If you’re living under the burden of student loan repayment, it’s natural to wonder how can get free of it. I know I am. Who wouldn’t want to arise a morning, log into their account, and see a balance of zero?
I don’t assume I’m getting it to say it would change my life, and I’m sure many borrowers would say the same.
While lot student loan cancellation from the federal government could be a reality still, it also may nothing but wishing and hoping. Fortunately, lots of programs already exist for helping you eliminate your student loans.
Joint Student Loan Remission Programs
If you’re embarrassed by student loan debt, forgiveness programs can help ease some of the burden. Forgiveness not entirely or fully cancels education debt. Remission programs are only available on direct federal student loans. You may have to combine other types of joint loans for them to qualify. And private loans don’t be allowed at all.
Forgiveness won’t rub out your debt overnight, because many student loan repayment programs take 10, 20, or 25 years before you can get any remaining balance condoned. But they can reduce your monthly payments in the meantime.
There are two types.
Standard Joint Student Loan Forgiveness
Standard remission is available to all borrowers of joint direct loans, including federal direct consolidation loans. It needs you to be on an income-driven repayment plan.
Four income-driven repayment plans are there. Each one bases your payments on a percentage of your income and your family size monthly. Depending on the plan and if only you have undergraduate or graduate loans, you can qualify for loan remission in 20 to 25 years.
However, be careful you may pay income tax on the forgiven amount. The American Rescue Plan, passed in March 2021, makes all student loan remission tax-free through 2025. And in March 2022, President Biden included a provision in his budget plan for making this policy permanent. But it has to pass both the House and Senate to become law still, so it isn’t a guarantee beyond 2025 yet.
It is the best way for knowing how much of your student loan balance could remain for remission at the end of your repayment term is for use the loan shimmer at StudentAid.gov. However, know that your payments and balance could fluctuate if you make more money or less throughout your career.
The Biden administration is also currently working for reform the income-driven repayment plan program. Current changes include recalculating borrowers’ remission timelines to include definite past periods of deferment and forbearance, regardless of loan type or payment plan.
These future changes could be comprise streamlining income-based repayment so that at all designated borrowers are paying only 5% of their discretionary income in monthly student loan payments instead of the 10% to 20% they’re paying now.
These changes may not look like much, but they could be huge for a few borrowers. For example, I had to for bear my loans for six years in an attempt to give the private loans I took out before grad PLUS loans existed and afford things like rent still, child care, and groceries on my meager teaching salary.
This change alone keeps six years closer to forgiveness and could save me over $50,000. And the government calculations more than 3.6 million borrowers will get at least three years shaved off their clocks.
Public Service Loan remission
Probably the best known joint student loan remission program, the Public Service Loan remission Program is for borrowers working in public service jobs. To qualify, you must:
- Have federal direct loans
- Work full-time for nonprofit or government agencies for 10 years
- Make 120 differential payments on an income-driven repayment plan (during working for the nonprofit)
Unlike remission through an income-driven repayment plan, remission through public service loan remission has always been tax-free. So borrower doesn’t have to be worried about getting hit with a huge tax bill on any forgiven balance.
Besides, the Public Service Loan remission Program was the first to announce major changes for the payment counts. As a result of years of mismanagement, a short term waiver allows past “payments” to count toward the required 120 total. That includes any nonpayment’s made during suspension or forbearance and even late, missed, or partial payments — pretty much anything while you weren’t in default on your loans.
The only requirement is that you definitely have been working full time for a qualifying employer (a nonprofit or government agency) while the period for that you want the payment or nonpayment counted. And you need to apply for the temporary waiver by Oct. 31, 2022.
Loan Repayment Assistance Programs
Joint remission is only one option you can leverage for getting rid of student debt. A few government and nongovernment organizations provide offer loan repayment assistance programs.
During they can’t automatically forgive your debt (only the loan-holder can do that), they can put up money on your behalf, that acts as a sort of remission, usually in exchange for your professional contributions to a company or society. Also, you can use them to give any type of loan, including private loans.
Often, you have to work for a few companies or in a certain public service field, such as medicine or the military, to a set amount time. In exchange, they put up money toward paying off your loans.
The amounts they give vary, but they can be somewhere from several thousand to tens of thousands of dollars per year, depending on the program.
If joint remission programs look unlikely for benefit you, check into these options instead.
Profession-Specific Loan remission
However, these consist primarily in public service professions, many career fields qualify to job-specific loan remission programs over and beyond public service loan remission.
For instance, there are the organizations that pay back student loans for health care professionals in exchange for working in reduction areas, such as for doctors working in rural locations or pharmaceutical scientists employed research in highly needed crisis subjects like opioid addiction.
Professions with forgiveness programs include:
- Doctors
- Teachers
- Nurses
- Lawyers
- Pharmacists
- Dentists
- Physicians Assistants
- Physical Therapists
- Law Enforcement Officers
- Psychologists
- Veterinarians
- Automotive Workers
Employer-Sponsored Programs
If your current company doesn’t provide this benefit, reduce the numbers for seeing if it’s worth changing jobs. If the benefit is higher enough, it could even complete a salary decrease or the extra cost of driving further to work.
But don’t abandon if you can’t get this benefit info on a prospective employers’ webpage. Student loan pay back is a top sought-after perk. Accordingly, more and more employers are beginning for offer it. It never hurts to ask while a job interview if it’s an option.
