When tough times fall, some people are left with no way to stand up to the challenge of their financial obligations. Whatever the reason for these hardships, it’s good to know that there are some ways out of the mire. Student loan forgiveness may be one of these ways.
These days, the necessity of high education is as high as it has ever been. Unfortunately, the cost of higher education is just as high, which leaves some people having to take out expensive student loans- loans which they may eventually have trouble paying.
What is student loan forgiveness? Might you qualify? In this article, we’ll talk all about getting forgiven for your student loans- what it means, who qualifies, and what it will entail for your financial life.
What Is Student Loan Forgiveness?
When people can’t repay a loan, they have a number of options. So, in the case of student loans, you may be able to get your loans forgiven.
Student loan forgiveness essentially means that you are no longer required to pay some or even the entirety of your student loans.
This means that the debt you owe may not end up completely disappearing, and whatever you still owe on the end of everything else will persist. You will still end up having to pay the leftover debt, but the chunk forgiveness takes off may help enormously.
What Kinds of Forgiveness Are There?
Student loan forgiveness comes in many forms and is not homogenous across the board in any sense. This means that there are different types of loan forgiveness may occur under different circumstances. Here are a few of those circumstances:
Teacher Loan Forgiveness
To encourage people to teach primary school children, despite the low-paying salaries, oftentimes teacher loan forgiveness will be offered.
Under the terms of teacher loan forgiveness, those who teach five consecutive and complete academic years are eligible for student loan forgiveness of up to $17,500. This means that if your federal student loans tallied up to $30,000, you would have over half of your loans forgiven.
Public Service Loan Forgiveness
Working for a government or non-profit organization may also qualify you for loan forgiveness. After ten years of payments, or 120 qualifying payments, you may benefit from Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
Military Service
Military service may also qualify you for special benefits and repayment plans. These may include interest rate caps and other forms of special loan assistance.
AmeriCorps Benefits
Completing a term of service in AmeriCorps may also qualify you for Segal AmeriCorps Education Award. So, this may help you to repay some of your student loan debt.
Income-Driven Repayment Plans
Under these plans, those under a repayment plan that is based on their income may qualify for forgiveness on any remaining balance on their loans. After you make a certain number of repayments over a certain period of time, they may offer this.
Other Forms of Forgiveness
Other forms of student loan forgiveness may be found on the FSA’s Student Loan Forgiveness page.