Who Is Eligible for Student Loan Forgiveness?

When it comes to knowing who is eligible for student loan forgiveness, there are several professions that qualify for the program and may help you get out of debt.

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program and Federal Loan families offer student loan forgiveness.

However, the majority of these student loan forgiveness programs, do not include private student loans.

Read more and find out who is eligible for student loan forgiveness below.

List of Who Is Eligible for Student Loan Forgiveness

1. Nurse Forgiveness

Under the US Department of Health and Human Services, loan forgiveness programs are available through the National Health Service Corps and the Nurse Corps Loan Repayment Program.

To qualify for their loan forgiveness programs, registered nurses should agree to work full-time.

Also, they need to render services for a given period of time in areas lacking adequate medical assistance.

The NHSC Loan Repayment Program entitles a nurse to a $50,000 loan forgiveness after a 2-year service at a site approved by the NHSC.

In addition, participants may opt to serve as primary care medical, mental health, or dental clinicians.

They also have the opportunity to serve more than 2 years if they wish to get more support for loan repayment.

2. Non-Profit Organization Employee Forgiveness

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program entitles all employees working in the following public services:

public library services
emergency management
public safety
public interest law services – this refers to the legal services offered by an organization funded by the tribal, local, federal, or state government.
law enforcement – any organization publicly funded and with primary purposes of preventing crime, reduction or control of crime, or criminal law enforcement falls under this category.
public service for the elderly
public service for individuals with disabilities
early childhood education – Head Start, regulated or licensed child care and pre-kindergarten funded by the state comprise the early childhood education.

In order to qualify for the program, the participant needs to render full working hours according to employer’s policies.

This is also equivalent to 30 hours per week.

However, Direct Loans or any other federal student loans are a requirement for this program.

Repayment should also be under one of the PSLF income-driven repayment plans which are as follows:

Revised Pay As You Earn Repayment Plan (REPAYE Plan)
Pay As You Earn Repayment Plan (PAYE Plan)
Income-Based Repayment Plan (IBR Plan)
Income-Contingent Repayment Plan (ICR Plan)

The number of qualifying payments is 120, which is equivalent to 10 years of payments.

This means you need to make payments on or before the due date with the exact amount due for your payments to qualify.

To make sure you’re all set for the requirements of the program, you may choose to fill out and submit the Employment Certification Form as early and as often as possible.

3. Peace Corps or Americorps Volunteer Forgiveness

This is one of the student loan forgiveness programs which is most accessible as it’s available to anyone interested and willing to volunteer in the Peace Corps.

However, the Loan Cancellation or Loan Forgiveness program of the Peace Corps is available to those with Perkins Loans.

It qualifies for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program under the “qualifying employment” section.

So, it is good news to the volunteers with Perkins Loans as this means your loans have higher chances of being canceled completely and all remaining balances are wiped out.

Perkins Loan Holder

The cancellation program of Perkins Loans for the volunteers of Peace Corps has the following privileges:

The Peace Corps loan forgiveness program for Perkins Loan holder entitles cancellation of up to 70% of the loan.
A 15% loan cancellation privilege entitles a volunteer after completion of the first two years of service.
For the 3^rd and 4^th years in the service, volunteers are qualified an added loan cancellation of 20% on top of the 15% after the first 2 years of service.

4. Military Forgiveness

Army National Guard students are eligible for a student loan repayment program which offers up to $10,000.

This is part of the benefits the government offers to those who enlist in the military.

Also, this program allows them to pursue school before, during, and after rendering military service.

Among the programs for military student aid are US Armed Forces Recruiting Programs, Financial Aid for Veterans and their Dependents, Veterans and the FAFSA, Heroes Act of 2003, Army ROTC, and the US Army National Guard.

5. Teacher Forgiveness

The teacher forgiveness program is, by far, the best way to qualify for the student loan forgiveness.

However, this requires you work in a public sector or a not-for-profit organization as a teacher.

The requirement entails you are working full-time in an elementary or secondary school or any agency providing educational service to students of families with low income.

Also, you are entitled $5,000 and $17,500 for special education teachers of the entire outstanding loan amount.

This is only available once you’ve completed your 5^th year in teaching.

Perkins Loan Holder

Cancellation in full for the loan is available for Perkins loans holders given you worked as a full-time teacher in a public or not-for-profit secondary and elementary school for families on low-income.

The same is applicable with special education teachers or in any agency offering educational services in a state considered to have qualified teachers’ shortages.

For more details on who is eligible for student loan forgiveness, here’s a video from Wall Street Journal:

Having a student loan is the second-largest portion of consumer debts in America.

This is even higher than credit card debt.

Knowing if you are eligible for student loan forgiveness is a big relief to those seeking more repayment options.

Given all the options for how to get out of debt, you’re sure on your way to paying them off in no time.

Do you have any additional recommendations on who is eligible for student loan forgiveness? Feel free to share them in the comments section below.

Up Next: How to Pay Off Student Loans

Katie Bentley