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Get Rid of Your Student Loans Without Paying for Them!

I’m going to let you in on a little secret: in 2019, it’s possible to get rid of your student loan debt without paying a single cent!

How? Via a variety of Student Loan Forgiveness Programs, which are now readily available for both Federal and Private Student Loans.

There’s never been a better opportunity to qualify for Private and Federal Student Loan Forgiveness Benefits, as there are literally tons of different programs available, so be sure to browse through my list below and you’re almost certain to find a forgiveness program that can help you get rid of student loans quickly and easily.

The dirty little secret to the student loan industry is that schools, lenders, and student loan servicing companies don’t want you to know how to get rid of your loans, because that costs them money, but I’m going to blow the lid off the biggest secret about student loans: the fact that they’re really not that hard to get rid of!



Get Help With Your Loans!

If you're truly struggling with student loan debt, then you should consider paying a Student Loan Debt Relief Agency for help. Why? Because the people working at these companies deal with student loans all day, every day, and they're your best chance at figuring out how to get your loans back under control.

For help with Federal Student Loans call the Student Loan Relief Helpline at 1-888-906-3065. They will review your case, evaluate your options for switching repayment plans, consolidating your loans, or pursuing forgiveness benefits, then set you up to get rid of the debt as quickly as possible.

For help with Private Student Loans call McCarthy Law PLC at 1-877-317-0455. McCarthy Law will negotiate with your lender to settle your private loans for much less than you currently owe (typically 40%), then get you a new loan for the lower, settled amount so you can pay off the old loan, repair your credit and reduce your monthly payments.

I've spent 10 years interviewing debt relief agencies, talking to all sorts of "experts", and these are the only two companies that I trust to help my readers. If you have a bad experience with either of them, please make sure to come back and let me know about it in the Comments!


What Are the Best Student Loan Forgiveness Programs for 2019?

First, you’ll have to determine whether your loans are Federal, or Private, and then you’ll need to navigate to the section of this page covering your type of loan, as your loan type is the most important factor in determining which forgiveness programs you’ll qualify for.

Keep in mind that while it’s way easier to get rid of Federal loans (because there are so many more programs for them), it’s no longer impossible to qualify for excellent Private Student Loan Forgiveness benefits too, because there are definitely some great options out there now!

Please read through the Forgiveness and Discharge Programs listed below, see what you think you may qualify for, then click the links to go to other pages of my site where I explain each program in extreme detail.

If you have questions about anything I’ve covered on this page, feel free to leave a Comment and I’ll do my best to get back to you in 24 hours!


Federal Student Loan Forgiveness vs. Federal Loan Discharges

There are two main types of Forgiveness benefits available for borrowers with Federal student loans, including the traditional “Forgiveness” programs, and the more modern “Discharge” programs.

The difference between them is that Forgiveness programs typically take a longer time to qualify for, whereas Discharge programs let you get rid of your loans in an instant.

Most Forgiveness programs only allow you to get rid of your loans after you’ve made a certain number of payments toward them (typically, they require 10, 15 or 20 years worth of payments), but they’re the type of program more people will qualify for, since they’ve got easier eligibility conditions.

In contrast, the Discharge programs let you wipe your loans out right away (based on certain guidelines you must meet), but they’re much harder to qualify for because they’re only available to a tiny slice of the population of people with student loan debt.

Below, I’ll go through each available Forgiveness and Discharge program in detail, so prepare for heavy reading, because you’ll need to get into specifics to determine which program will work best for you.


2019’s Best Federal Student Loan Forgiveness Programs

First, let’s talk about the traditional Federal Forgiveness opportunities. Click on any of the links below for details on the best Federal student loan forgiveness programs currently available:

All of the programs above are excellent opportunities for getting rid of your loans, but remember that most of them are going to require many years of payments before you can get rid of your debt (except some of the Healthcare and Nursing programs, which are super accelerated).


2019’s Best Federal Student Loan Discharge Programs

Next, let’s discuss the more modern Federal Student Loan Discharge programs, which let you get rid of your loans more quickly than the older Forgiveness Programs, but which are much harder to qualify for since they’re only available to small portions of the population.

Like I mentioned earlier, these programs let you wipe out your student loan debt in an instant, but the downside to Discharge programs is that they’re much more difficult to qualify for because of restrictive eligibility conditions.



Private Student Loan Forgiveness vs. Private Loan Discharges

Now that we’ve covered the Federal student loan forgiveness programs in exhausting detail, let’s do the same thing for those of you holding Private student loan debt.

Remember, in years past, Private loans have been nearly impossible to get rid of via Forgiveness or Discharge programs, but that has all changed in recent years with the expansion of new opportunities for wiping out your Private loans.

And on the Private side, unlike Federal Forgiveness, there’s no real divide between “Forgiveness” and “Discharges”, because anything related to Private debt tends to happen right away, so while there are certainly fewer opportunities for getting rid of your Private loans, those opportunities are better in a way since they don’t require years and years of patience while waiting for the benefits to kick in.



2019’s Best Private Student Loan Forgiveness & Discharge Programs

Here’s a list of the best Private Student Loan Forgiveness and Discharge Programs available to borrowers this year:

Hopefully, you’ll find yourself eligible to take advantage of one of the programs listed above, as these are by far the best ways to get rid of your Private student loan debt.


Other Ways to Get Help Private Student Loans

If you don’t qualify for any of the Private Forgiveness or Discharge Programs listed above, then you’ll need to look into alternative options, including researching the following opportunities:

The good news is that if you’re willing to invest some time poking around my site, you’re almost guaranteed to find a benefit program that’ll help you get rid of (or at last reduce) your private student loan debt quickly, and affordably.

And if you really aren’t able to qualify for any of the programs I’ve covered here, then you may simply need to deploy some creativity towards how you live your life, like by getting paid exclusively under the table (so the IRS/Debt Collectors think you’ve got no income), moving to a foreign country (making you untouchable to U.S.-based Corporations), or living entirely off the grid (so you have no money to take)!


Should You Pay Someone to Help?

One big decision you’ll need to make is whether you want to tackle your loans entirely on your own, or with the assistance of a Student Loan Relief Company.

But you’ll need to be extremely careful about who you choose to work with, because there are literally thousands of Student Loan Forgiveness Scams in operation across the country now, and you definitely don’t want to fall into line with one of them.

The benefits of hiring a Student Loan Debt Relief Agency are that they can save you time, money, and stress by making sure that you’re aware of all the opportunities available for reducing or eliminating your debt, and by protecting you from making any mistakes with your applications to available debt forgiveness and discharge programs.

And that may seem like no big deal, but when it’s taking over a year to hear back from the Department of Education on the status of Borrower’s Defense Against Repayment Applications, that means you’ve got THOUSANDS of reasons (read: DOLLARS) to get it right the first time around!



Federal Student Loan Forgiveness Programs

As I mentioned earlier in this post, here’s the basic rundown on all the amazing Federal Student Loan Forgiveness Programs available this year.

For specific details on each program, you’ll need to click the links leading to program-specific pages of my site, where I review the programs comprehensively.

Following those links, you’ll find all sorts of information about each individual program, including who qualifies for them, how much money they offer, what’s required to qualify for the benefits, and how you can apply to receive them.


President Obama’s Student Loan Forgiveness Program

Obama Loan Forgiveness may be old, but it’s still one of the best student loan forgiveness programs available to anyone, and it’s the OG of forgiveness programs.

In fact, as far as I know, Obama Loan Forgiveness introduced the first time the general public became aware that they could qualify for complete student loan forgiveness benefits, and revolutionized the student loan industry.

To qualify for Obama forgiveness, all you have to do is sign up for either the Pay As You Earn Student Loan Repayment Plan, or the REPAYE Student Loan Repayment Plan, then make 20 years worth of payments toward your loans, and whatever amount you still owe will be entirely forgiven.

This program is available to EVERYONE with Federal student loans, so it’s one of the first places you should look for assistance if you’re trying to get rid of Federal debt.

For all the details about how it works, please visit my page on President Obama’s Student Loan Forgiveness Program.



The Pay As You Earn Student Loan Forgiveness Program

Part of the Obama Loan Forgiveness Program, Pay As You Earn is one of the best income-based Federal Student Loan Repayment Plans available this year, and it’s only downside is that it’s only available to people who took out loans on or after October 1st, 2007.

It works the same way as Obama Loan Forgiveness, in that it sets your monthly student loan payments to an amount based on your annual income (the more you make, the more you have to pay), but it offers complete Federal student loan forgiveness benefits after you’ve made a certain number of payments: 240 payments, or 20 years worth of payments.

Abbreviated “PAYE”, this is one of the most powerful Federal forgiveness programs on the market, and one that you should definitely look into if your loans were taken out after 2007, because it is the most widely available forgiveness benefit, and one of the easiest to qualify for.

For details on how PAYE forgiveness works, please visit my page about the Pay As You Earn Student Loan Repayment Plan.



The REPAYE Student Loan Forgiveness Program

The REPAYE Student Loan Repayment Plan was introduced after people heavily protested President Obama’s limitations included with the introduction of the Pay As You Earn Repayment Plan (PAYE), which limited forgiveness to people who had taken their loans out on or after October 1st, 2007.

This obviously pissed off a ton of people, since there were literally millions of Americans already buried in student loan debt, looking for an effective solution, and blocked from using Obama Loan Forgiveness just because their loans had already existed before the introduction of his new reforms.

REPAYE works the same was as PAYE, setting your monthly student loan payments based on your annual income (with lower payments for people who make less money, including the possibility of qualifying for a $0 monthly payment!), and the opportunity to qualify for complete loan forgiveness after you’ve made 240 monthly payments (20 years worth of payments).

For all the details on how REPAYE works, please visit my page on the REPAYE Federal Student Loan Repayment Plan.