State-Sponsored Programs
Although maximum borrowers think of joint programs when they think about student loan forgiveness, all U.S. states and the District of Columbia have one remission assistance program at least. State remission programs typically take the form of loan repayment assistance programs, which states design for attract high-need professionals to shortage areas.
Accordingly, they’re often for specific professions and typically demand a work commitment for a specified period.
For example, the Loan Repayment Program for Health Professionals awards up to $50,000 ($25,000 per year for two years) for health professionals working in small areas. And the Rural Iowa veterinary doctor Loan Repayment Program awards up to $60,000 ($15,000 per year for four years) to veterinary doctors who work in rural Iowa communities.
To find what programs are available in your area, do an online looking for or contact your state’s department of higher education.
Military Programs
Every military branch and various forms of student loan remission, including programs for doctors, dentists, psychologists, veterinarians, and lawyers also both current members of the armed forces and veterans.
However, all branches do not offer the same benefits or programs, and in some cases, benefits only put in to service members in certain fields.
Army College Loan Repayment Program. The Army’s College Loan Repayment Program gives one-third of your loans every year up to $65,000 in exchange for a three-year commitment.
JAG Corps. JAG stands for “judge advocate general.” It’s necessary the military’s law firm. Law school graduates who join a JAG Corps in a participating branch, such as the Army or Air Force, can arise to $65,000 of their student loans pay back in exchange for a three-year commitment.
Health Professions Loan Repayment Program. The Navy repays up to $40,000 per year toward student loans to qualify medical professionals care of the Health Professions Loan Repayment Program in exchange for an agreed-upon commitment.
Sign-On and Retention Bonuses. Professionals are many time eligible for sign-on and retention bonuses they can use for repay student loans. For instance, the Army Medical Department provide offers a $50,000 sign-on bonus, and the Navy JAG Corps offers $60,000 in total conception bonuses payable at the four-year, seven-year, and 10-year marks.
Other programs may be available, and offers may change without notice, Contact a recruiter for the branches you’re considering for more information.
Other Types of Student Loan Relief
When you’re no longer required, forgiveness and cancellation apply for make payments because you have fulfilled your program requirements. When your loans are eliminated because of your circumstances — for instance, if you become permanently disabled and can no very long work or you win a bankruptcy or lawsuit.
The other main difference is timing. If you eligible for one of the many cancellation or discharge programs for joint student loans, you won’t have to wait decades for seeing your loan balance be lost. Instead of, you can be free of the burden as fast as the Department of Education processes your case
Cancellation Programs
The term “cancellation” only applies to joint Perkins loans. A Perkins loan is a discontinued type of joint student loan that featured a low, fixed interest rate was for low-income borrowers. Besides, they were typically a school loan. Your school, and the government, was not the lender.
Those who work in many public service fields can qualify to have some or all of their Perkins loans canceled under certain situations. These typically include working in small areas and high-need specialties, such as math or special education for a teacher.
Perkins loan cancellation happens a few at a time. For each of year service, you receive a percentage of your loan canceled. It can take up to five years for wipe out 100% of your loans.
Professions eligible for Perkins loan forgiveness include:
- Preschool teacher
- Employee a child or family services agency
- Faculty member at tribal college or university
- Firefighter
- Law enforcement officer
- Librarian with a master’s degree at a Title I school
- Military service member
- Nurse or medical technician
- Provider of early intervention disability services
- Public defender
- Speech pathologist with a master’s degree at a Title I school
- Volunteer with AmeriCorps VISTA or the Peace Corps
Discharge Programs
Meeting eligibility requirements for a student loan discharge is infrequent. But if you qualify, you can get a few or all of your loans eliminated.
Many situations are there in which you could qualify for a joint student loan discharge.
These include:
- If your college or school closes during you’re took admission or within 180 days of your graduation or withdrawal, you’re entitled to a discharge of your debt.
- If you become for all time disabled to the extent that you can no longer work, you’re entitled to a disability discharge.
- If you die, the government can’t fetch against your estate. And if you took parent PLUS loans, and your child dies, you no longer have to pay the debt.
- It is difficult to do, but if you can prove it that repaying the loans would cause undue financial hardship, you can get your student loans discharged in bankruptcy.
- If your school not obeyed the law, such as lying to you for getting you to enroll, you can get your loans discharged.
- If you your identity stolen and someone took the loans under your name without your knowledge and forged your signature on the documents, you’re entitled to have them discharged.
- If your school gave you a balance but never paid it to you or returned it to the U.S. Department of Education, you can have that amount discharged.
Final Thoughts
If you’re finding ways to wipe out your student debt, you may be susceptible for student loan remission scams. So-called debt relief companies quarry on desperate borrowers by charging high upfront fees and then failing to deliver the promised remission.
Be careful: Legitimate student loan remission, cancellation, and discharge programs will never charge you a fee for applying. And you never have to pay for sign up for an income-driven repayment plan.
Be doubtful of anything that sounds very good to be true. Besides this, never give your personal information over the phone or don’t pay fees to companies whose names you don’t recognize or programs you’ve never heard.
If you’re not confident if a program is legit, often ask for information in writing and contact your student loan servicer, who can tell you what programs your loans in fact qualify for.
