Assistantship considered "Student" or "Employee"

[hockeyref24]

I am currently in a Ph.D. program at a public university that offers an assistantship with a  stipend and tuition wavier. I was recently thinking because my university is considered a non-profit, I may qualify for years towards the loan forgiveness program (towards loans during my undergrad).

 

My question is do universities usually consider Ph.D. students on assistantships with stipend and tuition waivers as employees or students? This would determine if I would be eligible for the loan forgiveness program I mentioned earlier.

 

Has anyone tried to take advantage of this scenario?

[PsyDuck90]

I'm not sure if you would be considered an employee for loan purposes. However, to qualify for the non-profit loan forgiveness in general, you have to be making regular, monthly payments for 10 consecutive years on an approved income-based loan repayment program. 

[childpsych2019]

Another qualification for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (assuming this is the program you're referring to) is that you must be working full-time while you are making the payments - which they define as "if you meet your employer's definition of full-time work or at least 30 hours per week, whichever is greater". Most assistantships I'm aware of are offered based on 20 hours of work per week, which would not meet that qualification (unfortunately). ☹️