President Trump’s Student Loan Forgiveness Program

During the 2016 Presidential Election, I thought then Candidate Trump had a good chance of becoming the first Student Loan President, but my dreams have been dashed by all the terrible decisions his Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has made since being appointed.

No one yet knows what’s going to happen when President Trump finally announces his reforms to Federal student loan laws, including Obama’s student loan forgiveness program, but I’m still hoping beyond hope that he’ll make things better than they currently are (and doubting with each passing day that this will be the case).

There’s a good chance that President Trump is going to significantly reduce benefits, making it harder to qualify for forgiveness, and potentially even getting rid of the forgiveness option entirely.

We won’t know until his official plans are announced, so for now, we’ll all just have to hang tight. For speculation on what I think is going to happen, however, please visit my page on President Donald Trump’s Student Loan Forgiveness Program.


The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program remains the BEST, FASTEST and MOST POWERFUL Federal Student Loan Forgiveness Program that’s widely available to the average person.

Abbreviated PSLF, this program offers complete Federal student loan forgiveness benefits after making just 120 monthly payments (half the time required by the standard Obama/PAYE/REPAYE Forgiveness Program), but even better is that it doesn’t require you to pay any taxes on the amount of money you have forgiven!

PSLF is available to anyone who works in a Full-Time Public Service Position, and that has a pretty broad definition, covering all sorts of employments, from Government Employees to Non-Profit Workers, Military Personnel, Firefighters, Police Officers, Politicians and all sorts of other roles.

If you’ve got Federal student loans, then you should be doing everything you can to qualify for PSLF, because it’s going to be by far the best way to wipe out your loans quickly, and affordably.

For details on how it works, please visit my on the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.



Healthcare Employee Student Loan Forgiveness Programs

There’s a bunch of benefits to working in the Healthcare field, from feeling good about saving lives to easily finding new employment positions no matter where you live, but one of the biggest benefits is that working in Healthcare qualifies you for some amazing Federal student loan forgiveness benefits.

In the past, most people have thought of the Healthcare forgiveness programs as being limited to Nurses and Doctors, but there are now all sorts of programs created to help virtually anyone in the industry wipe out their Federal debt, and I’ve created pages to cover each of these programs in detail.

I’ll cover all the Nursing programs below, but if you’re working in a different role in the Healthcare industry, then you’ll want to look at my pages about the Perkins Loan Forgiveness Program for Nurses & Licensed Medical Technicians, The National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program (NHSC LRP), the National Health Service Corps Students to Service Loan Repayment Program (S2S LRP), and of course the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, which many medical personnel end up qualifying for as well.


Nursing Student Loan Forgiveness Programs

Very few professions tend to rack up as much student loan debt as Nurses, but fortunately, the Government has responded to the issue by creating all sorts of incredible Nursing student loan forgiveness programs.

Nurses will qualify for all the programs mentioned above in the section about Healthcare Employee Student Loan Forgiveness Programs, but they’ve also got access to many programs made just for Nurses themselves, including the NURSE Corps Loan Repayment Program and the National Health Service Corps NURSE Corps Scholarship Program.

MANY Nurses will also qualify for the excellent benefits offered under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, so that’s another package definitely worth looking into if you’re serving as a Nurse in any capacity.

For details on all the incredible student loan forgiveness benefits available to working Nurses, please visit my page on Nursing Student Loan Forgiveness Programs.



Doctors & Dentists Student Loan Forgiveness Programs

Doctors and Dentists are perhaps the most in need of student loan forgiveness benefits, considering how easy it is for them to rack up $500,000 of more in student loan debt by the time they finally get out of Medical or Dental School, and the Federal Government now offers tons of potential forgiveness benefits to working Doctors and Dentists.

The most obvious program that Doctors and Dentists can take advantage of is the National Health Service Corps Students to Service Loan Repayment Program (“S2S LRP”), which lets Doctors and Dentists qualify for up to $120,000 in forgiveness benefits for agreeing to work in a community that doesn’t have great access to modern medical or dental services.

This program is eligible to apply to during your final year of Medical or Dental school, and basically means that you have to live in an inner-city or rural environment (where Doctors and Dentists don’t want to live!), in order to qualify for the funds, but it’s a great way to put a huge dent into your student loan debt quickly and easily, without having to do anything totally crazy.

For details on how the S2S LRP Program operates, please visit my page on the NHSC’s Students to Service Loan Repayment Program for Doctors and Dentists.



The Non-Profit Employee Student Loan Forgiveness Program

Because Society (and the Federal Government) see Non-Profit’s as a public good, they’ve created an excellent incentive to working at a 501(c)(3) Organization: access to the incredible Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.

That’s right! ANYONE who works full-time at a qualifying 501(c)(3) Organization can gain access to the single-best Federal Student Loan Forgiveness Program in existence, PSLF, which offers complete student loan forgiveness benefits after you’ve made 10 years worth of payments, and which does NOT require you to list the amount of money forgiven on your annual IRS return, meaning it WILL NOT BE TAXED!

To earn Non-Profit forgiveness, you’ll need to work full-time at a 501(c)(3) for a period of 10 years, and be making your monthly student loan payments on time, and in full, for that entire 10 year period.

The real stipulation is that you make 120 on-time, in-full payments, with payments set based on your income (make sure you’re enrolled in one of the Income-Based Federal Student Loan Repayment Plans!) in order to receive forgiveness.

This is a great program, and potentially my favorite of all the Federal Forgiveness benefit packages, because I am painfully aware that Non-Profit Workers typically make less money than their private sector, For-Profit Working counterparts, and I am huge fan of people setting up and running Non-Profits that provide a public good to greater society.

For a complete breakdown of how it all works, be sure to visit my page about the Non-Profit Employee Student Loan Forgiveness Program.



Military Personnel Student Loan Forgiveness Programs

Anyone serving in the Military has no reason to fear student loan debt, because Military Personnel get access to some of the absolute best student loan forgiveness benefits around.

There are a ton of different Military Education Benefits Programs floating around these days, from the all-encompassing and new Forever GI Bill, to the Yellow Ribbon Program, Military Tuition Assistance Programs, and even Military Spouse Benefits Programs, but the most powerful of them all would have to be the Military’s College Loan Repayment Program, abbreviated as CLRP.

CLRP provides up to $65,000 in student loan forgiveness benefits to qualifying Military Personnel, with the amount you’re able to qualify for determined by your Service Branch, and MOS Code. Some Branches offer better benefits than others, and in some branches, only certain MOS Codes will qualify for the benefit, but for those who can swing it, this is an excellent opportunity.

For details on how it works, be sure to visit my page about the Military College Loan Repayment Program, and the specific pages talking about CLRP benefits for each branch of the military, including the Army Student Loan Repayment Program, the Navy Student Loan Repayment Program, the Air Force College Loan Repayment Program, and the National Guard Student Loan Repayment Program.

Finally, for those who have trouble qualifying for CLRP benefits, don’t forget that you also have access to the most powerful Federal Student Loan Forgiveness Program on the planet: the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, which allows you to qualify for a complete student loan discharge after making just 10 years worth of income-based payments toward your debt, and which prevents you from having to pay any taxes on whatever amount of money ends up being forgiven.

For more detail on all of the programs I mentioned above, please visit my page covering the Military Student Loan Forgiveness Programs.


Teacher Student Loan Forgiveness Programs

Nobody deserves Student Loan Forgiveness Benefits more than Teachers, and thankfully, this underappreciated, but vital section of the workforce finally has access to some excellent financial assistance programs that’ll help them reduce their student loans via Forgiveness benefits.

Popular, newer Teacher Student Loan Forgiveness Programs include ways to reduce your debt before it’s been collected, like via the excellent Federal TEACH Grant Program, to the HRSA’s Healthcare Faculty Loan Repayment Program, which helps healthcare Teachers reduce their student loan balances.

But the traditional mainstays of Teacher Forgiveness benefits are the ancient Stafford Loan Forgiveness Program, and Perkins Loan Forgiveness Program (technically referred to as the “Teacher Loan Cancellation Program”).

Some Teachers, depending on their employment, may also qualify for the amazing Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, so if you’re a Teacher, or planning on becoming one, I would absoultely recommend looking into the details of how PSLF works.

For detailed information on how all of these programs work, please visit my page about Teacher Student Loan Forgiveness Programs.



Government Employee Student Loan Forgiveness

Is anyone as underpaid (or underappreciated) as Government Employees? I doubt it, but the good news is that anyone who works for the Government, at any level, including Federal, State, and even Local Government entities, qualifies for incredible student loan forgiveness benefits under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.

Many people think that it’s just Federal Employees who can qualify for have their loans forgiven, but that’s far from true, since every single “Government” worker has access to the same benefits package, with the same requirements, same application process, and same forgiveness at the end of the tunnel: total Federal student loan forgiveness for 10 years of service (meaning making 120 full, on time payments under one of the Federal Income-Based Student Loan Repayment Plans).

Whether you’re the Mayor of your town, or a sitting United States Senator, you’ve got access to PSLF benefits, and you should be using them, because they remain the fastest, most efficient and single-best way to wipe out Federal student loan debt.

To find out how it all works, please visit my page about the Government Employee Student Loan Forgiveness Program.


State-Based Student Loan Forgiveness Programs

In addition to all the excellent benefits offered by the Federal Government, MOST States have their very own State-Based Student Loan Forgiveness Programs, with some offering exceptional benefits, while others are hardly worth reading about.

There’s no quick or easy way to sort out who’s got the best benefits though, unless you simply read through them all, so I’ll outline all of the available State-Based Forgiveness Programs in detail at the end of this page.

One thing to keep in mind is that most States offer forgiveness benefits based on employment positions, and that virtually all of these programs have been created for healthcare workers (especially Doctors and Nurses), as a way to encourage more medical personnel to migrate to the state offering the benefits.

