The Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program gives certain schoolteachers and other educators student loan relief. Under the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program, if a student loan borrower teaches full-time for five complete and consecutive academic years in a low-income school or educational service agency, and meet other qualifications, the borrower may be eligible for forgiveness of up to $17,500 on Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized student loans and Subsidized and Unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loans.
What are The Eligibility Requirements?
To qualify for relief under the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program, the borrower must:
- Not have had an outstanding balance on Direct or Federal Family Education Loans as of Oct. 1, 1998, or on the date that the borrower obtained a Direct Loan or FFEL Program loan after Oct. 1, 1998;
- Been employed as a full-time, highly qualified teacher for five complete and consecutive academic years, and at least one of those years must have been after the 1997–98 academic year.
- Been employed at an elementary school, secondary school, or educational service agency that serves low-income students (a “low-income school or educational service agency”).
Who Qualifies as a Teacher?
To be considered a “teacher” under the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program, the borrower must be a person who provides direct classroom teaching, or classroom-type teaching in a non-classroom setting including special education teachers.
Who is Considered a Highly Qualified Teacher?
To be considered a “highly qualified teacher” under the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program, the borrower must have:
- attained at least a bachelor’s degree;
- received full state certification as a teacher; and
- not had certification or licensure requirements waived on an emergency, temporary, or provisional basis.
For elementary school teachers who are new to the profession, the borrower must also have demonstrated subject knowledge and teaching skills in reading, writing, mathematics, and other areas of the basic elementary school curriculum by passing a rigorous state test.
To be considered highly qualified as a middle or secondary school teacher who is new to the profession, the borrower must also have demonstrated a high level of competency in each of the academic subjects in which the borrower teaches. To demonstrate this high level of competency, the borrower may either pass a rigorous state academic subject test in each of the academic subjects in which you teach or successfully complete an academic major, a graduate degree, course work equivalent to an undergraduate academic major, or an advanced certification or credential in each of the academic subjects in which the borrower teaches.
For elementary, middle, or secondary school teachers who are not new to the profession, to be considered “highly qualified” the borrower must meet the applicable requirements for an elementary, middle, or secondary school teacher who is new to the profession or demonstrate competence in all the academic subjects in which the borrower teaches based on a high, objective, uniform state standard of evaluation.
What Qualifies as a Low-Income School or Educational Service Agency?
To be consider a “low-income school or educational service agency” for Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program purposes, the school or educational service agency must be listed in the “Teacher Cancellation Low Income directory” (TCLI), published by the U.S. Department of Education.
State education agencies are responsible for determining which schools or educational service agencies are eligible to be reported to the Department of Education for inclusion in the TCLI directory.
If the borrower’s school or educational service agency is included in the TCLI directory for at least one year of the borrower’s teaching service, but is not included during subsequent years, the borrower’s subsequent years of teaching at the school or educational service agency will still be counted toward the required five complete and consecutive academic years of teaching.
Teaching service performed at an educational service agency may be counted toward the required five years of teaching only if the consecutive five-year period includes qualifying service at an eligible educational service agency performed after the 2007–08 academic year.
How Much Loan Forgiveness Is Available?
The maximum forgiveness amount is either $17,500 or $5,000, depending on the subject area taught. If the borrower has eligible loans under both the Direct Loan Program and the FFEL Program, $17,500 or $5,000 is a combined maximum forgiveness amount for both programs.
The borrower may receive up to $17,500 in loan forgiveness if he or she was a highly qualified full-time mathematics or science teacher who taught students at the secondary school level; or a highly qualified special education teacher (at either the elementary or secondary level) whose primary responsibility was to provide special education to children with disabilities, and he or she taught children with disabilities that corresponded to his or her area of special education training and demonstrated knowledge and teaching skills in the content areas of the curriculum that you taught.
If the borrower did not teach mathematics, science, or special education, he or she may receive up to $5,000 in loan forgiveness if he or she was a highly qualified full-time elementary or secondary education teacher.
Loan Forgiveness Under the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program
Borrowers may potentially receive forgiveness under both the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, but not for the same period of teaching service.