Consider Loan Forgiveness Programs

Consider pursuing Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)

• Requirements: Make 120 qualifying monthly payments under an Income Driven Repayment  plan while working full-time (or 30 hours per week) for a qualifying employer, like a nonprofit or government.
• Benefits: Remaining loan balance is forgiven after 10 years of qualifying payments.
• Learn more.

Consider Teacher Loan Forgiveness:

• Requirements: Teach full-time for five consecutive years in a low-income school or educational service agency.
• Benefits: Up to $17,500 in loan forgiveness for qualifying teachers.
• Learn more.
• Caution: If your loan balance is high, you may opt to pursue PSLF instead of Teacher Loan Forgiveness. You can’t use the same years of service for both programs. If you use 5 years towards TLF, you will need to do an additional 10 years towards PSLF.

If you were defrauded, consider Borrower Defense to Repayment:

• Requirement: Must have been defrauded by a school.
• Benefits: You may be eligible to discharge loans associated with that school.
• Learn more.

If you attended a school that closed, consider Closed School Discharge:

• Requirement: You attended a school that closed right before, during or right after you attended school and didn’t transfer to a similar program.
• Benefits: Your loans associated with the school that closed get discharged.
• Learn more.

Consider Income-Driven Repayment Forgiveness (IDRF)

• Requirement: Be enrolled in and make payments under an IDR plan like IBR, RAP, PAYE, or ICR.
• Benefits:
  • Remaining balance forgiven after 20-30 years of qualifying payments.
  • Payments may be more affordable as they’re based on income and family size, not your loan balance, rate or term.
• Learn more.

Explore more options, depending on your situation, at Federal Student Aid. Don’t forget that some states may offer their own forgiveness programs that could help you as well.