Stafford Loan Teacher Deferments.

Repayment of loans from the FFEL or Direct Loan programs may be deferred for full-time teaching in a federally designated teacher shortage area for a maximum of three years if

If you qualify for teacher service deferment of a FFEL for enrollment between
July 1, 1987, and June 30, 1993, you may also defer any additional FFEL or Direct Loan that you received after June 30, 1993. If your loan is unsubsidized, you must still pay the interest that accumulates on the loan during eligible periods of deferment. You would pay this interest either during the deferment period or it will be an increase in the amount or number of your monthly payments when you resume making payments. This deferment does not apply, however, to new loans made on or after July 1, 1993.

To obtain a teaching deferment, you must submit a deferment form to your lender for each school year of teaching service. Under the FFEL and Direct Loan programs, a federally approved teacher shortage area can be a state region with a shortage of elementary or secondary school teachers. Or, it can be a grade level, subject-matter, or discipline classification in which there is a statewide shortage of elementary or secondary school teachers. In any case, the shortage must be identified by the state education agency and approved by the U.S. Department of Education.

List of federally designated teacher shortage areas (Word or PDF)

The principal at the school where you are teaching must certify on the deferment form that you are teaching in a federally designated teacher shortage area. If the state education agency has not informed principals that their schools were designated as having a shortage of teachers, you should contact your state education agency to get the form certified. Please remember that you must reapply each school year for a targeted teaching deferment.

If you continue to teach in the same shortage area for which you obtained the original deferment, you may continue to receive the deferment for a maximum of three years, even if your position is no longer considered to be in a teacher shortage area for those subsequent years. To receive the continuing deferment, you must provide the lender with a completed deferment form, certified by the school principal, indicating that you continue to teach full time in the same teacher shortage area for which the deferment was received the previous school year.

For more information about teaching deferments for the FFEL Program, you should consult your promissory note, and contact the lender or guarantor holding your loan, or the state education agency in the state where you are teaching. Direct Loan borrowers should contact the Direct Loan Servicing Center at 1-800-848-0979.