Adrian Nichola
Active member
You may be eligible for a student loan forgiveness program if you work in certain government agencies, schools, or hospitals. Once you've made a particular number of payments toward your debt, the program will forgive a certain proportion of the remaining balance.
These initiatives have the potential to reduce the racial wealth gap among minoritized borrowers. All Americans will have a better chance at a middle-class future if this happens.
Loan Discharge for Public Service (PSLF)
Under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, if you make 120 qualifying monthly payments while working full-time for a qualifying business, you may be eligible for a federal student loan reduction. Firefighting, teaching, nursing, public interest law, and military service are all examples of government and nonprofit occupations that may make you qualified.
To be considered for this program, you must fill out the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Employment Certification Form every year. To do so, you'll need to provide information about your employer (including their name, address, and Federal Identification Number) and your position (including the days you held it) at the company.
Paycheck stubs and W-2 forms are important records to retain for tax purposes. In short, this will facilitate a speedy decision-making process inside the Department of Education.
Some borrowers who did not qualify for the partial PSLF waiver may now be able to apply payments that were previously disqualified toward the needed 120 months of payments according to a recent one-time modification to PSLF released by the Department of Education. The borrower might have to pay back any payments that were missed, any interest that built up while the borrower was in deferment or forbearance, and any partial payments that were made after the due date.
Repayment Based on Income (IBR)
A program like IBR can help you pay off your student loans faster and for less money each month. Borrowers with Federal Direct and FFEL loans have access to IBR.
Borrowers can save money with Income-Based Repayment both in the form of lower monthly payments and lower interest paid over the life of their loans. It also helps borrowers who are having trouble making their loan payments because of money problems.
You must recertify your income and family size annually to continue receiving IBR. The cost of your loans goes up if you don't make your payments on time and the unpaid interest becomes capitalized.
When regular monthly payments on a student loan become too much to handle, IBR can be a lifesaver. The thing is, it's not for everyone. Before deciding if this program is the best one for you, you should compare it to other options like PAYE and REPAYE.
Involuntary School Closure and Dismissal
Closed School Discharge is a program that forgives some or all of your student loans if your school closed before you graduated. If the closure was handled properly, you may be able to get rid of all of your outstanding student loans.
The Department of Education (ED) says that a "closing school loan discharge" is when a borrower is released from paying back federal student loans that were used to pay for unfinished coursework at a school that has closed. Students who were still going to the closed school or who were on an official leave of absence may be able to get their loans paid off if they meet the requirements.
If you are given a closed school release, the Department will also reinstate your Pell Grant eligibility. This is helpful for many borrowers since it prevents them from having to use their savings to make their loan installments.
Discharge due to total and permanent disability
If you are a disabled veteran or if your disability is expected to last for 60 months or more (TPD), you may be eligible for the Total and Permanent Disability Discharge. Under this program, you may be able to get rid of your Direct loans, some Federal Family Education Loans, Perkins loans, and TEACH Grant service obligations. This will make your overall student loan burden lighter.
The Department of Education has worked to make sure that the program's rules follow the law, especially the Higher Education Act (HEA) and the VA's rules for veterans who are totally and permanently disabled. When the VA determined that a veteran was totally and permanently disabled as a result of a service-connected disability, the veteran was required to submit an application for total and permanent disability discharge to the Secretary, along with supporting documentation of the VA's determination.
By allowing disabled veterans who have been identified as eligible for TPD based on data that the Secretary obtains from VA to automatically be approved for a discharge of their loans without requiring them to affirmatively apply for the discharge, ED has taken a significant step forward in 2019 toward improving access to student loan relief for borrowers with disabilities. Many thousands of disabled borrowers received life-changing debt relief thanks to this policy.
These initiatives have the potential to reduce the racial wealth gap among minoritized borrowers. All Americans will have a better chance at a middle-class future if this happens.
Loan Discharge for Public Service (PSLF)
Under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, if you make 120 qualifying monthly payments while working full-time for a qualifying business, you may be eligible for a federal student loan reduction. Firefighting, teaching, nursing, public interest law, and military service are all examples of government and nonprofit occupations that may make you qualified.
To be considered for this program, you must fill out the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Employment Certification Form every year. To do so, you'll need to provide information about your employer (including their name, address, and Federal Identification Number) and your position (including the days you held it) at the company.
Paycheck stubs and W-2 forms are important records to retain for tax purposes. In short, this will facilitate a speedy decision-making process inside the Department of Education.
Some borrowers who did not qualify for the partial PSLF waiver may now be able to apply payments that were previously disqualified toward the needed 120 months of payments according to a recent one-time modification to PSLF released by the Department of Education. The borrower might have to pay back any payments that were missed, any interest that built up while the borrower was in deferment or forbearance, and any partial payments that were made after the due date.
Repayment Based on Income (IBR)
A program like IBR can help you pay off your student loans faster and for less money each month. Borrowers with Federal Direct and FFEL loans have access to IBR.
Borrowers can save money with Income-Based Repayment both in the form of lower monthly payments and lower interest paid over the life of their loans. It also helps borrowers who are having trouble making their loan payments because of money problems.
You must recertify your income and family size annually to continue receiving IBR. The cost of your loans goes up if you don't make your payments on time and the unpaid interest becomes capitalized.
When regular monthly payments on a student loan become too much to handle, IBR can be a lifesaver. The thing is, it's not for everyone. Before deciding if this program is the best one for you, you should compare it to other options like PAYE and REPAYE.
Involuntary School Closure and Dismissal
Closed School Discharge is a program that forgives some or all of your student loans if your school closed before you graduated. If the closure was handled properly, you may be able to get rid of all of your outstanding student loans.
The Department of Education (ED) says that a "closing school loan discharge" is when a borrower is released from paying back federal student loans that were used to pay for unfinished coursework at a school that has closed. Students who were still going to the closed school or who were on an official leave of absence may be able to get their loans paid off if they meet the requirements.
If you are given a closed school release, the Department will also reinstate your Pell Grant eligibility. This is helpful for many borrowers since it prevents them from having to use their savings to make their loan installments.
Discharge due to total and permanent disability
If you are a disabled veteran or if your disability is expected to last for 60 months or more (TPD), you may be eligible for the Total and Permanent Disability Discharge. Under this program, you may be able to get rid of your Direct loans, some Federal Family Education Loans, Perkins loans, and TEACH Grant service obligations. This will make your overall student loan burden lighter.
The Department of Education has worked to make sure that the program's rules follow the law, especially the Higher Education Act (HEA) and the VA's rules for veterans who are totally and permanently disabled. When the VA determined that a veteran was totally and permanently disabled as a result of a service-connected disability, the veteran was required to submit an application for total and permanent disability discharge to the Secretary, along with supporting documentation of the VA's determination.
By allowing disabled veterans who have been identified as eligible for TPD based on data that the Secretary obtains from VA to automatically be approved for a discharge of their loans without requiring them to affirmatively apply for the discharge, ED has taken a significant step forward in 2019 toward improving access to student loan relief for borrowers with disabilities. Many thousands of disabled borrowers received life-changing debt relief thanks to this policy.
