Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program?

[sacklunch]

Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. Can someone explain how all this works?

thanks

-Nick

[gsams]

I think the deal is that you have to agree to stay at a job with the government for 5 years. That is what my friend who works for the FBI did. And yes, they will forgive your loans, even your PhD if you have some debt.

[tem11]

I think the deal is that you have to agree to stay at a job with the government for 5 years. That is what my friend who works for the FBI did. And yes, they will forgive your loans, even your PhD if you have some debt.

None of this is accurate. You don't have to work for the government, you just have to work in public service. Teaching in high need areas, nursing, social work, etc. I'm sure some and possibly all government jobs are considered public service positions, but there are a lot of other positions in the private sector as well. If you google it, you'll come up with a list of eligible professions.

You basically work a public service job for 10 years (not 5) and in return your FEDERAL loans are forgiven. This program does not apply to private loans at all. As of right now, there's no application process for this because it was just implemented in 07/08 which means the earliest anyone will be eligible is 2017/2018. So it's a little hard to say how easy/difficult qualifying for this program will be since no one can give any first hand accounts.

Just a little advice. When I just started undergrad, there were a ton of loan forgiveness programs at the state level. Every single one in my state has been abolished due to budget cuts. While this program may very well benefit you ten years from now, I would not rely on it being in place when you graduate. If it's still around and operating smoothly, great. But don't sink into tens of thousands of dollars of debt while relying on this program to help out with your student loan debt. I learned that the hard way in undergrad .

Best of luck to you!

[africanhistoryphd]

I can't recommend checking out the following link for info on loan forgiveness highly enough:

http://www.ibrinfo.org/

If you qualify, it's amazing.

[tem11]

I can't recommend checking out the following link for info on loan forgiveness highly enough:

http://www.ibrinfo.org/

If you qualify, it's amazing.

It's definitely helpful to people in some situations but I wouldn't say it's amazing. Your monthly payments are lower but you pay WAY more in interest over the course of those 25 years. And if you're married they use both you and your spouse's income which means 9 times out of 10, you won't qualify. Seeing as how a lot of people plan on getting married in the next 25 years, it's not incredibly helpful and is just another way for the government to make loads of money off of interest. That's been my experience so far, anyhow.