You’ll just have to look through the State-Based Plans to figure out which one may work best for you, but you can find the list of them by looking at my page on State-Based Student Loan Forgiveness Programs.



Federal Student Loan Discharge Programs

As I mentioned earlier in this post, here’s a quick introduction to all the excellent Federal Student Loan Discharge Programs available this year.

For additional details on each program, make sure to click the links leading to program-specific pages of my site.

If you follow those links, you’ll find an exhaustive description of how each program works, including eligibility restrictions, applications instructions, and additional details.



The Borrower’s Defense Against Repayment Program

The Borrower’s Defense Against Repayment Program is the fastest, easiest way to get rid of student loan debt, because it lets you wipe your loans out in an instant if you can prove that they are legally invalid.

How could you prove that your loans shouldn’t legally exist? By convincing the Department of Education that they were only created because the school you took them out to attend, or the servicer who is handling your payments, has violated some state or local law, essentially defrauding you.

This program is perfect for people who attended a For-Profit School that used deceptive advertising practices, especially if they ran big marketing campaigns talking about how much money their graduates earned, or promising high job placement rates within the field.

For details on how it works, please visit my page about the Borrower’s Defense Against Repayment Program.



Federal Student Loan Bankruptcy Discharges

For years, people have thought it impossible to get rid of Federal student loans by filing for bankruptcy, but that’s simply no longer true.

Since I started following the student loans industry, I’ve noted many cases where people were able to discharge their Federal loans via bankruptcy, though I do have to say that it’s still one of the hardest ways to get rid of your debt.

Why? Because it requires passing an extraordinary restrictive “Test”, which forces you to prove that your student loan debt is so debilitating, it’s literally making it difficult for your to afford paying for essential things, like food, clothing and shelter.

Anyone who makes any reasonable amount of money, or who is young, or who earned a degree in a field that may lead to good employment prospects will be virtually incapable of passing the Bankruptcy discharge tests, so Bankruptcy is really only an option for people who are totally destitute, and buried in debt.

As an example, if you’re middle-aged, unemployed, have several dependents, and owe hundreds of thousands in student loans, then you MAY have a chance at qualifying for a bankruptcy discharge, but if you’re not all those things, then you’ll probably want to look elsewhere for forgiveness opportunities.


The Closed School Student Loan Discharge Program

Anyone who attended a school that shut down before they could graduate will have an excellent opportunity to get rid of their Federal loans via the Closed School Loan Discharge Program, which was created to protect students from being totally screwed when their schools shutter their doors.

This program has become extremely popular in recent years, especially as the gigantic For-Profit Universities have been shutting down like crazy, including recent closures for such industry giants like ITT Tech, Corinthian Colleges (Heald, Everest and Wyotech), and Westwood College.

If you attended (or are attending) a school that shut (or is planning to shut) then you’ll want to pay careful attention to this program, because it’s a huge opportunity for you to unload all your student loan debt related to attending that school.

For all the specific details on how the program works, how to apply for the discharge, and more, please visit my page about the Closed School Student Loan Discharge Program.



The DeVry Student Loan Discharge Program

If you went to DeVry, you’ve got a very good chance at getting your loans discharged via the Borrower’s Defense to Repayment Program, which lets you challenge the legal validity of your loans by claiming that DeVry defrauded you in order to convince you to enroll in their higher education programs.

And if ANY school deserves to have to pay back it’s students via Borrower’s Defense to Repayment, it’s definitely DeVry, who has not just been accused of, but has admitted to doing all sorts of totally illegal and terribly immoral stuff.

What did DeVry do? How about completely lying about graduate rates, job placement rates, average incomes, and making the ridiculous claim that graduates of their schools were finding higher salaries than graduates from competitors?

There’s a whole laundry list of things DeVry did that constitute illegal marketing behavior, essentially by performing false advertising, and making false promises that constitute literal fraud, but I won’t go into it all here.

If you want to find out how to get your DeVry loans discharged, and how you may be able to qualify for a refund on any money you’ve already paid DeVry, then visit my page on the DeVry Student Loan Forgiveness Program.


The ITT Tech Student Loan Discharge Program

ITT Tech is another For-Profit industry giant who ended up collapsing under it’s own weight, probably due to spending so much money on advertising and enrolling anyone with a heartbeat, including millions of students who ended up defaulting on their loans.

This is another school I’m glad to see gone, as I don’t think they were doing a good job of providing valuable educational services to their students, and it seems like the marketplace agrees, as ITT Tech has completely ceased operations, making all loans related to the school eligible for the Federal Closed School Discharge Program.

If you attended ITT Tech, then there’s a pretty good chance that you’ll qualify for a Discharge, especially if you never graduated, and were still a student around the time that the school shuttered it’s doors.

To find out if you qualify for a discharge for your ITT Tech loans, please visit my page on the ITT Tech Student Loan Forgiveness Program.


The University of Phoenix Discharge Program

How could I cover For-Profit giants without speaking about the University of Phoenix, the literal definition of a For-Profit University, and perhaps one of the most nefarious (in my opinion) businesses ever to be founded in the history of mankind.

I shouldn’t treat them so harshly, but the problem I have with the University of Phoenix is that they turned higher education into a business, and in that process, removed all the elegance, ambiance and soul from what should be a much more meaningful experience: learning how to act, think, and operate like a mature adult.

UOP successfully mechanized the higher education process, making it available to everyone, including people who had no business applying to and attending four year college degree programs, but they’re now paying for their mistakes in that they too have fallen prey to the Borrower’s Defense Against Repayment Program.

If you attended the University of Phoenix, and feel like you were taken advantage of, lied to, or made false promises, then you need to look into wiping out your UOP loans by filing a Borrower’s Defense Discharge Application.

For details on how to do that, please visit my page on the University of Phoenix Student Loan Forgiveness Program.



The Westwood College Discharge Program

Westwood College has been accused of doing a lot of the same illegal and immoral things as DeVry, ITT Tech, University of Phoenix and basically all the other massive For-Profit Colleges, like making false promises, exaggerating their graduation rates and employment statistics, and basically committing fraud in order to increase student enrollment.

Because Westwood participated in these illegal business practices, loans to attend the school are eligible for discharges via the Borrower’s Defense Against Repayment Program, and thousands of former Westwood students have successfully used this program to wipe out their related student debt.

Fortunately, Westwood’s luck has completely run out, as they have closed campuses and suspended all teaching operations, which means that loans from Westwood are also now eligible for the Closed School Student Loan Discharge Program.

If you attended Westwood College, you’ve got a pretty dang good chance or being able to discharge your loans, so be sure to visit my page on the Westwood College Student Loan Forgiveness Program, where I’ll explain what you need to do to wipe out your Westwood loans.



Federal Student Loan Servicer Discharge Programs

It’s not just the schools that have taken advantage of American students, saddling them with outrageous levels of debt, and over promising the benefits of their higher education programs, but also student loan servicing companies who’ve done all sorts of wrong.

The Federal Government, and some incredible industry watchdogs have recently initiated several rounds of lawsuits against some of the biggest Student Loan Servicing Companies on the planet, accusing them of doing all sorts of immoral and highly illegal activity, which opens student loans handled by these companies up to Borrower’s Defense Against Repayment opportunities.

Virtually everyone with student loan debt has experienced the frustrating situation where their servicer screwed up a payment, or failed to inform them of some important change in the laws, or conditions of their loans or payments, but what most people don’t realize is that some of the servicing companies were doing this stuff ON PURPOSE to screw over their customers!

Fortunately, it’s all out in the open now, and many of the nation’s biggest student loan servicers are being pummeled with lawsuits from groups like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or the Federal Trade Commission, accusing them of doing all sorts of terrible stuff, and leading to massive settlement agreements that will see borrowers getting all sorts of debt forgiven.



The FedLoan Discharge Program

FedLoan, one of the largest student loan servicing companies on the planet, has been accused of blatantly failing consumers and even maliciously mishandling their responsibilities as the sole servicing company for everyone enrolled in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program and the TEACH Grant Program.

According to the lawsuit initiated against FedLoan by the Massachusetts Attorney General, FedLoan screwed up the annual income certification process so badly (and potentially purposefully) that hundreds of thousands of American borrowers have ended up with higher student loan costs as a result of their incompetence, which is an outright travesty.

But that’s not all, because FedLoan is also accused of doing all sorts of other terrible things, including under-counting borrower’s payments and then placing the loans of borrowers into Forbearance when borrower’s disputed the statistics FedLoan reported, which leads to longer loan terms, higher costs due to increasing interest, etc.

On the bright side, FedLoan’s failures (or malicious activity, depending on how you look at it) means that their borrowers may be able to pursue Borrower’s Defense Against Repayment Discharges, so if you’ve got a loan being serviced by them, then you’ll want to follow the eventual settlement developments closely.

For specific details on how you may be able to get a discharge, be sure to visit my page about the FedLoan Student Loan Forgiveness Program.


The Navient Discharge Program

Navient is quite possibly the biggest student loan servicing company on the planet, and is definitely under fire from the Federal Government, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and several State’s Attorneys General, who are all suing the company for “systematically and illegally failing borrowers at every stage of repayment.”

That is a direct quote from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, without any exaggeration or emphasis added by me, so you can be pretty sure that Navient is not only in serious trouble, but also potentially about the be the target of the biggest student loan forgiveness programs ever seen.

There’s truly no telling how big the results of the CFPB’s lawsuit against Navient could be, but I’m almost certain that everyone with loans will get some kind of financial relief, so you’ll definitely want to track this development closely if you’ve got loans being serviced by them.

For specifics on the lawsuits Navient is facing, the things they’ve been accused of doing, and the possibility of getting your loans discharged via Borrower’s Defense to Repayment, please be sure to visit my page about the Navient Student Loan Forgiveness Program.



