Navigating Student Loan Forgiveness Programs for Teachers

For educators burdened by student loan debt, several forgiveness programs offer a path toward financial relief. These programs, designed to incentivize and reward teaching service, particularly in high-need areas, can significantly ease the financial strain on teachers.

Federal Teacher Loan Forgiveness (TLF) Program

The Federal Teacher Loan Forgiveness (TLF) Program is a prominent option for eligible teachers. This program offers forgiveness on specific federal student loans to teachers who dedicate themselves to serving in low-income schools or educational service agencies.

Eligibility Criteria

To qualify for the TLF Program, teachers must meet several requirements:

Loan Types: The program applies to Direct Subsidized Loans, Direct Unsubsidized Loans, Subsidized Federal Stafford Loans, and Unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loans.
Teaching Service: Teachers must serve for five complete and consecutive academic years as a full-time teacher in a designated low-income school or educational service agency. At least one of those years must have been after the 1997-98 academic year, and you must have been a new borrower on or after Oct.
Low-Income School Designation: The school or educational service agency must have a low-income designation, typically defined as having greater than 30% poverty among its students for a school year. If a school is enrolled in the federal Free and Reduced Price Lunch (FRPL) program, FRPL participation is used to determine poverty.
Teacher Definition: A teacher is defined as a person who provides direct classroom teaching, or classroom-type teaching in a non-classroom setting. Assistant principals, school guidance counselors, teaching assistants, and college-level instructors do not qualify.
Highly Qualified Teacher: If you meet the qualifications for a highly qualified teacher, you may apply for teacher loan forgiveness. The Department of Education has a detailed list of requirements in order to be considered a highly qualified teacher. These requirements may be slightly different depending on whether you are a new teacher and what level you teach (elementary school, middle, or high school).

Forgiveness Amount

The maximum forgiveness amount is either $17,500 or $5,000, depending on the subject area taught. Certain highly qualified special education and secondary mathematics or science teachers can qualify for up to $17,500 in forgiveness.

To maximize your forgiveness amount, you can apply for a TLF forbearance. For example, Jane teaches special education at an eligible low-income school, and her loan balance is $10,500. She is planning on qualifying for TLF in five years to pay off her loan balance. But she doesn’t want to make payments in the meantime because lowering her loan balance will reduce her loan forgiveness amount. Jane applied for TLF forbearance because you apply for TLF after you have completed the five-year teaching requirement.

Application Process

Verify School Eligibility: Low-income schools are listed by school year in the Teacher Cancellation Low Income (TCLI) directory. Note: The New York portion of the TCLI directory is typically updated in the summer AFTER the school year. Be sure to look up your school prior to filling out your application.
Ensure Accurate School Name: The school name you put on your application must exactly match the school name listed in the TCLI. Leave out the “x,” “m,” “q,” etc. distinction after the school name (ex: instead of PS 123x, use PS 123).
Obtain Required Signatures: Obtain required signature(s) from your principal, superintendent, or charter school leader by the end of your fifth (or subsequent) year of teaching.
Submit Application: As soon as your school appears in the TCLI directory for the fifth year, you may submit your application.
Certification: The chief administrative officer of the school or educational service agency where you performed your qualifying teaching service must complete the certification section.

Important Considerations

Academic Year Definition: For purposes of the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program, an academic year is defined as one complete school year at the same school, or two complete and consecutive half years at different schools, or two complete and consecutive half years from different school years (at either the same school or different schools). Half years exclude summer sessions and generally fall within a 12-month period.
TCLI Directory: Locations in the TCLI directory are usually county names. However, for some years NYC schools are listed by borough name. To qualify for inclusion in the TCLI Directory, a campus must be located in a district that is eligible to receive Title I funds and the campus enrollment of economically disadvantaged students must be greater than 30%. State and Territory agencies are asked to update the TCLI Directory at least annually.
School Information: Look up the school in the State Education Department Reference File (SEDREF). The formal names listed in SEDREF are the source for the school names that go into the TCLI directory.
Searching for a Job: If you are looking for a job as a teacher in a low income school, you can search by location. Leave the school or educational service agency name blank, and enter the county (or NYC borough) name. For populous counties, this may return up to hundreds of results, but you will be able to narrow your choices based on the grade level at which you wish to teach (e.g. elementary, middle, high school). Less is more: For an initial search, use the first one or two words of the school name. Leave the location blank.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program is another federal program that offers loan forgiveness to individuals working full-time in public service, including teachers. Unlike TLF, PSLF doesn’t require you teach at a low-income public school. Instead, PSLF requires that you work for a qualifying employer.

