Student Loan Relief

Now more than ever people are looking for ways to get some financial relief. Luckily, there are programs available that forgive federal student loans.

Different Types of Forgiveness

There are many different types of forgiveness programs that all have their unique traits.

- Public Service Loan Forgiveness

This is available to government employees as well as qualifying nonprofit employees that have a federal student loan. People who qualify for this loan can have their remaining loan balance be forgiven tax-free after they make a minimum of 120 qualifying loan payments. Qualifying payments are payments that were made while you were enrolled in an income-based repayment plan. If not, on a regular repayment plan, the loan would be paid off before you’re even eligible for forgiveness.

- Income Driven Repayment Forgiveness

There are different types of income driven repayment plans but there are 4 main ones that allow you to cap your loan payments at a percentage of the income you make a month. If you are enrolled in one of these plans, then you have the option to have your remaining loan balance be forgiven after 20 to 25 years. The people who would best benefit from this forgiveness program are those that have a large loan relative to how much they make

- Student Loan Forgiveness for Nurses

Now more than ever people are appreciating the hard work that nurses do. Luckily, there are also federal programs that can show appreciation to nurses as well. Nurses that have student debt have a lot of options when it comes to loan forgiveness. There are programs like the NURSE Corps Loan Repayment Program, Perkins Loan Cancellation, and Public Service Loan Forgiveness. These programs can pay up to 85% eligible nurses’ unpaid college tuition!

- Teacher Loan Forgiveness

This loan forgiveness is meant for teachers that are employed full time at low income public schools from elementary to secondary. Teachers will only be eligible after working for five consecutive years and have taken out their loan after October 1^st, 1998.

Are there other types of student loan forgiveness programs?

Yes! There are other types of loan forgiveness/payment assistance programs that you could potentially qualify for.

- State-Sponsored Repayment Assistance Programs

You should verify that this is available in your state but licensed teachers, doctors, lawyers, and nurses can get assistance with paying debt. If your state has this program you need to see what the qualifications are as well as how it can help!

- Additional Student Loan Repayment Assistance Programs (LRAPs)

There could also potentially be other organizational or national student loan repayment assistance programs that is offered for public service professions. Taking some time to research online may help you find opportunities for your field.

- Military Student Loan Forgiveness and Assistance

Any type of military personnel in the Air Force, Army, National Guard, Navy, and Coast Guard may qualify for their own specialized loan forgiveness programs. If you are apart of any of these organizations then you should see what the loan forgiveness options are for your financial situation.

Student Loan Cancellation Programs

There are programs that can actually cancel your student loan like Perkins Loan Cancellation that helps students who borrowed with a federal Perkins loan have up 100% of their student loans canceled if they work in a public service job for at least 5 years. In a majority of instances, borrowers that are approved will see a percentage of their student loans discharged in increments for each year that has been worked.

Overall

There are more opportunities than you may realize with your student loan. You may be eligible to have your loan taken care of entirely or partially and may not even know it! Make sure you look at your loan and see what options are available.