at 15% of their discretionary income. After 25 years, any remaining balance is forgiven.*

Perkins Loan Cancellation Program: If you’re still paying off a Perkins Loan from an eligible two-year college or university within 120 months of leaving school and working full time in an eligible job in certain fields like teaching or nursing (this must be verified by the school), then up to 100% of your outstanding balance may be cancelled.*

We hope this article has helped you understand the various student loan forgiveness programs available, and how to qualify for them. If you’re still unsure about whether these programs are right for your situation, don’t hesitate to contact us! We can help answer any questions and give advice based on your personal circumstances.