Borrowing student loans seems a comfortable way for students to get a college degree. After graduation, most of them face difficulties while paying their debt back. As a result, every year, hundreds of students apply for student loan forgiveness. According to the U.S Education of Department, only less than 1 percent of borrowers qualify for forgiveness. Results indicate that most of the borrowers have questions about student loan forgiveness program. Today borrowers have access to different types of forgiveness programs that offer relief from student debt. Therefore they need expert advice about how to choose a suitable plan and how to apply to it. Thus, the article aims to provide information about different types of forgiveness programs and guide you on how to qualify for them.
One of the Federal forgiveness programs is the Public Service Forgiveness Program. The program benefits students who work in one of the governmental or non-profit organizations. If you want to apply for the forgiveness program, public service forgiveness should be in the first place. Nevertheless, there exist another kind of forgiveness programs for you, including Teacher Student Loan Forgiveness, Military Student Loan Forgiveness, Nursing Student Loan Forgiveness, etc. Now we will analyze some of them to help you to choose the right one.
How to know you qualify for the Federal Forgiveness Program?
Generally, if you have taken a federal student loan, with a high chance, you will be eligible for student forgiveness via one of the offered programs. Which program you will qualify highly depends on the work you are continuing and how the work is useful for society. List in the above mentions the only a couple of best student forgiveness programs. If you do not work, one of those areas, do not feel disappointed because there are a lot of forgiveness programs that you can benefit. It doesn’t matter whether you owe hundreds or thousands of dollars. There will be at least one student loan forgiveness that will erase your debt.
Most of the forgiveness programs require years to pay your loan back, and if you are in a financial crisis right now, we do not recommend to start your forgiveness program. And if you are struggling with your forgiveness program, you can consult with one of the Student Debt Relief Agencies. They will help you to figure out how to pay your loan back because they are dealing with different student loans every day.
List of best Student Loan Forgiveness Programs for 2019
Currently, the federal government offers different kinds of forgiveness programs for students with a diverse background. Some of them include:
- Obama Forgiveness Program or Pay As you Earn Loan Repayment Plan
- Income-Based Federal Student Loan Repayment Program
- Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program
- Nurse Loan Forgiveness Program
- NHSC Service Loan Repayment Plan
- Stafford Loan Forgiveness Program and Perkin Loan Forgiveness Program
- Government Employee Forgiveness Program
- Military Loan Forgiveness Program
You can understand from the list that there are a lot of student loan relief programs, and these are only some of the best programs. The main issue here is not qualified for one of these programs but to choose which one is for you.
Obama’s Forgiveness Program
Let’s start with the Obama Student Loan Forgiveness Program. You may be eligible for the program if you have taken federal loan after October 1st, 2007. Obama presented new reforms to the Student loan laws in 2001 and initiated new loan forgiveness called Pay As You Earn. The new forgiveness program offers borrowers to pay 10% of their monthly income. As a result, the program ensures that borrowers are not struggling because of financial problems. The program helps you to save hundreds of dollars per month. With the help of pay as you earn repayment, you can both save money and receive forgiveness after 20 years of regular compensation.
Obama’s new reform also updates laws about the public service forgiveness program. Initially, to erase your debt you need to work for 20 years in, yet according to new regulations, the borrower can pay his debt back after ten years of work. These updated and new repayment programs are an excellent way for you to pay your loan back. Unfortunately, pay as you earn program only available to the borrowers who took their debt before the October 1st, 2007. But later Obama expanded his laws and added new Repaye Student Forgiveness Program which offers similar benefits as Pay As You Earn program. It is an excellent program for you to pay your loan back.
REPAYE Loan Forgiveness Program
As mentioned above, Obama introduced the program for people who have taken their loan after 2007. The program requires you to pay monthly payments based on your income. It means the more you earn, the more you should pay as a monthly payment. The program will offer you compete for forgiveness only after you make regular 240 payments on time and in full. It is an excellent option for you if you do not qualify for other forgiveness programs. But note that in REPAYE loan forgiveness program you will owe tax to IRS based on the forgiven amount.
Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program
Public Service Loan Forgiveness should be your first choice when it comes to the forgiveness program. It provides more flexibility to borrowers, including no tax liabilities, 100% forgiveness. Note that you can benefit from the program only if you for a public or non-profit organization. It is a faster and secure method to pay your loans compared to Obama’s PAYE and REPAYE forgiveness program. To eliminate your debt, you need to demonstrate ten years of work and 120 regular payments on your loan. Once you have made 120 payments, your all program will erase all your remaining debt no matter how much debt you owe. To benefit from the public service loan you need to in one of these positions:
- Teacher at public school
- An employee at a government organization
- An employee at a non-profit organization
- Military Employee
- Public Safety Personnel
- Public health services personnel
- Law Enforcement Personnel
- Public Service Personnel for older people or individuals with disabilities
- Public Service Volunteer
If you possess one of these positions, you can apply for public service forgiveness easily. PSLF is especially beneficial for borrowers who take a massive amount of loans for graduating and work for jobs that do not pay much. If you are one of these borrowers, you can quickly pay your loan back while working for public service. Only one downside of PSLF is that you do not get partial forgiveness from the program. The only way you can eliminate student debt only after working for ten years and making 120 monthly payments.
Why Government Offers Student Loan Forgiveness Programs?
There are a considerable number of people who take student loans to get a university degree. Those students after graduating work for the jobs that do not pay enough to pay their loan back to the government. Therefore the government realizes that borrowers face financial problems while returning their debt. Student loan forgiveness is an excellent solution for both student debts and unemployment problem. These programs are here to help you to pay your debt quickly, which you cannot afford on your own while working for another job.