The National Collegiate Trust Discharge Program

The National Collegiate Student Loan Trusts is another servicing-related company that may end up ushering in one of the biggest student loan discharge programs ever, thanks to it’s sloppy record-keeping practices.

This company hired a bunch of debt collection agencies to go after borrowers who had defaulted on their loans, but what emerged from the resulting lawsuits was that the company itself couldn’t even prove it actually owned the debt it was attempting to collect.

And that’s great news for anyone that’s had anything to do with the National Collegiate Student Loan Trusts, or the debt collection agencies working for it, because apparently there’s about $5,000,000,000 ($5 BILLION) in student loan debt that the company has lost the records of, and which may end up being totally discharged because of legal complications.

To find out how this story shakes out, please be sure to visit my page on the National Collegiate Student Loan Trusts Student Loan Forgiveness Program.


The Aequitas Capital Discharge Program

Aequitas Capital is a huge Hedge Fund that was working with Corinthian Colleges (who has now closed) to help bilk Americans out of their hard-earned money.

A lawsuit initiated by several Attorneys General accuses them of saddling students with “sham loans” created to line the pockets of Corinthian Colleges, and Aequitas, without providing any real value to the borrowers.

And it’s a big deal, because even the SEC got involved in this investigation, and claimed that Aequitas and Corinthian had essentially established a Ponzi Scheme, which is one of the reasons that we may end up seeing tons of additional Corinthian loans being not only forgiven, but potentially refunded.

To get the details on how it all works out, visit my page on the Aequitas Capital Student Loan Forgiveness Program.



Private Student Loan Forgiveness & Discharge Programs

There’s never been a better time to try to get rid of private student loan debt than this year, because for the first time, there are all sorts of good private student loan forgiveness and discharge programs floating around.

It’s true that the opportunities and fewer and far between than those offered to federal borrowers, but between options for programs like Borrower’s Defense Against Repayment and the Closed School Loan Discharge Program, there’s almost sure to be something for everyone here.

Browse through the programs listed below to quickly see if any of these benefits programs may apply to your specific situation, then when you find one that you’re interested in, be sure to click the link to it’s program-specific page, where I go through all the details of how it works.



The Borrower’s Defense Against Repayment Program

The single-most powerful and fastest way to wipe out your private student loan debt is filing a Borrower’s Defense Against Repayment Application, which accuses the school you attended, or your loan servicer, or doing something illegal in order to trick you into taking out your loans.

In essence, filing for Borrower’s Defense requires accusing someone of fraud, and stating in legal language that you would never have agreed to borrower the money for your loans unless you were defrauded.

In most cases, Borrower’s Defense Applications will attack the school the loans were taken out for, and accuse them of doing something like making false promises about graduation rates, salary expectations, or some other promise that the school couldn’t back up with data, or simply made up from thin air.

There’s tons of examples of successful Bororwer’s Defense discharges being awarded to people with private loans, especially form some of the big for-profit schools like DeVry, Corinthian Colleges and Westwood, who are all in tons of legal trouble over shady advertising practices.

To find out how you can use Borrower’s Defense to get rid of your private loans, please visit my page about the Borrower’s Defense Against Repayment Program.



The Closed School Student Loan Discharge Program

Closed School Loan Discharges are an excellent way to get rid of your private debt, since they’re so easy to qualify for.

The only problem with the Closed School Loan Discharge Program is that it’s only available to people who went to a school that has shut down, and shut down before they were able to graduate.

That means that only a small portion of the private student loan borrowing population is likely to qualify for this program, but, if you attended one of the huge for-profit schools that shut it’s doors recently (like Corinthian, Heald, Everest, Wyotech, Westwood, or ITT Tech), then you’ll have a really good chance at wiping out your loans!

To find out how to use this program to get rid of your private debt, please visit my page on the Closed School Student Loan Forgiveness Program.


The Corinthian Colleges Student Loan Forgiveness Program

Corinthian Colleges was the first huge for-profit chain to shut down, closing in 2016 and stopping operations across all it’s campuses, including all Everest, Heald and WyoTech locations.

This was a huge shot across the bow of the student loans industry, as it was the first time that any of the truly huge schools had taken a big financial hit, and it opened the door for many other schools to follow, including ITT Tech and Westwood, who both just recently ceased their own operations.

You can qualify for forgiveness on your Corinthian loans in two ways: first, by pushing for a Borrower’s Defense Against Repayment Discharge, if you can prove that the school defrauded you in some way (that’s easy…), and second, through a Closed School Loan Discharge, which will work perfectly if you were still a student at the time the school closed.

To find out how to take advantage of these excellent opportunities, please visit my page on the Corinthian Colleges Student Loan Forgiveness Program.



The ITT Tech Student Loan Forgiveness Program

ITT Tech is another gigantic entity that shut down without warning, leaving tens of thousands of students with no option to actually complete their degree programs they’d spent so much time and money on.

Fortunately, since ITT shut down, anyone who was still a student at or near the time of it’s closure may be able to access Closed School Student Loan Discharge benefits, which are excellent, as they allow you to wipe out all of your remaining loan debt, for free!

ITT Tech is also pretty vulnerable to Borrower’s Defense Against Repayment Discharges, especially since they spent so much time and money advertising on daytime tv, and making all sorts of outlandish claims about the value of their higher education programs.

To find out how you can get rid of your ITT Loans, please visit my page about the ITT Tech Student Loan Forgiveness Program.


The DeVry Student Loan Forgiveness Program

DeVry is another one of those massive schools that signed up tons of students, charged them ridiculous prices, and maybe didn’t do that great a job preparing them to work in the real-world, and they’re paying the price ever since people became aware of Borrower’s Defense to Repayment Discharges.

In fact, DeVry has been getting hammered with Borrower’s Defense Applications, especially since the FTC’s lawsuit made it so obvious that DeVry was vulnerable to fraudulent or misleading advertising claims.

Anyone who’s been paying attention to the industry would know by now that there’s almost no better target school for a Borrower’s Defense Against Repayment Discharge, and if you attended DeVry, then you’d better get an application submitted soon, because the line has grown quite long.

To find out how you can use Borrower’s Defense against DeVry, please visit my page on the DeVry Student Loan Forgiveness Program.



The Westwood College Student Loan Forgiveness Program

Westwood is another big school that used to spend millions of dollars on advertising costs, but they too have gone dark after the for-profit schools started collapsing in on their own weight.

I’ve known a few people who went to Westwood and got good educations, but they seem to be in the minority, as there are all sorts of terrible reviews for the school online, and like the other big for profits, Westwood made the mistake of making all sorts of outlandish claims in their ads, opening them up to Borrower’s Defense discharges.

But that’s not all, because not only did Westwood do all sorts of stuff they shouldn’t have done to encourage more people to sign up, but they also screwed up their business, and ended up having to close down in 2017, opening their loans up to Closed School Student Loan Discharge benefits.

To find out how to get your loans discharged via a Borrower’s Defense Against Repayment Application, and to see if you qualify for a Closed School Discharge, be sure to visit my page about the Westwood College Student Loan Forgiveness Program.



Private Student Loan Servicer Discharge Programs

Borrower’s Defense Against Repayment doesn’t just work against schools, but can also be used to attack the legal validity of your loans if your student loan servicing company has done something illegal or fraudulent against you as well!

And that’s a big deal, and a huge opportunity, because recent years have seen some massive lawsuits and major accusations of illegal behavior against some of the country’s biggest student loan servicing companies, like Navient, FedLoan, and others.



The Navient Student Loan Forgiveness Program

Navient is one of the biggest student loan servicing companies on the planet, and they’re in big trouble with the Federal Government, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and several Attorney Generals.

According to a lawsuit filed against Navient in 2016 by the CFPB, the company “systematically and illegally fail[ed] borrowers at every stage of repayment”, causing borrowers to have to pay way more money than they should have.

Which means that you may be able to qualify for a private student loan forgiveness discharge against Navient, via the Borrower’s Defense Against Repayment Program.

To find out how this process would work, and what you’d need to do to apply for a Navient discharge, please visit my page about the Navient Student Loan Forgiveness Program.


The FedLoan Student Loan Forgiveness Program

FedLoan is another massive student loan servicing company, and like Navient, FedLoan too is accused of some seriously shady business practices that open them up to Borrower’s Defense Applications.

If you’ve got a loan with FedLoan, then I’d highly advise you to consider filing a Borrower’s Defense Against Repayment Program application, because there’s a very good chance that it’ll be fully approved.

What did FedLoan actually do? Apparently they totally screwed up servicing for everybody enrolled in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, and for everyone enrolled in the TEACH Grant Program, which is a big portion of the population, and a great reason for you to dig into this opportunity in detail.

To find out how you may be able to discharge your FedLoan private loans, please visit my page about the FedLoan Student Loan Forgiveness Program.



The Aequitas Capital Student Loan Forgiveness Program

Aequitas Capital is just another company involved in scamming ordinary Americans out of millions of dollars via student loans, but they’re even more nefarious than these terrible student loan servicers, as they’ve been accused of establishing a Ponzi Scheme with Corinthian Colleges, and using it to bilk billions from potential Corinthian students.

Fortunately, Aequitas is about reap what it sowed, as the SEC investigation into their operating practices fully exposed all the issues, and the lawsuit against Aequitas filed by several Attorneys General means that they too will fall victim to Borrower’s Defense Against Repayment Applications.

If your loans are in any way tied to Aequitas, then you need to look into your options for getting them erased immediately.

To find out how to get rid of your Aequitas Capital-connected private student loans, please visit my page on the Aequitas Capital Student Loan Forgiveness Program.


