student loan forgiveness

[Longhorn60]

Does anyone know how to obtain student loan forgiveness? Any info would be great. Thank you

[TexasHusker]

I googled that term and came up with 131,000 results. Maybe if someone has actually had student loans forgiven on here, they can chime in as to practical advice.

Are you not wanting to repay your loan(s)?

[disneysteve]

There are some forgiveness programs that are specific to certain fields. They typically involve taking a job in an under-served area. For example, newly graduated doctors can get repayment by taking a job in a rural community lacking in doctors.

Look online to see if anything is available in your field. Keep in mind that it may require you to relocate and commit a certain number of years to that job.

A far easier plan is to just work hard and pay your bills the usual way.

[kork13]

Keep in mind that it may require you to relocate and commit a certain number of years to that job.

A far easier plan is to just work hard and pay your bills the usual way.

Agreed. It depends on the pay differential... Would you want to work in an under-served area earning $70k/yr for 10 years so that you can get your $100k SLs forgiven? Or would you prefer to work in a larger market earning $150k/yr and pay off your loans in 5 years? By my math, the former option costs you about $400k in lost wages, so not really a great deal. Just earn a good income & pay them off.

Of course, if you'll earn $70k regardless with little hope of increase, maybe the math is different.... But in most fields, that's not the case.

[TexasHusker]

I'll forgive you for your student loans. Do you feel better now?

[comicguy]

There are Teacher Student Loan Forgiveness Programs. I used it a couple of years ago and got rid of 17,500 dollars because I was a special education teacher in a high needs district. Of course stipulations applied, hurdles to jump through, etc... but the form itself took 5 minutes and required my superintendents signature.

[Singuy]

Have two friends on the loan forgiveness program.

One of them owe 190k, makes 110k/year. Wife does not work. Has one kid. His monthly payment is 480/month. 10 year forgiveness since the hospital is not for profit. Eventually he'll end up paying 60k on a 190k loan.

So here's the thing.

If you work for a NON for profit organization and set yourself on the income based payments, you need to calculated if loan forgiveness is worth it. It's based on HOUSEHOLD income so if your spouse works, that will be considered into the income based payment calculation.

If you don't qualify for the non-for-profit track, then 25 years loan forgiveness can be an option. But here's the thing...this version is quite terrible since after 25 years, the amount of loans forgiven will be considered as INCOME and will be subjected to INCOME Tax. So if you racked up 200k worth of student loans and pay 480/month which doesn't even cover interest over 25 years, you will be forgiven at an amount that is higher than 200k, like 270k or something..which is then subjected to a 80k worth of income tax. So good luck with that one.

Oh also Trump may want to reverse anything Obama signed so you never know what 10 or 25 years from now looks like.

[disneysteve]

25 years loan forgiveness

This is insane! If you can't manage to repay your student loans in 25 years, you are seriously failing at life. Unless there was some major disability that prevented you from working, in which case there's probably some other way to get out of the loans, what the heck were you doing for 25 years? Why is this even an option?

[Singuy]

This is insane! If you can't manage to repay your student loans in 25 years, you are seriously failing at life. Unless there was some major disability that prevented you from working, in which case there's probably some other way to get out of the loans, what the heck were you doing for 25 years? Why is this even an option?

A lot of private school attendees who studied South African history and ends up being a cashier at Target.

[disneysteve]

A lot of private school attendees who studied South African history and ends up being a cashier at Target.

They don’t deserve to have their loans forgiven.

[Singuy]

They don’t deserve to have their loans forgiven.

Well, either you put them on a payment plan or they will just not pay at all. Some actuary probably crunched the numbers and thought maybe this is a better way to extract some funds back.

[Gailete]

I cannot fathom loans in this amount unless you are working towards being a doctor, pharmacist or something that is truly a specialty and you are good enough at it, that there is no chance you will end up on the night shift at McDonalds or at Target unless in pre-med you find that you faint at the sight of blood.

Other than medical professionals or lawyer types, I've rarely run into someone with a college degree that is working in their original field of study. I don't know when students must declare their majors at this point, but they really need to intern each summer to learn more about the fields that they are considering. Even giving a company a month of time lets you see loads of things about the major you are considering. Before or during the early years of college, a student really needs to go through counseling and testing to find the areas that they are best suited for and then try to match them up with an appropriate internship program.

I haven't been feeling too well for the last couple months and so have been spending a lot of time chilling in front of TV shows. I have learned more about so many different potential careers that maybe didn't exist when I was younger, or I had just never heard of them. Things like a forensic accountant I would have found fascinating. Never had heard of it though.

I wonder how many of these students that are overwhelmed by student loans, did they carefully budget for what they needed, or did they take all they could? When getting a mortgage, you should be taking just what you need. You don't get an extra $10K just in case and the bank probably wouldn't let you. On top of how much these kids have earned and set aside over the last 3-4 years before college? The amount you take in a loan should be the bare minimum to get you what you need in handling college costs. Those that have incredibly high loans and then want to find ways to not have to pay them, seem to be making some bad financial decisions right from the beginning.

[disneysteve]

Other than medical professionals or lawyer types, I've rarely run into someone with a college degree that is working in their original field of study.

College major really doesn't matter to most people or most jobs. Even something like a doctor doesn't necessarily need to have an undergrad degree in a science field. I had plenty of med school classmates who didn't have science degrees.

What matters is getting a degree - period. Job listings often have a college degree as a requirement. The field of study isn't what's important. Earning a college degree takes a skill set that translates well in the working world: time management, reading and writing ability, working with others, adapting to new things, critical thinking, etc. Obviously, you can have all of those skill without a college degree. It's just harder to document them that way.

I think the data I've seen say that only about 27% of college grads work in their degree field but over 60% were in a job that required a college degree.

Another thing to consider is that many of the most in-demand jobs today didn't even exist 10 years ago so few if any people doing them have degrees specifically in those fields. And for older folks like me (mid 50s), many are working in jobs and entire industries that weren't around when we went to college.

[Singuy]

53% of the students actually earn a degree after 5 years. That's a statistic people shouldn't be taken lightly. Many many students, almost half will not make it through college with anything to show for except mountains of student loan debt. And you know they lost their aid, scholarship, or whatever they had going in because their GPAs were a mess, hence not able to get their degree.

You'll be surprised at how many people end up working at Starbucks with student loans and NO degree.

[disneysteve]

Well, either you put them on a payment plan or they will just not pay at all. Some actuary probably crunched the numbers and thought maybe this is a better way to extract some funds back.

I'm totally fine with them having a payment plan. That's a must. But the payments shouldn't end until the debt is repaid. Make it a 25-year repayment. That's what my med school loans were. I paid them off early but I'm sure there are plenty who don't and take the full 25 years. There's no forgiveness. At the end of 25 years, you're debt-free. Just like a mortgage.