Student Loan Forgiven After 20 Years

If you took out federal student loans after October 2007 and work in a public service profession, your loan may be eligible for forgiveness after 20 years. If you lose your job or change employers before the end of the 20-year period, you can still apply for loan forgiveness when the period ends. All payments you made while working in a public service job will still count toward loan forgiveness.

Students who took out federal student loans after October 2007 and who work in public service professions may qualify for loan forgiveness after 20 years.

Who qualifies?

According to the Department of Education, students who took out federal student loans after October 2007 and who work in public service professions may qualify for loan forgiveness after 20 years. For example, if you’re a teacher or law enforcement officer who pays back your loans on time, your debt will be forgiven after 120 qualifying payments. If you earn less than a certain amount annually (roughly $50,000), all of your remaining balance can be forgiven at that point as well.

It’s important to note that there are some exceptions—most notably for borrowers with private student loans—and that the process is somewhat complicated.

Loan forgiveness is not automatic. You have to apply for it, but you only need to do so once, at the end of the 20-year period.

• Loan forgiveness is not automatic. You have to apply for it, but you only need to do so once, at the end of the 20-year period.
• You can apply even if you lose your job or change employers during that time.

Only federal Direct Loans are eligible for this program; other types of federal loans, loans issued under a different program or private student loans are not eligible.

Only federal Direct Loans are eligible for this program; other types of federal loans, loans issued under a different program or private student loans are not eligible. Federal Perkins loans and FFEL Program Loans are not eligible even if they have been consolidated into a Direct Consolidation Loan.

If you lose your job or change employers before the end of the 20-year period, you can still apply for loan forgiveness when the period ends. All payments you made while working in a public service job will still count toward loan forgiveness.

Oops! Click Regenerate Content below to try generating this section again.

You may be able to get your student loans forgiven if you work in public service for 20 years.

If you are employed in public service and have made 120 qualifying monthly payments, you may be eligible for student loan forgiveness after 20 years.

• You must have a federal direct loan.
• The loans must have been disbursed on or after October 1, 2007, but before July 1, 2014.
• You must work full-time in an eligible public service job for at least 30 hours per week (or equivalent part-time) for each 12-month period during which you make any payments on the loan(s).
• You must have paid the total amount due as of your last monthly payment on or after October 1, 1998 until at least April 30th of the year following your last 120th payment. This means that if you’ve had more than one job over the course of those 20 years (and those jobs did not pay enough to push you over the 120 required payments), then look back to see what percentage of loans were being repaid by each employer along with how many months they worked there before deciding whether or not it would affect their eligibility under this law. If they completed at least one year’s worth of work and made over 120 qualifying monthly payments during that time frame without ever defaulting on their loans after graduating from college/university then they’d still qualify even though some employers did not contribute enough money towards paying off these debts within two decades.”

While it’s still early to tell how many people will take advantage of this program, it is a promising sign that more people may be able to pay off their student loans. We’re excited to see how far this goes and what other solutions are coming down the pipeline.