The National Collegiate Trust Student Loan Forgiveness Program

The National Collegiate Trusts deserve a special place in hell, as this company is best known for aggressively pursuing private student loan defaulters, taking them to court and pressing for legal and financial recompense against the defaulted debters, while they can’t even prove that they own these loans!

And while that sounds ridiculous, the fact is that the National Collegiate Trust appears to have lost the paperwork for over $5,000,000,000 ($5 BILLION!) dollars worth of loans, and they may end up having to completely forgive all that debt since they can’t prove that they really down own it.

That’s right… if your loans have anything to do with the National Collegiate Trust, then you’ve got a pretty dang good chance at qualifying for a complete and total discharge, and soon.

To find out how you could take advantage of National Collegiate’s ridiculous mistake, please visit my page about National Collegiate Trusts Student Loan Forgiveness.



Private Student Loan Bankruptcy Discharges

While many people think it’s impossible to get rid of private student loans via bankruptcy proceedings, I’m happy to report that this couldn’t be further from the truth!

Private student loan debt definitely can be discharged via bankruptcy; it just takes a lot of work, and some really specific financials.

To get rid of your loans in bankruptcy, you’ll have to prove to a court, or the Judge, that the loans are so large and so oppressive that they’re literally making it difficult for you to afford food,, shelter and clothing.

Many courts have ruled in favor of the borrower in recent years, letting them discharge $100,000, $200,000 or even more, if they can prove that these loans are threatening their daily lives by saddling them with too much debt.

It’s not easy, and it’s not all that straightforward either, but if you’re buried in private debt, not making much money, and have dependents, then you may have a shot at a discharge.

For details, visit my page on Private Student Loan Bankruptcy Discharges.



Other Financial Relief Programs for Private Student Loans

If you don’t think you qualify for any of the Forgiveness or Discharge programs I mentioned above, then don’t despair, because you may have other options!

First, there’s all sorts of people offering help with consolidating private student loan debt, by combining multiple loans together, combining private loans with other forms of debt, or doing some other sort of consolidation that makes it a little easier for you to afford.

Second, there are tons of private student loan modification programs floating around too, and you can sometimes even get your original lender to alter the conditions of your loan simply by reaching out to them to let them know that it’s basically that, or facing your default.

And finally, there’s always the option of going belly-up and refusing to make any payments, or defaulting on your private loans.

While I think you’ll almost always want to avoid a default, there are certain cases where it’s simply better financial advice to turn tail, cut and run, leaving it all on the lender.

Below I’ll explain the basic points of each of these opportunities. If you’re interested in getting more detailed explanations of these programs, please make sure to click through the links to each program’s specific page on my site.



Private Student Loan Consolidation Programs

Private student loan consolidation is not new, but it’s gotten much better in recent years.

While I used to advise everyone to totally avoid consolidating their private loans, now I feel better about the process, and I no longer think it’s the worst idea in the world (that’d be default…).

For people absolutely buried in way too much private student loan debt, or with loans that have terrible terms (high interest, short repayment schedules, etc.), a private consolidation may be the best option for generating some real financial relief.

If you need to combine your loans for any reason (with other student loans or other debt), then you definitely do want to consider a private consolidation.

For details on how it all works, please visit my page on Private Student Loan Consolidation Programs.


Private Student Loan Modification Programs

Loan modification programs are like consolidation programs, in that they can change the terms of your loan, saving you money by reducing monthly payments, getting a better interest rate, or doing any number of other things that help reduce your financial burden.

However, loan modification programs have one special difference: they’re available to people who only have a single loan, meaning that more people are likely to qualify for loan mods than will for loan consolidations, since the population of borrowers is much higher.

If you’ve only got one private student loan, and it’s destroying your finances, then you’ll want to see if you can get your loan servicer to agree to make loan modifications.

Things to push for are lower interest rates (which save money both in the short term and long run), longer repayment terms (which reduce monthly payments, but end up costing you more money over the long run), or anything else that may be able to help ease your financial burden.

You’re going to have to go it alone when it comes to Loan Modifications, as each servicer has their own specific rules for what’s possible, so you’ll need to call whoever you’re sending your monthly payments to, and start negotiating with them to see what you can accomplish.



Choosing to Default on Private Loans

As an absolute last resort, there’s always the option of defaulting on your private loans, and simply refusing to pay another penny toward them.

And while I think this is a terrible idea, and maybe even the worst I’ve ever conceived, there are very specific situations where it does kinda, sorta, make sense to default.

Like, for example, if you’re planning on leaving the country, forever. Or, for example, if you’re working under the table, and you plan on doing that for the rest of your life.

In almost all other cases, there’s no good reason to let your loans slip into default, because doing so brings financial and legal penalties that you’d definitely want to avoid if you can help it.

For details on things to consider when looking at a default, and advice on how to go about it without risking everything, please visit my page on Getting Help With Private Student Loan Defaults.


Forgiveness Benefits & Taxable Income Laws

Wiping out your student loans is a HUGE deal, but before you start celebrations, you’ll need to make sure that you understand one thing quite clearly: debt forgiveness almost always comes with additional tax liabilities.

What’s that mean? It means that if you get any amount of Federal or Private student loan debt forgiven, you’ll almost certainly have to include that amount of money in your IRS filings that year, as INCOME!

Which means that you’ll not only be declaring a much higher income than usual, but paying taxes on it as well.

And that’s a big deal, because if you couldn’t make your monthly student loan payment, then just imaging how hard it may be to come up with your IRS payment on forgiven student loan debt, which could amount to thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars being due, and all at once!

That’s right – because the IRS isn’t like student loan servicing companies – they want their money all at once, in a single lump sum, meaning that you won’t be able to stretch it out over 10, 15, or 20 years.

And that means that millions of ordinary Americans are about to get the shock of a lifetime, because most people who receive student loan forgiveness may get out of trouble with their student loan servicing company, only to fall into the trap of the IRS.

To find out how to determine whether or not you’ll be taxed, and how much taxes you’ll end up owing thanks to your forgiveness benefits, please visit my page about Student Loan Forgiveness & Taxable Income Laws.



Where to Go For Tax Help?

If you’re already having trouble with the IRS, or if you simply want to avoid it, then I’ve got good news!

I just recently created a new site called Forget Tax Debt, where I offer tax-related information just like I’ve done here for student loans, and which could help you figure out how to reduce or eliminate your IRS tax debt.

If you’re looking for help Filing and Paying IRS Back Taxes, understanding the IRS Fresh Start Program, or determining how to qualify for IRS Debt Forgiveness Benefits, you’ll want to visit Forget Tax Debt, where I go through all these topics and more in extreme detail.



Can I Get Rid of My Loans Without Paying For Them?

Yes, you can, but it’s not easy.

If you’ve got Federal loans, then you could get rid of them without paying for them by enrolling in an Income-Based Student Loan Repayment Plan, and making so little money that you qualify for a $0 monthly payment.

If you can keep qualifying for $0 payments, and make enough of them (240 months for most people, 120 months for anyone qualifying for PSLF), then you’ll eventually be able to get your loans forgiven, having paid $0 in total.

On the Private loans side, you could get rid of your loans without paying for them if you can get them discharged via a process like Borrower’s Defense to Repayment, which would invalidate them (legally), and require the servicer or school to wipe out your debt, and perhaps even repay anything you’ve already spent.

Again, it’s not easy, but it definitely is possible.



Community Service-Based Student Loan Forgiveness Programs

The fastest, easiest, and most effective way to get out of paying student loans is to qualify for one of the community service forgiveness programs below.

My personal opinion is that the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program is the absolute best way to wipe out student loans quickly.

If you aren’t dead-set in a certain career, or if you have any chance of applying for positions within your field that would qualify for PSLF benefits, then you should absolutely pursue it.

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program

Overview

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program is the most powerful way to erase student loans, because it allows your debt to be completely forgiven as soon as you’ve made 120 monthly payments on it.

That’s just 10 years worth of payments! Even if you still owed $200,000 after making 10 years of payments, you’d still be able to receive complete forgiveness for the debt.

One trick to this program is that you have to be enrolled in the Pay As You Earn Repayment Plan, or one of the other income-based or income-contingent repayments plans for your payments to count toward the 120 threshold.

Eligibility Rules

    General Requirements:

  • You must have one or more Federal student loans
  • You must work full-time at a qualifying public service or nonprofit organization
  • You must be enrolled in one of the income-based or income-contingent student repayment plans
  • You must make 120 monthly payments (payments must be made on-time, and for the full amount required according to your repayment plan)

    Qualifying Loans:

  • Direct Stafford Loans
  • Direct Parent and Grad PLUS Loans
  • Direct Consolidation Loans

Only Federal student loans are eligible for the PSLF program, and Parent PLUS loans are only eligible for it if they’re consolidated into a Direct Consolidation Loan, and being paid off under the standard or income-contingent repayment plan.

Any non-Direct loans may be consolidated into Direct loans, but the payments made on the underlying loans before they were consolidated will not qualify toward the 120 payment threshold.

Finally, only payments made on or after October 1st, 2007 can count toward the 120 payment threshold, meaning that the earliest anyone could receive PSLF forgiveness would be October 1st, 2017.

How to Apply

Even though no one can qualify for the benefit for another couple years, you can find the application for PSLF online here.


The Segal AmeriCorps Education Award

Overview

The Segal AmeriCorps Education Award is for anyone who has completed a term of service with AmeriCorps, and offers anyone who qualifies for the program the opportunity to receive the maximum Pell grant allotment for the current year for up to 4 years.

In 2015, the maximum Pell Grant award is $5,730 per year, meaning that this benefit would be worth $22,920!

To qualify for this benefit, you have to sign up to receive it before your AmeriCorps service, and you can only start using it after you’ve completed your full term of service. There is no partial allotment.

Those who qualify to receive the benefit will have up to 7 years to apply it to their Federal student loans.

