Apply for Federal Government Student Loan Forgiveness in USA

The Student Loan Forgiveness and its application is ongoing right now, and it is available for every student who has collected one form of loan or the other from the U.S Federal government. Learn more on how to apply for federal government student loan forgiveness.

While you can apply for the Student Loan Forgiveness, it is important to note that there are certain criteria that qualify you the loan forgiveness and you must meet them to be able to stand a chance for loan forgiveness or other form of help with loan repayment.

In this guide, we are going to explain to you what Student Loan Forgiveness means, other forms of loan repayment help from the government as well as loan cancellation. Additionally, we are going to answer some of the questions you may be asking about Federal Government Student Loan Forgiveness.

What is Student Loan Forgiveness?

Student Loan Forgiveness forgives the remaining balance of your federal student loans after 120 payments working full time for federal, state, Tribal or Local government; the military; or a qualifying non-profit.

In other words, this means that you will not pay back either the balance of your loan or all of your loan which you have taken from the government, but you need to qualify for the loan forgiveness. Keep reading to see how you qualify for loan forgiveness

What Happens After Student Loan Forgiveness?

If you qualify for forgiveness of the full amount of your loan(s), you won’t have to make any more loan payments. If you qualify for forgiveness of only a portion of your loan(s), you’re still responsible for repaying the remaining balance.

 

Student Loan Forgiveness Eligibility

Also Read: List Of Available Scholarship to Apply in USA

 

Who Qualifies for Student Loan Forgiveness?

Like we said, to stand a chance for loan forgiveness you have to meet certain criteria. To qualify or be eligible for loan forgiveness, you must have federal student loans, and also earn less than $125,000 in annual income (or $250,000 per household as the case may be). People who borrow loans from government who meet this criteria can stand a chance of up to $10,000 in loan/debt cancellation.

Interestingly, if you have taken a Pell Grant during your academics, you can qualify for up $20,000 in loan forgiveness.

Want to be sure you qualify for loan forgiveness? Check out this Students Loan Forgivenesss calculator to help determine your forgiveness eligibility.

 

What Type Of Student Loans Qualify?

Almost every type of federal student loan qualifies for loan forgiveness, and this includes direct subsidized or unsubsidized loans, graduate loans or parent PLUS loans and others.

Remember, if you loan qualifies for the federal student loan payment pause, then they are aligible for this loan forgiveness program opportunity which is on-going.

Worthy of note is, that most Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL) and Perkins Loans are ineligible for forgiveness as they are not held by the federal government. People or borrowers with this kind of debt who applied for a direct consolidation loan before September 29th, 2022 should be eligible, but every other borrowers who fall into this category currently cannot get loan forgiveness.

NOTE: Private Student Loans are NOT eligible for loan forgiveness.

 

What if I only received a partial Pell Grant or only had a Pell Grant for one year?

If this is the case for you, then you can still qualify for up to $20,000 of forgiveness, no matter the size or frequency of your Pell Grants.

 

What if my student loans are in default?

For borrowers whose loans are in default, they can still qualify for loan forgiveness. Big thanks to the Department of Education’s Fresh Start program, where borrowers have the opportunity to return any remaining defaulted federal loans to good standing.

Loans that are eligible for Fresh Start include direct loans, Federal Family Education loans (FFEL) and Perkins loans that are held by the Department of Education.

 

Are parent loans or graduate-level loans eligible?

Yes, if you have parent PLUS loans or grad PLUS loans, you can qualify for forgiveness.

Differences Between Loan Forgiveness, Cancellation, and Discharge- Student Loan Forgiveness

Loan forgiveness, cancellation discharge somewhat mean the same thing, but in this context they can mean different things are used differently.

Loan forgiveness or cancellation comes when your loan payment is no longer required of you either due to your job status or any other related matter.

On the other hand, discharge has to with when you are no longer required to pay your loans as a result of certain situation like permanent disability issue or closure of the institution where you received your loan; this is how these terms differ.

Thus, it is important to note, that you will continue to take the responsibility of your loan payment except you are within these circumstances that may qualify you to have your loans forgiven, canceled or discharged permanently.

Also Read: Jobs In USA to Apply

 

One-time Student Loan Debt Relief

The Department of Education (ED) offers one-time student loan debt relief as part of the Biden-Harris Administration student debt relief plan.

This is a program which provides you the opportunity to receive up to $20,000 in debt relief in case you receive a Federal Pell Grant.

Then $10,000 in debt relief in case you didn’t receive a Federal Pell Grant. If you received loans held by ED, you’re only eligible for this relief when your individual income is less than $125,000 (or $250,000 for households).

 

Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)

Are you a public service worker or a full-time government worker or non-profit organization, you may qualify for forgiveness of the entire remaining balance of your Direct Loans after you’ve made 10 years of payments, which is 120 qualifying payments.

Are you looking for Public Service Loan Forgiveness? then go make use the PSLF help tool to generate a form and submit to MOHELA, the PSLF servicer.

Do you know that for some reasons you may be eligible for Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness (TEPSLF). Check here for more information about TEPSLF, and see how you can be eligible.

 

Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) Forgiveness

The IDR plan bases your monthly payment on your income and size of your family. You can be forgiven any remaining balance on your student loans when you repay your loans under an IDR plan.

This is possible when you must have made a certain number of payments over 20 or 25 years. Click HERE to apply directly or you can directly learn more about IDR plans HERE before applying. See more options to apply for aids HERE.

 

Teacher Loan Forgiveness

Do you know that if you have served as a teacher in full-time teaching for 5 consecutive academic year in certain public elementary or secondary schools or educational service agencies that serve low-income families, you may be eligible for forgiveness of up to about $17,500 in your loan forgiveness.

Go here for more information on qualification for Teacher Loan Forgiveness.

 

Military Service Loan Forgiveness

This is for people who have served in US military. The government is doing this to encourage and acknowledge the good effort of the US military. The US military is of great value to the government, and as such special benefits are given on the side of the student loans available from ED and the U.S. Department of Defense.

Benefits include interest rate caps under the Service members Civil Relief Act and Department of Defense student loan repayment programs. You can get more information about federal student loan benefits for members of the U.S. armed forces.

AmeriCorps Student Loan Forgiveness

Check out the Segal AmeriCorps Education Award which is a benefit received by participants who complete a term of national service in an approved AmeriCorps program—AmeriCorps VISTA, AmeriCorps NCCC, or AmeriCorps State and National. You are eligible to receive a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award after you have successfully complete your service. This is used to repay qualified student loans.

Important links to go through for the federal government student loan forgiveness:

The Government emails to borrowers come from [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected]. You can report scam attempts to the Federal Trade Commission by calling 1-877-382-4357 or by visiting ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Avoid scams today and see what you can do if you’re contacted by a scammer.

 

When will loan forgiveness be processed?

Some 8 million borrowers will receive their debt cancellation automatically, since the Department of Education already has their relevant income information on file. Others will have to submit the simple online application. Once their application is submitted, borrowers can expect to see their debt cancellation within four to six weeks.

How will I know when my loans are forgiven?

The Department of Education will notify you when your application is approved, and your loan servicer will update you once your loans are forgiven. Keep an eye out for any correspondence from your servicer via email or mail, and regularly check your loan balance online.

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