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Stafford Loan Forgiveness Program for Teachers

The Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program is intended to encourage individuals to enter and continue in the teaching profession. Under this program, individuals who teach full time for five consecutive, complete academic years in certain elementary and secondary schools that serve low-income families and meet other qualifications may be eligible for forgiveness of up to a combined total of $17,500 in principal and interest on their FFEL and/or Direct Loan program loans. (Note: As of August 14, 2008, an otherwise eligible borrower may qualify for forgiveness if the borrower has provided qualifying teaching services at one or more locations that are operated by an educational service agency.)


Eligibility Requirements

  • You must not have had an outstanding balance on a FFEL or Direct Loan program loan as of October 1, 1998, or on the date that you obtained a Direct Loan Program loan or a FFEL Program loan after October 1, 1998.
  • If you are in default on a FFEL and/or Direct Loan program loan(s), you are not eligible for forgiveness of that loan(s) unless you have made satisfactory repayment arrangements with the holder of the defaulted loan(s).
  • The loan(s) for which you are seeking forgiveness was made prior to the end of your five academic years of qualifying teaching service.
  • You have not received benefits through the AmeriCorps Program under Subtitle D of Title I of the National and Community Service Act of 1990 for the same teaching service for which you are seeking forgiveness on your FFEL and/or Direct Loan program loan(s).
  • You must have been employed as a full-time teacher for five consecutive, complete academic years, at least one of which was after the 1997-1998 academic year, in an elementary or secondary school that:
    • Is in a school district that qualifies for funds under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended;
    • Has been selected by the U.S. Department of Education based on a determination that more than 30 percent of the school’s total enrollment is made up of children who qualify for services provided under Title I; and
    • Is listed in the Annual Directory of Designated Low-Income Schools for Teacher Cancellation Benefits. If this directory is not available before May 1 of any year, the previous year’s directory may be used. Note: All elementary and secondary schools operated by the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) or operated on Indian reservations by Indian tribal groups under contract with the BIE qualify as schools serving low-income students. These schools are qualifying schools for purposes of this loan forgiveness program.
    Note: If your school meets the above requirements for at least one year of your teaching service, but does not meet these requirements during subsequent years, your subsequent years of teaching at the school may be counted toward the required five consecutive, complete academic years of teaching.

If your five consecutive, complete years of qualifying teaching service began before October 30,2004:

  • You may receive up to $5,000 in loan forgiveness if, as certified by the Chief Administrative Officer of the school where you were employed, you were:
    1. A full-time elementary school teacher who demonstrated knowledge and teaching skills in reading, writing, mathematics, and other areas of the elementary school curriculum; or
    2. A full-time secondary school teacher who taught in a subject area that was relevant to your academic major.
  • You may receive up to $17,500 in loan forgiveness if, as certified by the Chief Administrative Officer of the school where you were employed, you were:
    1. A highly qualified full-time mathematics or science teacher in an eligible secondary school; or
    2. A highly qualified special education teacher whose primary responsibility was to provide special education to children with disabilities, and you taught children with disabilities that corresponded to your area of special education training and have demonstrated knowledge and teaching skills in the content areas of the curriculum that you taught.

If your five consecutive, complete years of qualifying teaching service began on or after October 30, 2004:

  • You may receive up to $5,000 in loan forgiveness if you were a highly qualified full-time elementary or secondary school teacher.
  • You may receive up to $17,500 in loan forgiveness if, as certified by the Chief Administrative Officer of the school where you were employed, you were:
    1. A highly qualified full-time mathematics or science teacher in an eligible secondary school; or
    2. A highly qualified special education teacher whose primary responsibility was to provide special education to children with disabilities, and you taught children with disabilities that corresponded to your area of special education training and have demonstrated knowledge and teaching skills in the content areas of the curriculum that you taught.

If you were unable to complete an academic year of teaching, that year may still be counted toward the required five consecutive, complete academic years if:

  • You completed at least one-half of the academic year; and
  • Your employer considers you to have fulfilled your contract requirements for the academic year for the purposes of salary increases, tenure, and retirement; and
  • You were unable to complete the academic year because:
    1. You returned to postsecondary education, on at least a half-time basis, in an area of study directly related to the performance of the teaching service described above; or
    2. You had a condition covered under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA*); or
    3. You were called or ordered to active duty status for more than 30 days as a member of a reserve component of the Armed Forces**.
Note: Absence due to a period of postsecondary education, a condition covered under the FMLA, or active duty service, including the time needed for you to resume teaching no later than the beginning of the next regularly scheduled academic year, does not constitute a break in the required five consecutive, complete years of qualifying teaching service.

Low-Income School Search

Each year, the U.S. Department of Education publishes a list of low-income elementary and secondary schools. To find out if a school is classified as a low-income school, check our online database for the year(s) you have been employed as a teacher. Questions about the inclusion or omission of a particular school must be directed to the state education agency contact in the state where the school is located and not to the U.S. Department of Education.


How to apply

You apply for teacher loan cancellation after you have completed the five-year teaching requirement. Click here to print a copy of the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Application. The Chief Administrative Officer of the school at which you performed your qualifying teaching service must complete the certification section. If you taught at more than one school during the same academic year, the Chief Administrative Officer from one of the schools may complete the certification section. If you taught at different schools during different academic years, the Chief Administrative Officers from all of the schools must certify your eligibility. If you need more than one Chief Administrative Officer’s certification, the additional certifications may be provided on a separate piece of paper and submitted with your completed form. Return the completed form to the address shown in Section 9 of the application. If you are applying for forgiveness of loans that are held by different loan holders, you must submit a separate form to each loan holder.