Eligibility Rules

    General Requirements:

  • You must have one or more Federal student loans
  • You must complete a full term of service with AmeriCorps
  • You must sign up for the program before your serving with AmeriCorps
  • You must use the benefit within 7 years of receiving it

    Qualifying Loans:

  • Stafford Loans
  • Consolidation Loans
  • Parent Loans
  • Grad PLUS Loans
  • Perkins Loans
  • State-funded Loans

One quick note about this program which is awesome is that you may still be able to apply the money earned from this benefit to your loans, even if they are in default!

How to Apply

To apply for the Segal AmeriCorps Education Award, visit the AmeriCorps website.



The Peace Corps Loan Forgiveness Program

Overview

The Peace Corps Loan Forgiveness Program doesn’t actually exist. I use this phrase to refer to two different types of forgiveness benefits available to Peace Corps volunteers who have completed a term of service.

The two programs that Peace Corps volunteers will be able to leverage are the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (outlined above) and the Perkins Loan Cancellation Program (you’ll find more info on that further down the page).

As stated earlier, PSLF offers Federal student loan forgiveness after making just 120 monthly payments, but only payments made while you’re serving full-time in a public service capacity will count.

Via the Perkins Loan Cancellation Program, Peace Corps volunteers can qualify for a 15% loan cancellation benefit for completing each of their first two years of service, as well as a 20% loan cancellation benefit for completing each of their third and fourth years.

There’s a limitation on Peace Corps Perkins Loan Cancellation though – only 70% of your total Perkins Loan can be cancelled using the benefit.

Also important to note here – whether or not you qualify for a forgiveness benefit due to your Peace Corps service, any service will qualify you for a Peace Corps Student Loan Deferment.

Eligibility Rules

    General Requirements:

  • For PSLF, see the rules above in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness section

  • For Perkins Cancellation
  • You must have one or more Federal Perkins Loans
  • You must complete at least one year of service with the Peace Corps
  • You may not count any time spent training toward your first year of service
  • You must not have consolidated your Perkins Loan with other student loans

    Qualifying Loans:

  • For PSLF, see the rules above in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness section

  • For Perkins Cancellation
  • Federal Perkins Loans

How to Apply

For PSLF, see the rules above in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness section

Visit the official Peace Corps website and look at the “Certification for Partial Perkins Loan Cancellation” item here.


Profession-Based Forgiveness Programs

All sorts of Student Loan Relief Programs have been created for people in varying professions.

If you work in Education or Healthcare, you’re bound to qualify for one of the excellent forgiveness programs outlined below.

The Faculty Loan Repayment Program (FLRP)

Overview

The Faculty Loan Repayment Program (commonly referred to as FLRP) is the perfect program to introduce this section of the page, since it straddles the border between healthcare and education.

This program offers up to $40,000 in student loan forgiveness benefits for 2 years of service to degree-trained health professionals from disadvantaged backgrounds who serve on the faculty at accredited health profession colleges or universities.

You can increase your chances of being accepted into the program by working with your school to get a written statement saying that they will match equal FLRP loan repayments (meaning half the forgiveness comes from FLRP and the other half comes from the school itself).

The big shocker here? FLRP works for both federal and private student loans.

Eligibility Rules

    General Requirements:

  • You must be a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident
  • You must come from a “disadvantaged background”
  • You must serve as faculty at an accredited health profession college or university
  • You must complete at least two years of service at the eligible school

    Qualifying Loans:

  • Stafford Loans
  • Grad PLUS Loans
  • Consolidation Loans
  • Perkins Loans
  • Private Student Loans

How to Apply

To enroll in the program, visit the HRSA website here.



The Indian Health Services Loan Repayment Program

Overview

The Indian Health Services Loan Repayment Program is another one aimed at medical professionals, and offers up to $40,000 in loan forgiveness for 2 years of service at an Indian health program site.

To qualify for this benefit, you have to commit to a 2-year service obligation where you’ll practice full-time at a qualifying site that primarily provides health care services to American Indian or Alaska Native communities.

You’ll receive up to $20,000 in forgiveness benefits per year for each of your 2 years of completed service.

Another shocker – this program also offers forgiveness benefits for private student loan debt!

Eligibility Rules

    General Requirements:

  • You must sign up for a 2 year service commitment
  • You must practice a qualifying health profession full time at an Indian health program site

    Qualifying Loans:

  • Stafford Loans
  • Grad PLUS Loans
  • Consolidation Loans
  • Perkins Loans
  • Institutional Loans
  • Private Student Loans

How to Apply

To apply, visit the official Indian Health Service website here.



The John R. Justice Student Loan Repayment Program

Overview

The John R. Justice Student Loan Repayment Program offers up to $60,000 in total student loan forgiveness, with up to $4,000 per year of service as an attorney continually licensed to practice law.

However, not all lawyers are eligible for this program, as participation stipulates that you must be employed full-time at one of the following institutions:

    Qualifying Institutions:

  • A state or local government agency that prosecutes criminal or juvenile delinquency cases
  • A state or local government agency that offers legal representation to indigent people being tried in criminal or juvenile delinquency cases
  • A nonprofit organization operating under contract of a local government to provide legal representation to indigent people in criminal or juvenile cases
  • A defender organization that offers legal representation to indigent people in criminal or juvenile delinquency cases

Eligibility Rules

    General Requirements:

  • You must be a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident
  • You must be an attorney and continually licensed to practice law in your state
  • You must satisfy one of the “Qualifying Institutions” requirements above

    Qualifying Loans:

  • Stafford Loans
  • Grad PLUS Loans
  • Consolidation Loans
  • Perkins Loans

How to Apply

Find out how to apply for this forgiveness plan by visiting the Equal Justice Works page on it here.



The National Health Service Corps Forgiveness Plan

Overview

The National Health Service Corps student loan forgiveness plan offers up to $60,000 in student loan forgiveness benefits for 2-years of service as a licensed primary care medical, dental, or mental and behavioral health provider working at a high-need site.

It’s possible to receive even more money from this program after you’ve already receive your initial $60,000 in forgiveness for the first 2 years, but you’ll have to apply to that additional benefit after you’ve already received the first disbursement.

This program is also run by the National Health Service Corps, but even though it’s Federally-funded, it too offers forgiveness benefits for both federal and private student loans.

Eligibility Rules

    General Requirements:

  • You must agree to work as a licensed primary medical, dental or mental and behavioral health provider for at least 2 years
  • You must serve those 2 years at a “high-need site” (typically hospitals, clinics or service areas in poverty-stricken areas)

    Qualifying Loans:

  • Stafford Loans
  • Grad PLUS Loans
  • Consolidation Loans
  • Perkins Loans
  • Private Student Loans

How to Apply

To apply for the National Health Service Corps student loan forgiveness plan, visit the official HRSA website here.


The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Loan Forgiveness Program

Overview

This is one of the best student loan forgiveness programs available, as it offers up to $35,000 in forgiveness benefits PER YEAR for those that qualify.

However, it’s also pretty difficult to meet the eligibility conditions as this program is only open to research professionals with doctoral degrees.

The thing is – there are all sorts of people out there performing all sorts of research tasks, and anyone with a PhD (which this program requires), is likely to have a ton of student loan debt, so while this may sound like a long shot, there are sure to be plenty of participants.

Also, I’m having trouble wrapping my head around this part, but apparently part-time federal employees who work less than 20 hours a week, but who meet the other research criteria, may also apply for the benefit.

Another great part about this program is that it offers assistance to both federal and private student loan borrowers.

Eligibility Rules

    General Requirements:

  • You must be a U.S. citizen, U.S. national or U.S. permanent resident
  • You must have a health professional doctoral degree
  • You must have student loans that exceed 20% of institutional base salary
  • You must perform research supported by a nonprofit, university, professional association or U.S. government agency
  • You must engage in research at least 50% of the time, averaging at least 20 hours per week
  • You must conduct research that is not prohobited by federal law, regulations, or policies of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Sciences, or NIH

    Qualifying Loans:

  • Stafford Loans
  • Grad PLUS Loans
  • Consolidation Loans
  • Perkins Loans
  • State-issued loans (including Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and any other U.S. held territories)
  • Academic Institution Loans
  • MEDLOANS
  • Private Student Loans

How to Apply

Visit the official NIH Loan Repayment Forgiveness Program page here.



The NURSE Corps Loan Repayment Program

Overview

The NURSE Corps Student Loan Repayment Program is an awesome benefit to anyone who’s working as a Registered Nurse (RN) or an advanced-practice RN.

This program is extremely powerful, because it offers forgiveness for up to 85% of your loan for 3 years of qualifying service, or forgiveness for up to 60% of your loan for just 2 years of service.

Also, unlike a lot of the other Federally-funded forgiveness programs, this one works for both federal and private student loans.

The one trick is that not all RNs are eligible, and that you have to be working in a critical shortage facility or as nursing faculty working full time at an accredited school of nursing.

I love this program though because of two reasons – first, nursing is a great field to get into (there’s always available jobs, pay is great, and the work is both rewarding and beneficial to society at large), and second, because compared to other advanced fields, it isn’t that difficult to get into and doesn’t require as much debt.

If you’re a high school student, or someone in college who hasn’t quite figured out what to do with yourself yet, then you should definitely consider a career in nursing, and you should start preparing to take advantage of this excellent forgiveness plan.

Eligibility Rules

    General Requirements:

  • You must be an RN or advanced-practice RN working in a critical shortage facility, or a member of the nurse faculty at an accredited school of nursing
  • You must serve in this position for either 2 or 3 years (2 years gets you 60% forgiveness, 3 years gets you 85% forgiveness)
  • You must have secured your student loans to cover nursing educational expenses, or living expenses while you were studying nursing

    Qualifying Loans:

  • Stafford Loans
  • Grad PLUS Loans
  • Consolidation Loans
  • Perkins Loans
  • Private Student Loans

How to Apply

To apply for the NURSE Corps Loan Repayment Program, check out the official HRSA PDF here.


