As an educator, you may be eligible for the forgiveness of 50% of your student loans.  Please read below for details, and feel free to contact Rona Rosenberg for more information:

Rona Rosenberg
Telephone: 215-573-2872
Fax: 215-746-4968
Email: ronar@gse.upenn.edu

Public Service Loan Forgiveness

I Overview

A. The College Cost Reduction Act of 2007 establishes loan forgiveness program for students in public service careers

i.Public service jobs include (among others): government service, military service, law enforcement, public health, public education, social work, etc.  In general, working for a tax-exempt entity (i.e. an organization with  “501.c.3” designation from the IRS, such as a school or university) would qualify

B. Upon entering eligible employment students would make payments on their loans, once consolidated into a Federal Direct Consolidation Loan under a Income Based Repayment plan 

i.  Federal Perkins, Stafford, William Ford, and Grad PLUS loans are eligible to be consolidated in a Federal Direct Consolidation Loan.

ii. Other payment plans are also eligible, such as Income Contingent Repayment, but most students will benefit the most from Income Based Repayment

iii. To be eligible for forgiveness students must make 120 payments while staying employed in a public service position.  Any outstanding principal or interest after 120 payments are made will be cancelled.  Only payments made on or after October 2007 will qualify towards the 120 payment requirement

1.The amount of the cancelled debt is exempt from federal taxation

iv. If you have already consolidated your loans with a private lender you generally cannot consolidate them again.  The only exception is that if you have a private consolidation loan you can have them consolidated into a Federal Direct Consolidation Loan

II Process

1. Obtain all of your lender information for you outstanding loans.  The National Student Loan Data System

2. Apply for a Federal Direct Consolidation Loan

3. Apply to enroll in the Income Based Repayment option

4. There is no current application available for the loan forgiveness but it is forthcoming; the earliest any loans can be forgiven is October of 2017; it is important to keep records of your employment history.  You should obtain letters from your employer(s) certifying your employment and that you are full time

i. Register at www.ibrinfo.org for updates as they become available.  The organization putting this together is part of The Project on Student Debt; one of the leading student advocacy groups.