Eligibility Criteria

Employment: You must work full-time for a qualifying employer, which includes government organizations (federal, state, local, or tribal) and certain non-profit organizations.
Loan Type: You must have Direct Loans. If you have other types of federal loans, like Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program loans or Federal Perkins Loans, you must consolidate in order for those loans to qualify.
Repayment Plan: You should repay your loans on an income-driven repayment (IDR) plan if you want to get the most value out of PSLF.
Qualifying Payments: You must make 120 qualifying payments (10 years) while working for a qualifying employer.

PSLF vs. TLF

You may not receive a benefit under both the TLF Program and the PSLF Program for the same period of teaching service. That means, if you get loan forgiveness through the Teacher Loan Forgiveness program, the five-year period of service that supported your eligibility will not count toward PSLF.

Some people could benefit from both PSLF and TLF. For example, you could receive TLF after 5 years and PSLF after 15 years. If you have more than $17,500 in student loans and are planning to teach or work in public service for at least ten years, you may want to consider PSLF instead of Teacher Loan Forgiveness.

Federal Perkins Loan Cancellation

Perkins Loan cancellation for teachers can only forgive your Federal Perkins Loans. Each amount canceled per year includes the interest that accrued during that year. Unlike other forgiveness programs, Perkins Loan cancellation forgives portions of your loans in yearly increments after you meet service requirements. Perkins loans may be fully canceled for full-time teachers working at low-income schools or teaching certain subject areas. If you meet the requirements, contact the college or university that holds your Perkins Loans to request the application.

State-Sponsored Loan Forgiveness Programs

Many states offer loan forgiveness programs for teachers-especially if you teach in a high-need area. These programs often have specific requirements related to the subject taught, the location of the school, and the length of service.

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Additional Resources and Considerations

Loan Servicer: You can also contact your loan servicer for additional information. Your servicer can explain your options using your specific situation and make any changes you need for your repayment plan.
National Student Loan Data System: Look up your information using the National Student Loan Data System. A Federal Student Aid ID is required.
TEA (Texas Education Agency): The Department of Education, not TEA, is responsible for federal teacher loan forgiveness programs. TEA does not determine an educator’s eligibility nor the amount that an educator may receive for teacher loan forgiveness. You will need to contact your loan holder directly regarding the amount of loan forgiveness you will be eligible to receive.
Program Interactions: You may qualify for more than one of the federal forgiveness programs above, but in some instances, your decision to take advantage of one program may impact your ability to take advantage of another. If you have any Perkins Loans, you may be tempted to consolidate them into a Direct Consolidation Loan to make them eligible for PSLF. However, if you do that, you’ll no longer qualify for Perkins Loan cancellation.
Download Your Loan Data: Download your federal student loan data and payment history: Having an accurate record of your student loan history will be essential in holding loan servicers and the Department of Education accountable. Log in to studentaid.gov, go to your Federal Student Aid Dashboard, click on the “View Details” button in the “My Aid” section, then click the “Download My Aid Data” button to download the .txt file.

Addressing Servicing Issues and Advocacy

Servicing failures, unexpected forbearances, processing delays, and other issues can significantly impact borrowers' lives. Stark black-and-white signs flanked a determined group of activists and legislators gathered on Capitol Hill May 22, amplifying their bold, unequivocal message: “Fire MOHELA.” Hosted by the Debt Collective, the event featured members of the Student Borrower Protection Center, the AFT and others who described how the notorious student loan servicer has abused borrowers with mishandled paperwork, misinformation, miscalculations and hourslong hold times.

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