The Perkins Loan Cancellation & Discharge Program

Overview

The Perkins Loan Cancellation & Discharge Program offers comprehensive forgiveness benefits for a variety of different occupations.

Probably the most popular form of Perkins Loan Forgiveness is the Teacher Loan Cancellation Program, which offers significant assistance to teachers working in shortage areas like math, science and foreign language (see details below).

Perkins loan forgiveness is only available to those with qualifying Perkins loans, but it’s a great deal because it’s possible to have up to 100% of your outstanding principal balance AND accumulated interest completely cancelled!

Forgiveness is offered for each year of service you complete in an eligible position, with the schedule working out as follows:

    Forgiveness % For Each Completed Year

  • 1st & 2nd Year of Service: 15% forgiveness
  • 3rd & 4th Year of Service: 20% forgiveness
  • 5th Year of Service: 30% forgiveness

Note that above, you receive forgiveness percentages after each individual year of service. So after your 1st year of service, you’ll get 15% forgiveness. After you complete your 2nd year of service, you’ll get another 15% forgiven.

Another awesome component to Perkins forgiveness is that you are able to qualify for deferments before you receive forgiveness, so you can postpone payment of your loans for as long as you are performing qualified service.

If you play your cards right, you could even use Perkins loan forgiveness benefits to ensure that you never have to make an actual payment on your student loan debt!

Eligibility Rules

    General Requirements:

  • Attorneys: Full-time attorneys employed in federal public or community defender organizations who performed qualified service that on or after August 14th, 2008 are eligible to receive up to 100% forgiveness.
  • Child or Family Services Workers: Full-time employees of a public or nonprofit child or family services agency that provides services to “high-risk” children from low-income communities are eligible to receive up to 100% forgiveness.
  • Firefighters: Full-time firefighters who performed qualified service on or after August 14th, 2008 are eligible to receive up to 100% forgiveness.
  • Head Start Employees: Full-time staff members in the education component of a Head Start program are eligible to receive up to 100% forgiveness, at 15% forgiveness per completed year of service.
  • Military Personnel in Imminent Danger Areas: U.S. Military Personnel who were deployed to a hostile fire or imminent danger area are eligible to receive up to 50% forgiveness for active duty that ended before August 14,2008, and up to 100% forgiveness if active duty includes or began after August 14th, 2008.
  • Intervention Service Providers: Full-time qualified professionals who provide early intervention services for disabled people on or after August 14th, 2008 are eligible to receive up to 100% forgiveness.
  • Law Enforcement Personnel: Full-time law enforcement personnel and corrections officers are eligible to receive up to 100% forgiveness.
  • Librarians: Librarian’s with Master’s Degrees working in Title I-eligible elementary or secondary schools, or in public libraries that serve Title I-eligible schools who worked on or after August 14th, 2008 are eligible to receive up to 100% forgiveness.
  • Nurses & Medical Technicians: Full-time nurses or Licensed Medical Technicians are eligible to receive up to 100% forgiveness.
  • Prekindergarten & Child Care Workers: Full-time staff members in prekindergatens or state licensed and regulated child care programs who worked on or after August 14th, 2008 are eligible for up to 100% forgiveness.
  • Special Education Teachers: Full-time special education teachers working with children who have disabilities in a public school, nonprofit elementary or secondary school or educational service agencies are eligible to receive up to 100% forgiveness.
  • Speech Pathologists: Full-time speech pathologists with a Master’s Degree working at a Title I-eligible elementary school or secondary school with service on or after August 14th, 2008 are eligible to receive up to 100% forgiveness.
  • Educational Service Agency Teachers: Full-time teachers at a designated educatioanl service agency serving students from low-income families on or after August 14th, 2008 are eligible to receive up to 100% forgiveess.
  • Teachers in Shortage Areas: Full-time teachers who teach math, science, foreign languages, bilingual education or other shortage areas are eligible to receive up to 100% forgiveness.
  • Tribal College Faculty Members: Full-time faculty members at tribal colleges and universities who worked on or after August 14th, 2008 are eligible to receive up to 100% forgiveness.
  • Vista & Peace Corp Volunteers: AmeriCorps, Vista and Peace Corps volunteers who served for at least a year are eligible to receive up to 70% of their loans forgiven, with 15% of the principal balance and accrued interest forgiven for the first and second years, and 20% forgiven for the third and fourth years of service.

    Qualifying Loans:

  • Perkins Loans

How to Apply

To apply for Perkins Loan Cancellation benefits, you’ll need to find the specific application form for the Perkins loan forgiveness plan that applies to your specific profession. A simple Google search should help.



The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program

Overview

I already outlined this one above in the “Community Service” section, so if you’re interested in details, please scroll up to the first entry in the loan forgiveness section.

Briefly, PSLF allows you to receive comprehensive loan forgiveness after making 10 years worth payments (120 payments) on your Federal student loans, cancelling the remaining debt no matter how much is left.

The best part of the PSLF program is that you don’t have to work in a traditional community service position – you could be a Doctor, a Nurse, a Government Employee, a Nonprofit Employee or a variety of other positions and still qualify for PSLF.

Eligibility Rules

    General Requirements:

  • See the first PSLF entry above

    Qualifying Loans:

  • See the first PSLF entry above

How to Apply

Find the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Application Form here.



The Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program

Overview

The Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program is also referred to as the Stafford Loan Forgiveness Program, and is an excellent benefit for those teachers willing to work in low-income schools.

The way it works is that you’re able to receive up to $17,500 in federal loan forgiveness benefits for 5 complete and consecutive years of teaching at a qualifying school or educational service agency.

Eligibility Rules

    General Requirements:

  • You must not have any Federal student loans that pre-date October 1st, 1998
  • You must not be in default on any Federal student loans (or you must have made repayment arrangements with the lender on defaulted loans)
  • You must have loans that you seek forgiveness on which were NOT made before the end of your five years of qualifying teaching service
  • You must not count time spent teaching with AmeriCorps for your five years of qualifying service
  • You must be employeed full-time for five complete and consecutive academic years, with at least one of those years being after the 1997-1998 academic year
  • You must be employed at an elementary or secondary school that qualifies for Title 1 funds, or has at least 30% of the school’s total enrollment qualifying for Title 1 services, or is included on the Designated Low-Income Schools list (found here)
  • You must count as a “Highly Qualified Teacher” – this part is too difficult to explain briefly, so for details, please visit my page about the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program

    Qualifying Loans:

  • Stafford Loans
  • Federal Consolidation Loans

How to Apply

To apply for the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program, you’ll need to download the official application form here.



Military Forgiveness Programs

One of the best ways to qualify for student loan forgiveness is via service with the United States military.

Whether you want to join up as a Soldier, Sailor, Airmen or Reservist, military service virtually guarantees that you’ll be able to qualify for cancellation of student loan debt.

The programs below don’t even get into all of the other excellent student loan relief opportunities offered by the military either, from the excellent Post 9/11 GI Bill Education Benefits package, to the awesome Military Tuition Assistance and Deferment programs.

If you’re having trouble paying off your student loans, then you should consider looking to the military for help.


The Military College Loan Repayment Programs

Overview

Each branch of the United States Military offers it’s own version of a student loan forgiveness benefits, but some of them have better rewards than others.

Benefits are best in the Army and Navy, who each allow enlistees to qualify for up to $65,000 in total lifetime forgiveness benefits, but they’re still good in the Air Force and Coast Guard as well. Marines, unfortunately, get nothing. Sorry guys.

However, there’s a couple huge catches when it comes to qualifying for Military College Loan Repayment Program benefits – they’re only available to new enlistees, participation in the program requires sacrificing Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits (unless you agree to serve for a longer period of time), and participation in the program must be written into your original enlistment contract.

For those of you already in the military, it’s too late to take advantage of these benefits.

Oh, and I keep getting comments on my pages about these programs that the Government is not actually paying off what they’ve promised to do.

I’ve been looking into it and I haven’t been able to find a good answer on why this is occuring, but I’ve heard from many Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen that benefits are not being paid in a timely fashion.

Eligibility Rules

    General Requirements:

  • See the rules for each specific service branch below

    Qualifying Loans:

  • See the rules for each specific service branch below

How to Apply

See below.



The Army Student Loan Repayment Program

Overview

For Soldiers, there’s virtually no better way to wipe out your debt than taking advantage of the Army Student Loan Repayment Program (typically referred to as SLRP).

Army offers up to $65,000 in Federal student loan forgiveness benefits, making it one of the most powerful forgiveness programs on offer, and one that anyone buried in student loan debt should give some serious consideration.

Army SLRP benefits are paid out annually, awarded to cover a certain percentage of your outstanding student loan debt (33.33% of whatever’s left), and issued after each year of service that you complete.

The big downside to the SLRP program is that you can only receive these benefits if they were written into your original enlistment contract.

Already in the Army? Unfortunately, it’s too late for you to enroll in this program.

Eligibility Rules

    General Requirements:

  • You must have Army SLRP benefits written into your original enlistment contract
  • You must complete at least one year of service with the United States Army
  • You must decline participation in the Post 9/11 GI Bill, in writing
  • You must hold a high school diploma (GED won’t cut it) at the time of your enlistment
  • You must score at least a 50 on the Armed Forces Qualification Test
  • You must enlist in an MOS deemed eligible for the program at the time of your enlistment
  • You must not have served in the military before (unless you’re enlisting in the Reserves now)
  • You must have a student loan that qualifies for the program (one insured or guaranteed by the Higher Education Act of 1965, Title IV, Part B, D, or E)

    Qualifying Loans:

  • Loans that were made, insured or guaranteed under the Federal Family Education Loan Program, the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program, or the under the Federal Perkins Loans Program
  • Loans that were made to cover education purposes, and made by a lender that is an agency or instrumentality of a State, a financial or credit institution, or an insurance company subject to examination and supervision by an agency of the U.S. or a State, or from a pension fund or non-profit private entity subject to a case-by-case review and approval

How to Apply

That part is pretty easy – when you go to enlist with the United States Army, speak to your recruiter and make sure that he puts participation in the Army SLRP program on your contract, in writing.


