Public Service Loan Forgiveness

Get Your Schooling Costs Reimbursed

Graduate and professional students who pursue lower-paying public interest jobs can become overwhelmed by high monthly repayment obligations.

The College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 has made it possible for high-debt, lower income college graduates to manage their loan repayment via an “income-based repayment” plan.

The Act allows public servants (government workers and employees of nonprofit organizations that are tax exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) to have a substantial portion of their student loans forgiven after making modest repayments during ten years of full-time employment.

This Act will enable students to choose public service careers without being influenced by their student loan debt and will enable governments and nonprofit organizations to retain talented professionals who may otherwise be forced to find a different career or eventually resign after two or three years in order to seek higher-paying jobs so that they could repay their student loans.

The “income-based repayment” plan is designed to make repaying student loans easier for those who anticipate jobs with lower salaries.

The monthly payments on the loans are reduced to a percentage of your discretionary income, which is based on your income, family size, and total amount borrowed and is adjusted accordingly each year.

*Income-based repayment is only available for federal student loans, such as the Stafford, Grad PLUS and consolidation loans. It is not available for private student loans, Parent PLUS loans or Perkins loans, but it is available for consolidation loans that include a Perkins loan.