Postponing repayment while under consideration for cancellation

You can get forbearance for up to 60 days while you're completing the loan discharge application which includes the time it takes for the lender and guarantor to review it.

The loan holder or guaranty agency must notify you within 135 days of their decision on your application.  If your application is approved, new repayment terms based on any remaining loan balances will be provided to you. The lender may cancel up to $17,500 of the aggregate loan amount that is outstanding after you've finished your fifth year of teaching. (The aggregate loan amount includes both principal and interest.) However, the lender cannot refund the payments you made before you completed the fifth year of teaching service.

Your lender can grant forbearance for each year of your qualifying teaching service if the expected cancellation amount will satisfy the anticipated remaining outstanding balance on the loan at the time of the expected cancellation. Unless you give your lender or loan servicing agency other instructions, your unsubsidized Stafford Loan balance will be cancelled first, followed by any outstanding subsidized Stafford Loan balance, and then any eligible outstanding Consolidation Loan balance. The lender may cancel only the outstanding portion of the Consolidation Loan that was used to repay subsidized or unsubsidized Stafford Loans that qualified for loan forgiveness.


Definitions:

  • "Academic year" means one complete school year at the same school, or two complete and consecutive half years at different schools, or two complete and consecutive half years from different school years (at either the same school or different schools). Half years exclude summer sessions and generally fall within a 12-month period. For schools that have a year-round program of instruction, 9 months is considered an academic year.

  • "Elementary school" or "secondary school" means a public or nonprofit private school that provides elementary education or secondary education as determined by state law (or by the U.S. Department of Education if the school is not in a state).

  • "Full-time employment as a teacher" is determined by the state's standard. For a borrower teaching in more than one school, the determination of full time is based on the combination of all qualifying employment.

  • "Teacher" means a person who provides direct classroom teaching or classroom-type teaching in a non-classroom setting, including Special Education teachers.

  • To be a highly qualified teacher a public elementary or secondary school teacher must: 
  1. have obtained full State certification as a teacher (including certification obtained through alternative routes to certification) or passed the State teacher licensing examination, and holds a license to teach in that State, except that when used with respect to any teacher teaching in a public charter school, the term means that the teacher meets the requirements set forth in the State's public charter school law; and

  2. have not had certification or licensure requirements waived on an emergency, temporary, or provisional basis.

In addition —

An elementary school teacher who is new to the profession is considered highly qualified if s/he also:

  1. holds at least a bachelor’s degree; and
  2. has demonstrated, by passing a rigorous State test, subject knowledge and teaching skills in reading, writing, mathematics, and other areas of the basic elementary school curriculum (which may consist of passing a State-required certification or licensing test or tests in reading, writing, mathematics, and other areas of the basic elementary school curriculum).

A middle or secondary school teacher who is new to the profession is highly qualified if the teacher also:

  1. holds at least a bachelor’s degree, and
  2. has demonstrated a high level of competency in each of the academic subjects in which the teacher teaches by-
    • passing a rigorous State academic subject test in each of the academic subjects in which the teacher teaches (which may consist of a passing level of performance on a State-required certification or licensing test or tests in each of the academic subjects in which the teacher teaches); or

    • successful completion, in each of the academic subjects in which the teacher teaches, of an academic major, a graduate degree, coursework equivalent to an undergraduate academic major, or advanced certification or credentialing.

An elementary, middle, or secondary school teacher who is not new to the profession is highly qualified if the teacher also:

  1. holds at least a bachelor’s degree; and
  2. meets the applicable standards of an elementary, middle, or secondary school teacher who is new to the profession; or
  3. demonstrates competence in all the academic subjects in which the teacher teaches based on a high objective uniform State standard of evaluation that-
    • is set by the State for both grade appropriate academic subject matter knowledgeand teaching skills;
    • is aligned with challenging State academic content and student academic achievement standards and developed in consultation with core content specialists, teachers, principals, and school administrators;
    • provides objective, coherent information about the teacher’s attainment of core content knowledge in the academic subjects in which a teacher teaches;
    • is applied uniformly to all teachers in the same academic subject and the same grade level throughout the State;
    • takes into consideration, but is not based primarily on, the time the teacher has been teaching in the academic subject;
    • is made available to the public upon request; and may involve multiple, objective measures of teacher competency.

Download a summary of this information

You can download and print out information in a convenient trifold Stafford Loan Forgiveness Program for Teachers Portable Document Format (PDF), which requires the Adobe Acrobat Reader. (You can download the Reader for free at the Adobe Web site.) The color PDF version works best if printed as a two-sided sheet and then folded into a brochure. This brochure can be duplicated but not sold.


Community service loan forgiveness

This provision excludes from income any student loan amounts forgiven by non-profit, tax-exempt charitable or educational institutions for borrowers who take community service jobs that address unmet community needs. For example, a recent graduate who takes a low-paying job in a rural school will not owe any additional income tax if, in recognition of this service, his or her college or another charity forgives a loan it made to him or her to help pay her college costs. This provision applies to loans forgiven after August 5, 1997.

*A serious health condition covered under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) (19 U.S.C. 2654) "Serious health condition" includes an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition that involves.
  • inpatient care (i.e., an overnight stay) in a hospital, hospice, or residential medical-care facility. This includes any period of incapacity (defined to mean the inability to work, attend school, or perform other regular daily activities; includes pregnancy).
  • continuing treatment by (or under the supervision of) a health care provider for a period of incapacity (see above). It also includes a chronic or long-term health condition that is incurable or so serious that, if not treated, would likely result in a period of incapacity of more than three calendar days. Includes prenatal care.

**Army National Guard, Army Reserve, Marine Corps Reserve, Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve, and Coast Guard Reserve

Last updated/reviewed February 20, 2009

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