The Army Reserves College Loan Repayment Program

Overview

This program is about the same as the standard Army SLRP program for active-duty Soldiers, except that you qualify it by joining the Reserves, and that you only qualify for having half the amount forgiven for each year of service you complete.

Instead of getting the 33.33% of your remaining loan debt forgiven per year (like with Army SLRP), the Reserves CRLP program will earn you forgiveness for 15% of your outstanding loan balance after each completed year of service.

Eligibility Rules

    General Requirements:

  • Same as Army SLRP (just replace “Army” with “Army Reserves”)

    Qualifying Loans:

  • Same as Army SLRP

How to Apply

Same as Army SLRP – when you go to join the Army Reserves, make sure that your recruiter includes participation in Army Reserves CLRP on your contract, in writing.



The Navy College Loan Repayment Program

Overview

The Navy College Loan Repayment Program is the best student loan forgiveness benefit available to Sailors.

Navy CLRP benefits are identical to those offered by the Army, allowing Sailors to qualify for having up to $65,000 in total Federal student loan debt forgiven.

Like Army SLRP, this benefit is offered incrementally, with a set 33.33% of the outstanding loan balance on qualifying loans being forgiven after each year of service the Sailor completes.

And like Army SLRP, Navy CLRP benefits are only available to new Sailors, and participation in the program must be written into your original enlistment contract.

Eligibility Rules

    General Requirements:

  • You must request to participate in Navy CLRP while enlisting for the first time (or while joining the Reserves)
  • You must get your request to participate in writing on your original enlistment contract
  • You must decline participation in the Post 9/11 GI Bill, in writing
  • If you’re joining the active-duty Navy, you must agree to serve for at least four years
  • If you’re joining the Navy Reserves, you must agree to serve for at least six years
  • You must have student loans that meet the eligibility conditions outlined below
  • You must enlist in a rating (your specific job) deemed eligible for the program at the time of your enlistment

    Qualifying Loans:

  • Only Federally-funded Title IV student loans are eligible for Navy CLRP
  • Examples of qualifying loans include: Stafford Loans, Perkins Loans, Federally Insured Student Loans, Supplemental Loans for Students, Parent PLUS Loans and Direct Consolidation Loans

How to Apply

When you go to enlist with the Navy, make sure that your recruiter puts your request to participate in this program on your enlistment contract, in writing.



The Navy Reserves College Loan Repayment Program

Overview

Naval Reserves members are eligible to receive similar benefits as active-duty Sailors, but at a reduced rate.

For each year of completed service in the Reserves, Sailors are eligible to have 15% of the outstanding principal balance of their qualifying loans forgiven.

Eligibility Rules

    General Requirements:

  • Same as active-duty Navy CLRP

    Qualifying Loans:

  • Same as active-duty Navy CLRP

How to Apply

Make sure that your enlistment contract spells out your participation in the program, in writing. If you fail to get this documented on the contract, you will not be able to leverage these benefits.



The Air Force College Loan Repayment Program

Overview

The Air Force College Loan Repayment Program offers $10,000 in student loan repayment benefits to encourage the enlistment of new Airmen.

Like the Army and Navy repayment program, this is also only available to new enlistees, and participation in Air Force CLRP must be stated in writing on your enlistment contract.

Also like the Army and Navy version of the same program, you must agree to forget Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits in order to participate. The only way to get around that is to agree to enlist for 6 years (allowing you to take advantage of both CLRP benefits, and the Post 9/11 GI Bill).

Air Force CLRP pays out benefits in annual installments, paying down 33.33% of your oustanding student loan debt for each year of service that you complete, until you’ve reached the lifetime maximum of $10,000 in total debt forgiveness.

Eligibility Rules

    General Requirements:

  • You must have no prior military service
  • You must agree to enlist for at least four years
  • You must agree to forfeit eligibility for Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits

    Qualifying Loans:

  • Only Federal student loans are eligible for this benefit, including
  • Stafford Loans
  • Perkins Loans
  • Auxiliary Loan Assistance for Students (ALAS Loans)
  • Parents Loans for Undergraduate Students (PLUS Loans)
  • Federally Insured Student Loans (FISL Loans)

How to Apply

Like all the other military college loan repayment programs, you’ll need to speak to your recruiter at the time of enlistment.

You will only be able to exercise these benefits if your participation in the program is spelled out in writing on your enlistment contract.


The National Defense Student Loan Discharge Program

Overview

The National Defense Student Loan Discharge offers debt forgiveness to military personnel who funded their college expenses with National Defense Student Loans or Federal Perkins Loans.

This program requires completing one full year of service in a branch of United States military while deployed to a hostile fire or imminent danger pay area.

Unfortunately, the amount of money that can be forgiven as part of this program is not publicized anywhere. All I know is that it offer a partial cancellation.

Eligibility Rules

    General Requirements:

  • You must complete a full year of service in the United State military while deployed to a hostile fire or imminent danger pay area

    Qualifying Loans:

  • National Defense Student Loans
  • Federal Perkins Loans

How to Apply

If you believe that you satisfy the conditions of this program, you’ll need to send a copy of your DD214 (military discharge form) and a letter of explanation (explaining that you completed a year of service in the hostile fire or imminent danger pay area) to whoever services your loan.

In your letter, make sure to state clearly that you qualify for the National Defense Student Loan Discharge, and say that you want them to apply it to your account.



The Active Duty Health Professions Loan Repayment Program

Overview

The Active Duty Health Professions Loan Repayment Program is for military personnel who are fully qualified health professionals (as determined by the United States military) who service in an identified skill-shortage area.

To qualify for this benefit, you must also serve as a commissioned officer, and on active duty. Members of reserves units will not be eligible for the program.

This is an excellent program, as it offers up to $40,000 in student loan forgiveness benefits.

One other huge benefit to this program is that even Private Student Loans are eligible for forgiveness here. That’s exceptionally rare! In fact, this may be the only true forgiveness program for private student loan debt.

Eligibility Rules

    General Requirements:

  • You must be a commissioned officer in the United States military
  • You must be serving on active duty
  • You must be a fully qualified health professional, serving in a skill-shortage area

    Qualifying Loans:

  • Stafford Loans
  • Grad PLUS Loans
  • Consolidation Loans
  • Perkins Loans
  • Health Professions Student Loans (HPSLs)
  • Private Student Loans

How to Apply

You can find detailed instructions on how this program works, as well as how to apply for it here.


The Military Reserve Health Professionals Loan Repayment Program

Overview

The Military Reserve Health Professionals Loan Repayment Program offers even more money than than the Active Duty program of the same name!

This benefit offers up to $50,000 in total student loan forgiveness, with up to $20,000 of forgiveness offered for each year of completed service.

To qualify for the program, you must either possess professional qualifications in a health profession that the Secretary of Defense has determined to be critically needed to meet medical skill shortages, or you must be enrolled in a program that will lead to the similar professional qualifications.

Your length of service after the qualifying student loan was disbursed is what determines how much money you’ll receive each year, and in total.

Like the Active Duty program of the same name – this is an excellent and unique opportunity for those who seek forgiveness from private loans.

Eligibility Rules

    General Requirements:

  • You must possess professional qualifications in a health profession deemed in critical shortage, or be enrolled in a program and working on attaining similar qualifications
  • You must perform satisfactory service in the Selected Reserve of a branch of the United States Armed Forces

    Qualifying Loans:

  • Stafford Loans
  • Grad PLUS Loans
  • Consolidation Loans
  • Perkins Loans
  • Health Professions Student Loans (HPSLs)
  • Private Student Loans

How to Apply

To apply for this benefit, you’ll need to speak to a Reserves recruiter.



The National Guard Student Loan Repayment Program

Overview

The National Guard Student Loan Repayment Program offers up to $50,000 in total student loan debt benefits, with up to $7,500 in forgiveness offered for each year of completed service.

This program is another incentive for new enlistees, and requires signing up for a minimum service contract of at least 6 years.

You must also fill a critical skills vacancy in the grade of E-4 or below, and be joining to hold a qualifying position in a Modified Table of Organization and Equity (MTOE) or Medical Table of Distribution Allowances (TDA) unit.

Finally, you must score at least 50 on the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT).

Eligibility Rules

    General Requirements:

  • You must be a new enlistee in the National Guard
  • You must agree to serve for at least 6 years
  • You must fill a critical skills vacancy at E-4 or below
  • You must serve in an MTOE or TDA unit
  • You must score at least 50 on the AFQT

    Qualifying Loans:

  • Stafford Loans
  • Grad PLUS Loans
  • Consolidation Loans
  • Perkins Loans

How to Apply

This is another Military Forgiveness Program that must be spelled out in writing on your enlistment contract, so to apply you’ll need to speak with a recruiter.



Thoughts, Comments & Feedback

What do you think about the current state of the student loan debt crisis? Is there enough assistance offered to those holding massive student loans?

Will the millennials ever be able to afford their own houses, start families, and live a normal life? Or will they be always saddled by excessive student loan debt?

What could be done to improve the situation? Does anything need to be done? Or are people simply borrowing too much money without thinking of the long-term consequences?

Did I miss any debt forgiveness, reduction, discharge or cancellation opportunities that you’re aware of?

If you have the answers to any of these questions, please let me know in the comments section below.



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