Student Loan Forgiveness: All you need to know
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- President Biden’s freeze on student loan debt repayment ends early 2022
- The Biden administration is giving borrowers approximately $110 billion of student loan cancellation.
- You can get student loan forgiveness even if you don’t work in the public service.
This article outlines all you need to know about getting student loan forgiveness and what it means for your personal finances including a reduction in payday loans such financial burdens force you to take.
Student Loan Forgiveness
As the freeze on student loan payment is set to end in January 2022, borrowers are getting ready to resume making their repayments in February.
Even as you get ready for that, it is important to know that there are a lot of student loan cancellations that you can take advantage of. Getting a student loan cancellation will eliminate the need for emergency loans for bad credit because your debt burden will have reduced. All you need to know is where to find it and how to apply for it.
Since the beginning of this year, President Joe Biden’s administration has forgiven many student loans than any other administration in US history. The good news is that Biden has committed to cancelling more student loans and you may be able benefit from this.
The million-dollar question is, “How to I access student loan forgiveness?” Let’s find out:
What you need to know
- Ways to get your student loan cancelled: There are several ways through which your student loan can be forgiven. These include having an in-come driven repayment plan in pace or if you have total and permanent disability. Other ways are through public service loan forgiveness, teacher loan forgiveness and state programs aimed at student loan forgiveness.
- Qualifying for student loan forgiveness: Getting your student loan cancelled is not automatic. Just as you qualify for personal loans like pre approved installment loans, you also need to meet certain requirements to qualify for student loan cancellation. Most student loans that are forgiven only relate to federal loans. If you received a private loan through the federal government, your loan cannot be cancelled. In such cases, you need to contact your student loan service to find out how your private loan can be cancelled. Here is how you can qualify for the types of student loan forgiveness listed above.
| Type | How To Qualify | How To Apply |
| Income-driven repayment plans | Automatic qualification for Direct Loans | Contact your student loan servicer for application details. |
| FFELP Loans or Perkins Loans have to be converted to Direct Consolidation Loans | ||
| You must have made 25 years of monthly student payments for graduate student loans and 20 years for under graduate student loans. | ||
| Choose one of the repayment plans: Income-Based Repayment (IBR), Pay As You Earn (PAYE), Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE) and Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) | ||
| Total and permanent disability | You must be totally and permanently disabled | Apply for cancellation on disability discharge website. |
| Public service loan forgiveness | You must be a federal loan borrower | Complete the Public Service Loan Forgiveness form to get student loan forgiveness. |
| You have an income-driven repayment plan in place | This form is submitted annually or when you change employers. | |
| You must be working for a qualified public service or not-for profit employer | ||
| You must make 120 monthly student loan payments | ||
| Teacher loan forgiveness | You must teach for 5 complete and consecutive academic years in a low-income school or educational service agency | Apply through teacher loan forgiveness |
| You can get total student loan cancellation with public service loan forgiveness if you commit to teach for at least 10 years. | ||
| State programs | Qualifications vary by state and program | Contact your state’s department of education. |
- Major changes to student loan cancellation: The US government has made a major changes to the student loan forgiveness program. This is mainly geared towards making them more accessible and simpler so that you can get student loan forgiveness with more ease. For example, if you are a public servant and you can count prior payments for FFELP Loans and Perkins Loans, count late payments, and count student loan payments made before student loan consolidation. This adds to the student loan debt repayment freeze as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Consequently, the Biden administration is giving borrowers approximately $110 billions of student loan cancellation.
- Student loan cancellation for closed schools: You might be wondering; can I get a student forgiveness if my school is closed? The short answer is ‘Yes’. This has happened to those who attended for-profit schools. If your school closed while you were enrolled or shortly after you graduated, you can apply for student loan forgiveness through the US Department of Education.
- You can get student loan cancellation if you don’t work in the public service.
While this list is not exhaustive, it provides you with some of the information you need to get started while applying for student loan forgiveness. You can contact your student loan servicer or the US Department of Education for more information.
