I've heard about a federal loan forgiveness program. What types of jobs qualify for forgiveness, and what types of loans are forgiven?
To qualify for the new Federal loan forgiveness program, you must meet several criteria.
Eligibility
You must work full-time in public service while making loan payments for 120 months. Public service jobs include, among others, government, military service, public safety and law enforcement (police and fire), public health, public education, public early childhood education, public child care, social work in a public child or family service agency, public services for individuals with disabilities or the elderly, public interest legal services (including prosecutors, public defenders and legal advocacy in low-income communities), public librarians, school librarians and other school-based services, and employees of tax exempt 501(c)(3) organizations. Full-time faculty at tribal colleges and universities, as well as faculty teaching in high-need areas, also qualify.
Monthly Payments
At the end of 120 months, all remaining debt will be cancelled, but you must have made payments for 120 months. The payments may be made using the graduated repayment plan, or most likely, the income-contingent repayment plan.
Eligible Loans
All Federally backed loans are eligible for forgiveness. If you have Stafford loans, you do not need to take any action. If you have a PLUS loan or a Perkins loan, the loans will need to be consolidated with your Stafford loans. Keep in mind that once you consolidate, you lose your grace period so you may want to wait until your grace period expires before consolidating.
BankingQuestions.com is a free service made possible by the generous support of our advertisers. Advertisers are not responsible for site content. Please help us keep BankingQuestions.com FREE by supporting our advertisers. When you see an ad for a product or service you may have an interest in, click through to learn more.
Accounts
Article
Q&A
Podcast
Video
Blog
Discussions
PDF
Powerpoint
