<p>Was out for dinner with a friend tonight and we were talking about our two recent grads. My son just landed a middle school (7-9) math position in a high need/disadvantaged school district. My friend seemed to think there might be some type of loan forgiveness program if he stays in such a district for awhile. I have never heard of this. Anyone familiar with anything like this for the Stafford sub or unsub loans? (those are the only loans he has). </p>
<p>I was able to get this in one Google attempt (sounds promising):</p>
<p><a href=“https://studentaid.ed.gov/repay-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/charts/teacher”>https://studentaid.ed.gov/repay-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/charts/teacher</a></p>
<p>Yes, this is very possible, and does exist.</p>
<p>Very interesting - thanks! I did a quick google search myself but was hoping to hear from someone who has applied or been granted teacher forgiveness. I’ll def tell son to keep it in mind and perhaps to ask around his school system to inquire if anyone is aware of it. Sounds like you need to have 5 years of service - which also makes me think, what if you pay off your loans in that amount of time? It’s quite possible that he will. </p>
<p>If you pay off your loans in that amount of time you are out of luck. My teacher D has some small loans and doesn’t plan to pay them off because she teaches in a qualified position, so she pays the minimum and invests what she otherwise would have paid to the loans.</p>
<p>There are several programs available for teachers, including the general ‘public service’ one. For that one, you have to work in a public service job for 120 months (don’t have to be consecutive), make loan payments for those 120 months and then the remaining balance will be forgiven tax free. Since the term of student loans is 10 years, this only works if you also go on Income Based Repayment.</p>
<p>My friend’s DIL tried to get into one of those programs as she teaches in a public school in a low income area. That school, that position is not one included in the program. So you have to get a job that fits the designation, Just because the job is high/need low income does not necessarily mean it is one that is on the list for the loan forgiveness. Your son has to find out if the job fits that designation. My friend’s DIL is upset because she turned down another job for this one (because it’s closer to home, but not by that much) and that other school is one so designated for the loan forgiveness. The info was not available upfront and it wasnt’ until after she took this job and started sniffing around she found out about all of this. She’s looking to switch jobs because of the lack of this feature. Ironically, she says the other school is actually slightly more upscale. She just took the job she did because she would not have to backtrack 15 minutes for her son’s school which is in the opposite direction which she’s have to do with the other choice.</p>
<p>Thanks for sharing your D’s situation @Zoosermom. </p>
<p>Certainly we know we would have to investigate further and he will not be counting on anything - this is a concept we didn’t even know about so figured it is worth investigating. My guess is that this will be a perk if he “fits” and not an issue since he wasn’t counting on it if he doesn’t. He will be teaching math grades 7-9 so I think (without having FULLY read the website text) that there is a chance he might qualify. </p>
<p>My kid is in a job that qualifies her, and has two years to go. It won’t save her all that much because she worked as a substitute for two years, then in a disastrous charter school for another, before moving to her current district. That means she will have been paying off her loans for eight years before qualifying. On the other hand, once she moved to her current job she dropped down to minimal payments on the federal loans and switched the excess she’d been paying to her private loans.</p>
<p>It’s a nice perk to get some forgiveness, especially since she is really struggling to survive in the middle of nowhere (Alaskan native village with no stores/libraries/etc, has to pay to ship all groceries and such), but as a tax payer I have to think that loans are loans, and it really is her responsibility to pay them off.</p>
<p>Other daughter moved to an under served area for medical care, and hoped to get her federal loans forgiven. Unfortunately, because the clinic hired her, the area was no longer under served… She loves her job and location, so all is good.</p>