After 10 years of service at a government- or nonprofit medical facility, students can be forgiven their student loans or after 20 years of income-driven repayments. Frontline health care workers have sacrificed their lives since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Legislators have attempted to pass legislation to tax federal and private student loans. That would allow any health care professional workers or essential worker fighting the coronavirus to pay the debt or eligible for student loan forgiveness. These proposals are not yet law.
Even if this doesn’t change much, student loan forgiveness programs are available to health care workers.
- Public Service Loan Forgiveness
- PSLF Limited Waiver Opportunity.
- Income-Driven Repayment Plan Forgiveness.
Continue reading to discover how healthcare workers in frontline positions can help students get rid of student debt.
The latest on student loans
- Forgiveness Update: 10,000 student loan forgiveness could happen in the future.
- Extension of Covid-19 Forbearance: The latest extensions on student loan payment pause have moved the repayment start date to May 2, 2022.
- A new deadline has been set. Due to the latest coronavirus forgiveness, the student loans recertification deadline was moved to Nov. 20,22.
- Was your servicer changed? That is, if you have a student loan servicer.
Public Service Loan Forgiveness
It is the best for Essential health care workers and medical personnel employed by a government institution or nonprofit with federal student loan forgiveness program.
Public Service Loan forgiveness is available to nurses, doctors, interns and other frontline healthcare workers who work full-time for a nonprofit or government. The PSLF program provides tax-free forgiveness for borrowers, regardless of whether they are treating coronavirus patients. To qualify, you must clear four hurdles:
- Full-time employment at a qualified employer.
- You can get Direct Loans (including Direct Consolidation Loans or Direct Parent PLUS Loans) — private loans are not eligible.
- You can enroll in either the income-driven repayment plan or the 10-Year Standard Payment program.
- You can make 120 qualifying payments on-time
How to Apply: To check if your employer is eligible for the program, use the PSLF Help Tool. Complete the PSLF Employment Certificate & Application form. FedLoan Servicing will process the completed form.
PSLF Limited Waiver Opportunity
Best for: Essential workers and medical personnel with Federal Family Education Loans.
Since its inception in 2007, the PSLF Program has been plagued by problems. Many thousands of public servants and healthcare workers made 10 year-long payments hoping that they would be eligible for student loan forgiveness. But instead, they discovered they were on the wrong type of loan: Federal Family Education Loans.
The Department of Education declared last October that it would temporarily relax the rules for counting payments that were too small or too large and payments made towards FFEL loans.
The Limited PSLF waiver has been extended to over 70 thousand borrowers. It expires on October 31, 2022. This temporary expansion has been denied to people with Parent PLUS Loans or joint-spousal consolidation loans.
Apply To consolidate your FFEL loan into a Direct Consolidation Loan, visit studentaid.gov. For every employer you have worked for since Oct. 2007, you will need to complete a PSLF Employment Certification Form.
Income-Driven Repayment Plan Forgiveness
Best for Essential workers, frontline healthcare workers in private practice.
Another option for forgiveness for health care workers would be IDR forgiveness. That allows borrowers to get rid of their remaining balance after making at least 20 years’ worth of payments under an income-driven repayment plan.
You must switch from the Extended Repayment Plan or Graduated Repayment Plan to be eligible. Forgiveness does not apply to payments made before you switched; depending on which repayment plan you choose and whether you borrowed money to pay for graduate school, you will need to continue making payments for 20 to 25 years.
Apply for a student loan. When you are close to your last monthly payment, contact your student loan servicer to cancel your student loan to confirm that you are close to the end, your servicer will add up all of your monthly payments.
Are essential workers eligible for student loan forgiveness?
Congress introduced two bills, both Republicans and Democrats, to eliminate federal student debt and private student loans. They were specifically designed for emergency workers, first responders, and frontline healthcare workers.
The Student Loan Forgiveness Act for Frontline Health Workers. Carolyn Maloney (a New York Democrat) proposed tax-free federal student loan forgiveness for frontline healthcare workers. That includes nurses, doctors, emergency service personnel, laboratory workers, and others. — are treating coronavirus patients. Despite having 20 cosponsors, the bill was defeated in a previous Congress.
The Opportunities for Heroes Act of 2020. This bill was introduced by Representatives Anne Kuster (a Democrat from New Hampshire) and Brian Fitzpatrick (a Republican from Pennsylvania). It sought to eliminate student loan debt up to $25,000 for essential workers. Twenty-nine additional lawmakers supported the bill.
Application for Student Loan Forgiveness to Essential Workers
Workers don’t need to submit a separate application to be eligible for federal student loan forgiveness. Instead, they will use the same application forms as other borrowers to apply for forgiveness programs, such as the PSLF Employment Certificate.
Are you looking for assistance beyond loan forgiveness for health care loans? Let’s talk.
You can schedule a 10-minute free phone call with Student Loan Forgiveness Application to discuss your options. Our experience as a student loan company has helped many people to find solutions for their loans. That includes helping them start families, buy houses, and retire.
