For years now, the College Loan Repayment Program (CLRP) has continued to provide excellent educational benefits for people interested in the military. And the national guard loan repayment is no different.
The benefits in the national guard loan repayment program are available to members who have enrolled and officers. The program provides a maximum of $50,000 in student loan forgiveness.
Honestly, it’s one of the best benefits packages in the military when it comes to clearing or reducing your student loan debts. Only the Army currently provides a larger benefit of up to $65,000 through the Army CLRP.
Criteria For Eligibility
The guidelines for eligibility are different when it comes to non-prior military members. And that also includes people who served previously in the Armed Forces. Also, keep in mind that the Army National Guard has its own eligibility requirement.
Here’s the breakdown of how to be eligible for the national guard loan repayment program:
Prior Service Members
If you’re a prior service member, you can qualify for the loan repayment program if you’re eligible for these requirements:
- You must serve in the National Guard for a minimum of six years.
- Before you enlist, you should have a grade of E-7 or below.
- When you enlist in the service, you should serve in the MTO unit or medical TDA unit.
- You should have completed your USMC or Army Basic Combat Training before you enrolled. Another option is to finish the Army Basic Combat Training within a year or 365 days, if only you previously served in the Navy, Air Force, or Coast Guard. However, you’re exempted from this requirement if you had your service in the Special Operations units within the USN or USAF.
- You must not have exceeded a total of 14 years when you enroll or affiliate.
- For you to qualify, you should be DMOSQ for your position in ARNG.
- To be eligible for the program, you must not have acquired any student loan forgiveness benefits in your previous military career.
- You should not have previously acquired a GRFD ROTC scholarship.
- You must not enroll for the OCS as 095 candidates or 09R SMP cadets unless you want to take advantage of the 095 CLRP option.
- To qualify for the program, you should score a minimum of 31 in the AFQT.
- You should not enroll under a conditional release from a Select Reserve unless you do so from USAR.
Non-Prior Service (NPS) Military Members
If you’re an NPS military member, you can qualify for the loan repayment program if you meet these qualifications:
- You must serve in the military for a minimum of six years.
- You should have a grade of E-4 and enroll in the Critical Skills (CS) vacancy.
- For you to be eligible, you should enroll in a qualified position in the MTOE unit or Medical TDA unit.
- You should have a score of at least 50 on the AFQT.
- You should not enroll in the 09R SMP
- For you to be eligible, you should not enroll in the Active First, GED Plus, RFP programs.
- For you to also qualify, you should not also enroll as GNPS.
ARNG Military Members
If you’re a current ARNG military member, you can qualify for the loan repayment program if you enroll again and full all these qualifications:
- There are qualifications for re-enlistment or extension which you must meet.
- Your extension should be within 365-91 of your ETS days for at least six years of your military service.
- Your grade for the extension must be E7 or below. However, you can get promotions with grade E8 after the contract start date and still be eligible for national guard loan repayment benefits.
- You must be DMOSQ for your position.
- Before you sign up for the ETS, you must have a minimum of 14 years of total military service.
- You should also have a Mil-Tech status or be a Mil-Tech Soldier with a TPU status as you deployed.
- You should have an AGR status or an AGR Soldier in a TPU status as you deployed
- For you to acquire the loan repayment program, you should not be an officer.
What If You Don’t Qualify For The National Guard Loan Repayment Program
Don’t give up yet if you don’t qualify for the student loan forgiveness. There are other alternatives you can go with.
If you want to know what you’re eligible for, you should call the Student Loan Relief Helpline. Numerous student loan debt professionals will look at your background and show you the programs you can qualify for.
It’s even possible for the experts to complete the paperwork you need to complete and submit the documents. However, you’ll need to pay for it. Some people advise against paying anyone to assist you with your student loan debts. But our experience in the student loan industry has shown that people can’t handle their federal student loan on their own.
