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Teacher
Forgiveness Program
KNOWLEDGE
IS POWER!
The Stafford Loan Forgiveness Program became effective on July 1, 2001.
Eligible borrowers are eligible for grants loan forgiveness of up to $5,000.
Certain math, science and special education teachers may qualify for an
increased amount of loan forgiveness up to $17,500. To be eligible for loan forgiveness, all of the following conditions
must be met:
- You borrowed a Stafford Loan through the Federal Family Education Loan
(FFEL) and/or through the Federal Direct Loan program.
You are a "new borrower."
You had no outstanding FFEL or Direct Loan balance on Oct. 1, 1998, or
- If you did have an outstanding balance, you paid off that balance before
getting the loan(s) for which you are requesting forgiveness.
You have been employed for at least five consecutive, complete school
years as a full-time teacher in a public or private, nonprofit elementary or
secondary school designated as a low-income school. At least one of these years
must occur after the 1997-98 school year. (To find out whether your
school is considered a low-income school, visit https://www.tcli.ed.gov/CBSWebApp/tcli/TCLIPubSchoolSearch.jsp.)
Your school does not have to be designated a low-income school in each of the
five consecutive years.
If you are teaching at a school listed as a
low-income school for at least one year during your employment, your subsequent
years of service at that school can be counted in the five consecutive years,
even if the school is not designated as a low-income school in every subsequent
year. For example, if you began teaching at a secondary school in the 1994-95
academic year, and it was designated as a low-income school in 1996-97, you may
count your five consecutive years of service at that school starting with the
1996-97 academic year, even if the school
is not designated as a low-income
school in subsequent years.
There are three exceptions to the "consecutive years"
requirement:
- You are called to active military status for more than 30 days.
- You have a condition covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act.
- You returned to postsecondary education for a purpose related to performing
the teaching service for which you are requesting forgiveness.
For each of the exceptions to be allowable, you must have (a) taught for at
least one half of an academic terms, and (b) your employer must consider you to
have fulfilled your contract terms for purposes of salary increases, tenure and
retirement.
- You are not in default on the FFEL or Direct Loan for which you are
requesting discharge, or you are in default but have established a satisfactory
repayment arrangement with the holder of your loan.
You have not received a benefit for the same teaching service under the
National Community Service Act of 1990 (AmeriCorps).
You borrowed the loan for which forgiveness is requested prior to the end of
the fifth year of qualifying teaching.
You meet the following certification requirements:
If your five consecutive complete years of qualifying service began before
October 2004:
You may receive up to $5,000 in loan forgiveness if your school’s
chief academic officer certifies that you were—
- a full-time elementary school teacher and that you demonstrated knowledge
and teaching skills in reading, writing, math, and other areas of the elementary
school curriculum.
- a full-time secondary school teacher and that you taught in a subject area
that was relevant to your academic major.
You may receive up to $17,500 in loan
forgiveness if, as certified by the chief administrative officer of the
school where you were employed, you were—
- a highly qualified full-time math or science teacher in an eligible
secondary school, or
- a highly qualified special education teacher whose primary responsibility
was to provide special education to children with disabilities, and you were
teaching children with
disabilities that corresponded to your area of
special education training and have demonstrated knowledge and teaching skills
in the content areas of the curriculum that you were
teaching.
If your five consecutive complete years of qualifying teaching service began
on or after Oct. 30, 2004:
You may receive up to $5,000 in loan forgiveness if you were a highly
qualified full-time elementary or secondary school teacher.
You may receive up to $17,500 in loan
forgiveness if, as certified by the chief administrative officer of the school
where you were employed, you were—
- a highly qualified full-time math or science teacher in an eligible
secondary school, or
a highly qualified special education teacher whose primary
responsibility was to provide special education to children with disabilities,
and you were teaching children with disabilities that corresponded to your area
of special education training and have demonstrated knowledge and teaching
skills in the content areas of the curriculum that you were
teaching.
You should include the certification with your request for
forgiveness.
How to Apply
You can apply for loan cancellation after completing the
five-year teaching requirement. Get an application for your lender or the
loan servicing agent holding your loan. Once you completed the application, give
it to the chief administrative officer at your school to complete the
certification section as described above. Once the application is complete,
submit it to your lender or loan servicing agency for process.
You can get a forbearance for up to 60 days while completing the
loan discharge application, which includes the time it takes for the lender and
guarantor to review it.
The loan holder or guaranty agency must notify you within 135 days
of their decision on your application. If your application is approved, new
repayment terms based on any remaining loan balances will be provided to you.
The lender may cancel up to $17,500 of the aggregate loan amount that is
outstanding after you’ve finished your fifth year of teaching. (The aggregate
loan amount includes both principal and interest.) However, the lender cannot
refund the payments you made before you complete the fifth year of teaching
service.
Your lender can grant forbearance for each year of your qualifying
teaching service if the expected cancellation amount will satisfy the
anticipated remaining outstanding balance on the loan at the time of the
expected cancellation. Unless you give your lender or loan servicing agency
other instructions, your unsubsidized Stafford Loan balance will be
cancelled first, followed by any outstanding subsidized Stafford Loan balance,
and then any eligible outstanding Consolidation Loan balance. The lender may
cancel only the outstanding portion of the Consolidation Loan that was used to
repay subsidized or unsubsidized Stafford Loans that qualified for loan
forgiveness.
Perkins Loan Forgiveness
began in 1972 and will forgive up to 100% of your loan if you
are:
a full-time teacher employed in public or
nonprofit elementary or secondary schools in districts eligible for ESEA Title
I-A funding, where the percentage of children from low-income families enrolled
in the school exceeds 30% of total enrollment, or
-
a full-time special education teacher in public
or nonprofit elementary or secondary schools (including teachers of infants and
toddlers) or qualifies professional providers of early intervention services
under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), or
-
a full-time teacher of math, science, foreign
languages, bilingual education, or other fields determined to have a shortage by
the state educational agency.
The Perkins forgiveness loan is forgiven based on the following
scheduled:
For full-time teacher
For full-time special education teacher
- 15% for each year of service
Need More Information?
The holder(s) of your loan(s) can give you an application and other
important information.
The Federal Student Aid Web site contains information on loan cancellation
for both Stafford and federal Perkins loans: http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/teachercancel.jsp
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