Attention teachers, lawyers, doctors, and volunteers! Did you know that your job may qualify you for student loan forgiveness or cancellation?
If you think you are eligible, you should still consider consolidating all your federal student loans, as the forgiveness process can take four or more years. While you may have to wait quite some time to see the funds from loan forgiveness programs, consolidation shows immediate results. You can minimize your monthly payments by locking in low interest rates.
To have a more in-depth look on loan forgiveness, keep on reading!
You may have up to $5,000 of your loan canceled if you teach English or math to students attending low-income elementary school, if you teach a subject area relevant to your academic career to students in low-income secondary school, or if you have taught at low-income elementary and secondary school for 5 years after Oct. 30, 2004.
You may have $17,500 in federal Stafford loans canceled if you teach math or science in a low-income secondary school or if you teach special education to disabled children.
About 80 law schools partially or fully cover your debt payments through LoanRepayment Assistance Programs (LRAP). Some schools may expect applicants to contribute towards their annual loan payments.
You may qualify if you work full time in public interest law firms or nonprofit agencies/advocacy groups. Eligibility is usually limited to lawyers who make an annual income threshold between $35,000 and $50,000.
A list of participating schools is provided at Law School LoanRepayment Assistance Programs.
Doctors and nurses who dedicate themselves to providing health care to underserved populations may qualify for loan forgiveness.
Nurses who provide two years of service in regions that lack quality health care may have up to 60 percent of their loan balance paid off. Those who work a third year in such regions may receive an additional 25 percent of the qualifying loan balance. More information is provided by the Nursing Education LoanRepayment Program.
Doctors who provide service in underserved populations also receive up to $50,000 in loan repayment awards. Additional information may be found by contacting the National Health Service Corps.
Peace Corps volunteers with Perkins loans may cancel up to 70 percent of their outstanding balances. They may also defer repayment for Stafford, Perkins, Direct, and consolidation loans. However, because the rules are subject to change, you should probably contact your lender to see how these benefits apply to you.
Other volunteer programs such as AmeriCorps and Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) provide monetary awards that you can use towards repaying your student loans.
NOTE: Although loan forgiveness is often exempt from federal income tax, some of it is taxable. For additional information, go to Chapter 5 of IRS Publication 970.
Article Title : Loan Forgiveness
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