That’s because programs such as the loan repayment can be too complex to understand. You need to spend many hours in research for you to understand every detail. So if you fall into this category and need help to get out of debt as soon as possible, call us at 800-820-8128.
Rates For National Guard Loan Repayment Program
The rates for loan forgiveness are set at the time you enrolled in the National Guard. Keep in mind that there are better benefits when the National Guard has problems recruiting new members. And it’s tough to maintain recruiting during periods of war.
The highest amount you can get in the loan forgiveness is $50,000. You can’t get any more than that. You’ll need to be in service for almost seven years to be eligible for the $50,000 loan forgiveness.
You should earn a Duty Military Occupational Specialty Qualification before you can begin receiving the loan repayment. However, you’ll not be considered a DMOSQ until you complete your BCT.
Restrictions In The Program
Here are some restrictions in the program:
- If you want to receive loan forgiveness packages, you need to acquire at least one disbursed and qualifying Title IV government loan. And the loan should not be in default during the period with which you registered for the service, re-enlisted, or extended your service contract.
- Keep in mind that you can only get the loan forgiveness on the disbursed loan after your enlistment date. That is if you extend your service contract or re-enlist for a minimum of six years in the ARNG. And you shouldn’t have gone for a break in your service during your initial CLRP contract beginning date.
- The yearly repayments can’t go beyond $500 or 15% of the amount you owe during the period of your enlistment, service contract extension, or re-enlistment, and enrollment in the CLRP program.
- If the amount you owe is less than the amount given to you annually, you’ll only qualify to acquire the amount left on your student loan. You can’t be eligible to get more repayment funds than what you really owe.
- You’ll not acquire any prorated loan payments when you didn’t finish at least a full year of adequate involvement in the ARNG. And that also includes participation in the Mil-Tech or AGR position, including temporary or indefinite technicians on assignment for over 189 days in a period of 12 months. So basically, you must stay in a “go to war” unit.
- There will be a cancellation of your student loan forgiveness if, at any given time, your student loans get defaulted.
Further Restrictions In The Program
- Repayments can be available if your loans are in default on the exact day the following year. However, your loan shouldn’t be in default during that period. If the NSLDS reports that your student loans are in default, you’ll not get any repayments unless you provide written evidence from your loan lender that your loan is not in default.
- The authorities will check your lender information every year to ensure that it matches what was written in the NSLDS documents. The documents can’t be over 90 days from the annual payment date or not making the payments. The responsibility falls on you to ensure that the documents are sent on time.
- You can’t receive the national guard loan repayment benefits of payments you made or somebody paid on your behalf. All payments are sent to your loan lender, not you.
- If you go for a break for whatever reason, you’ll disqualify yourself from the loan repayment benefits unless the break is an authorized duration of non-availability. However, when you get twice or more authorized break while serving, you’ll lose any qualification for the national guard loan repayment benefit.
- AMEDD officers who have acquired CLRP benefits will have them ceased without any recoupments if they are assigned to an AMEDD branch or corps with the exclusion of 72D, 70B, and MOS 67J.
- If you select an extension of your service contract below six years, your loan repayment benefit will be terminated.
Additional Details You Need To Know
If you have further questions to ask about the national guard loan repayment, please get in touch with your recruiter, your state’s ESO, or state Point of Contact to get your answers. If you want more details of other military benefits that can help you get rid of your student loans, check out our article on how Military Student Loan Forgiveness Works.
Conclusion
If you’re having challenges with your student loan debts, then it would be best to consider asking for a student loan debt relief agency for help. Why? Because the people working at these organizations work with people having similar situations as you. And they have the expertise to get your student loans under control.
Of course, you need to know which ones are legit. Otherwise, you could lose thousands of dollars. But if you acquire a legit agency, they can help you acquire national guard loan repayment If you need help with your student loans, call us right now at 800-820-8128, and we’ll gladly assist you throughout your student loan debt journey. Don’t hold back on your student loan debts. Start now to rid yourself of any loan debts.
