Student Loan Repayment Programs and Student Loan Forgiveness

2006-05-13

Depending on your education, experience and personal interests there can be several Student Loan Repayment Programs available for you once you have graduated. For instance, there are three different Student Loan Repayment Programs offered by the U.S. Military. The National Institute of Health (NIH) offers student loan repayment programs for health professionals interested in clinical, paediatric, health disparity or contraceptive and infertility research. The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services has Student Loan Repayment Program for health professionals. Several law schools will cancel your student loan if you work for public or non-profit organizations. You can contact the National Association for Public Interest Law on 1-202-466-3686 to find out more about this opportunity. The National Association for Public Interest Law also provides information regarding public interest employers who offer Student Loan Repayment benefits.

In addition to the Loan Repayment Programs, there is also the opportunity to have your student loans cancelled by the federal government. Under certain circumstances the federal government can cancel your whole student loan, or a part of it, if you have a Stafford Federal Student Loan, a Federal Plus Student Loan, a Federal Perkins Student Loan or a Consolidation Loan. This is called Student Loan Forgiveness and you can receive Student Loan Forgiveness by doing voluntary work, enroll for Military Service or work as a doctor or teacher in certain underprivileged areas. Organisations such as the AmeriCorps, the Peace Corps and the Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) all offer Student Loan Forgiveness. For teachers and those with similar educations, the Department of Education offers a Child Care Provider Loan Forgiveness Demonstration Program. Certain federally employed attorneys can be eligible for Student Loan Forgiveness. For example, an attorney working with high risk children from low income families for a non-profit organisation may qualify for student financial aid to have a part of his Perkins Student Loan forgiven.

The U.S. Military service has three different Student Loan Repayment programs; one for the Army, one for the Navy and one for the Air Force. Soldiers in the full-time duty Army can have one-third of their student loan repaid by the Military for each year of full-time duty. The maximum loan repayment was $65,000 in 2005. The Army aids soldiers in repaying their federal student loans if the students have attended school in approved Perkins, Stafford, or other Department of Education Guaranteed Student Loans. The Navy offers a similar Student Loan Repayment program as the Army but you must also qualify for Navy Nuclear Field or other designated critical rating as defined by the U.S. Navy. The Air Force has a College Loan Repayment Program (CLRP) that repays a maximum of $10,000 per recruit.

If you are interested in the Student Loan Repayment program offered by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, you should contact the National Health Service Corps at 1-800-221-9393. The Student Loan Repayment program offered by the NHSC will pay up to $50,000 for two years of service. You will receive the money as a lump sum around 90 days after the contract start date, and you need to contact your lender your self and ask how to perform an advanced payment. In addition to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, there are 14 other federal government departments that offer Federal Student Loan Repayment Programs. These departments are the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury and Veterans' Affairs. The federal regulation allows them to repay up to $10,000 a year and $60,000 total for each person.

For more information on student credit and financial aid programs read the related articles below.

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