Public Student Loan Forgiveness?

[Johnny Hammersticks]

I just received the letter today confirming that the remaining ~35K of my federal student loans have been forgiven after applying for the Public Student Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program.
 

I finished my PhD program with just north of 120K in federal/private student loans (my folks didn’t pay for any of my education), and have been paying them off diligently for over 15 years.  

This is HUGE for my family, as my monthly student loan payment was almost $1000/month before my final consolidation.   I was eligible because I had made at least 120 payments while being employed by public school districts.
 

Was anyone else able to take advantage of this program?  If so, cheers 🍻 

[Another Fan]

No 

[Big Turk]

No...am waiting for when they clear all student loads after being in an IBRE program once the loans are 20 or 25 years old regardless of how much is left to pay which is supposedly coming soon.

[Johnny Hammersticks]

7 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

No...am waiting for when they clear all student loads after being in an IBRE program once the loans are 20 or 25 years old regardless of how much is left to pay which is supposedly coming soon.

Best of luck.  Hope that comes through for you.

[LeviF]

lol with my income-based payments I was paid off after 8 years. So no, because I only made like 98 qualifying payments or something like that. But had I been in more debt or stayed at the NFP I worked for right out of college I would have eventually qualified.

[Johnny Hammersticks]

3 minutes ago, LeviF said:

lol with my income-based payments I was paid off after 8 years. So no, because I only made like 98 qualifying payments or something like that. But had I been in more debt or stayed at the NFP I worked for right out of college I would have eventually qualified.

Pretty sure law enforcement, corrections and fire fighters also qualify for PSLF, but sounds like you are all set 👌

[LeviF]

4 minutes ago, Johnny Hammersticks said:

Pretty sure law enforcement, corrections and fire fighters also qualify for PSLF, but sounds like you are all set 👌

 

Yeah they do I just mean with the amount of money I made at the NFP I would be looking at getting my loans forgiven this year instead of having no school debt as of 2021. I was still on IDR or something similar after I left the NFP just in case I still had something to discharge after 10 years.

Edited February 21, 2023 by LeviF

[plenzmd1]

19 minutes ago, LeviF said:

 

Yeah they do I just mean with the amount of money I made at the NFP I would be looking at getting my loans forgiven this year instead of having no school debt as of 2021. I was still on IDR or something similar after I left the NFP just in case I still had something to discharge after 10 years.

wait, you went to college?

[LeviF]

2 minutes ago, plenzmd1 said:

wait, you went to college?

 

All seven years!

[Saxum]

1 hour ago, Johnny Hammersticks said:

Pretty sure law enforcement, corrections and fire fighters also qualify for PSLF, but sounds like you are all set 👌

 

Government employees almost always are eligible for forgiveness programs.

Worked with government employee who got his entire debt forgiven and his position was not listed in program.

Sometimes they do that to make it more palatable to those who do not want more government spending on government programs and seeing all of the programs they are eligible for and all of the extra time off I am starting to agree with it.

At my job I sometimes get email for those intended only for government employees but you are instructed to destroy it if not intended for you. 

[Just Jack]

6 hours ago, Johnny Hammersticks said:

Was anyone else able to take advantage of this program?  If so, cheers 🍻 

 

My wife should be able to get hers forgiven this year, maybe next at the latest, she's been in social work since graduating from college with her Masters. 

[Johnny Hammersticks]

Just now, Just Jack said:

 

My wife should be able to get hers forgiven this year, maybe next at the latest, she's been in social work since graduating from college with her Masters. 

If she has any questions about the process, please let me know.  It can be tricky, and I made a couple mistakes with my paperwork that caused delays.  Has she consolidated her fed loans with Mohela?

[Just Jack]

6 minutes ago, Johnny Hammersticks said:

If she has any questions about the process, please let me know.  It can be tricky, and I made a couple mistakes with my paperwork that caused delays.  Has she consolidated her fed loans with Mohela?

 

She has, I know she's on top of all the paperwork needed.  I'm just not sure where she is in the process.  She's been planning on this for years.  

[Einstein]

My sister just had hers forgiven as well. She has been in the public schools for nearly 20 years and is a Vice Principal.

[Nextmanup]

Johnny you deadbeat! 

 

I paid off my law school loan debt fair and square years ago! 

 

On a serious note, good for you!  

[Johnny Hammersticks]

53 minutes ago, Nextmanup said:

Johnny you deadbeat! 

 

I paid off my law school loan debt fair and square years ago! 

 

On a serious note, good for you!  

If you weren’t a blood sucking attorney maybe you could have had your loans forgiven too.  😉 😂 

[PetermansRedemption]

Just to confirm, you have to make 10 years of qualifying payments, correct? So, wouldn’t the loan be completely paid off in many cases anyways? Seems they should look to lower this to 5 years. 
 

As it stands, can you really qualify if you make a decent combined income? Or do you have to be on income based repayment to really take advantage of this? 

Edited February 23, 2023 by PetermansRedemption

[Augie]

On 2/21/2023 at 2:51 PM, Johnny Hammersticks said:

I just received the letter today confirming that the remaining ~35K of my federal student loans have been forgiven after applying for the Public Student Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program.
 

I finished my PhD program with just north of 120K in federal/private student loans (my folks didn’t pay for any of my education), and have been paying them off diligently for over 15 years.  

This is HUGE for my family, as my monthly student loan payment was almost $1000/month before my final consolidation.   I was eligible because I had made at least 120 payments while being employed by public school districts.
 

Was anyone else able to take advantage of this program?  If so, cheers 🍻 

 

I’m VERY happy for you and your family. Oh, and you’re welcome.  😋

 

That is a LOT of Ca$h every month. Especially since it often comes around the time many people are starting to have kids. Somehow, we get by.  🤷‍♂️

 

EDIT: We have always said there are two things we would pay for, for ourselves and our kids. The first is education, and the second is housing. We let our son get a loan for his private school MBA, but then we paid it off when he finished. They just had their first child, the wife is out of the work force for a while, they are lucky. The best part is they know it. 

 

 

. 

Edited February 23, 2023 by Augie

[Just Jack]

27 minutes ago, PetermansRedemption said:

Just to confirm, you have to make 10 years of qualifying payments, correct? So, wouldn’t the loan be completely paid off in many cases anyways? Seems they should look to lower this to 5 years. 
 

As it stands, can you really qualify if you make a decent combined income? Or do you have to be on income based repayment to really take advantage of this? 

 

Correct, but as with most student loans, even after 10 years, you can still owe a lot.  My wife's is over 6 figures still after all these years.  We do not combine our income, so payments are only calculated on what she makes.  

[Jukester]

On 2/21/2023 at 2:19 PM, Big Turk said:

No...am waiting for when they clear all student loads after being in an IBRE program once the loans are 20 or 25 years old regardless of how much is left to pay which is supposedly coming soon.

If you're referring to the one time IDR Account Adjustment, my loan just got credited for the full remaining balance earlier this month automatically!  What a crazy pleasant surprise.  If your loans qualify, they need to be consolidated into a Direct Consolidation Loan (if not already).  I'm in the process of doing that for my wife's loans.  Deadline is 5/1/23. See details at the link below.

 

https://studentaid.gov/announcements-events/idr-account-adjustment