How to Apply for Student Loan Forgiveness: Student Loan Forgiveness & Discharge
How to Apply for Student Loan Forgiveness: Student Loan Forgiveness & Discharge
As with loans made to students, a parent PLUS loan can be discharged if you die, if you (not the student on whose behalf you obtained the loan) become totally and permanently disabled, or if your loan is discharged in bankruptcy. Your parent PLUS loan may also be discharged if the child for whom you borrowed dies.
In addition, all or a portion of a parent PLUS Loan may be discharged in any of these circumstances:
The student for whom you borrowed could not complete his or her program because the school closed.
Your eligibility to receive the loan was falsely certified by the school.
Your eligibility to receive the loan was falsely certified through identity theft.
The student withdrew from school, but the school didn’t pay a refund of your loan money that it was required to pay under applicable laws and regulations.
How to Apply For Forgiveness
Contact your loan servicer if you think you qualify. If you have a Perkins Loan, you should contact the school that made the loan or the loan servicer the school has designated.
Depending on the type of forgiveness, cancellation, or discharge you’re applying for, you may have to make payments during your application review. Check with your loan servicer to find out whether you must continue making payments during the application review period.
If you qualify for forgiveness, cancellation, or discharge of the full amount of your loan, you are no longer obligated to make loan payments. If you qualify for forgiveness, cancellation, or discharge of only a portion of your loan, you are responsible for repaying the remaining balance.
If you qualify for certain types of loan discharge, you may also receive a refund of some or all of the payments you made on the loan, and any adverse information related to your delinquency or default on the loan may be deleted from your credit record. If the loan was in default, the discharge may erase the default status. If you have no other defaulted loans, you would regain eligibility for federal student aid.
My Application Was Denied
If your application was denied, you’ll remain responsible for repaying your loan according to the terms of the promissory note that you signed. Talk to your loan servicer about repayment options if you have a Direct Loan or FFEL Program loan. Check out repayment options.
If your loan is in default, visit Getting Out of Default to find out how to begin repaying your loan and your options for getting out of default.
If you believe that your application was denied in error, contact your loan servicer for more information.
Teacher Loan Forgiveness
If you teach full-time for five complete and consecutive academic years in a low-income elementary school, secondary school, or educational service agency, you may be eligible for forgiveness of up to $17,500 on you Direct Loan or FFEL Program loans.
Note: You may not receive a benefit for the same qualifying payments or period of service for Teacher Loan Forgiveness and Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
How and when do I apply for teacher loan forgiveness?
You apply for teacher loan forgiveness by submitting a completed Teacher Loan Forgiveness Application to your loan servicer after you have completed the required five consecutive years of qualifying teaching.
The chief administrative officer of the school or educational service agency where you performed your qualifying teaching service must complete the certification section. If you are applying for forgiveness of loans that are with different loan servicers, you must submit a separate form to each of them.
