Federal and state programs are available to help potentially discharge all or a portion of your loans if you meet specific criteria. Employment with the following organizations will qualify you for loan forgivness:
Government organizations at any level
Federal
State
Local
Tribal
Not-for-profit organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code
Other types of not-for-profit organizations that provide certain types of qualifying public service
Serving full time in AmeriCorps or PeaceCorps
The following employers will not qualify you for public loan forgiveness:
Labor Unions
For-profit organizations
Non-profit organizations that are not tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and that do not provide a qualifying service
Partisan political organizations
Only in rare cases can you not meet the above criteria and have all or a portion of your loans discharged. These cases include:
Your death
You meet criteria for total and permanent disability
You prove undue hardship before bankruptcy court
You are unable to complete your program of study due to school closure
Your school falsely certified your loan eligibility
A loan in your name was falsely certified as a result of identity theft
Your school failed to refund required loans funds to the loan servicer
Consolidation
What is Consolidation?
Consolidation can help make your loan payments more managable. It does this by combining several loans into one loan in order to give you one monthly payment.
How Can It Benefit You?
Increases your repayment period
Makes monthly payments smaller
Creates a single monthly payment due to one loan servicer instead of multiple payments
Things to Consider
You may lose certain benefits offered by the loan servicer if you consolidate
If you're close to completing your loan repayment, it may not make sense to consolidate
Postpoing/Reducing Payments
Under certain circumstances, you can be granted a deferment or forbearance. This will help you temporarily reduce or postpone your Federal Student Loan payments.
Deferment: a period in which repayment of the principal and interest of your student loan is delayed.
Forbearance: Allows you to postpone or reduce your monthly payment for a limited or specific time period if you are unable to make your scheduled payments. Reasons include, but are not limited to financial hardship or illness.
