Fifty percent of Americans earns $50,000 or less and the dream of going
to college has turned into a nightmare. The cost of college tuition increases
higher than the yearly rate of inflation and less free money such as grants and
scholarships are available for students wanting to go to college. As a result, students are forced to obtain
student loans. Student loans are merely another form of predatory lending and
the economy is suffering from it.
The default rate on most student loans is over 50% which affects
college accreditations, affects the housing market - causes graduates who want
to become homeowners to delay purchasing homes, prevents homeowners from
upgrading to larger homes; causes couples to delay having children or achieving
their financial goals; requires parents to provide financial support to
children who move back home instead of focusing on planning for retirement and
affects our reputation as a global economic leader.
One way to tackle student loan debt is to take advantage of student
loan forgiveness programs. To be eligible for a student loan forgiveness
program you must have made 120 separate monthly payments on time on Direct Loan
Program loans. Employees that work in
the following industries are eligible: public health, public education, public
library services and school library or other school-based services, emergency
management, social work, military service, public safety, law enforcement,
public interest law services, public library sciences, early childhood
education, public service for individuals with disabilities and the elderly,
employees who work for a not–for-profit tax-exempt 501(c)(3)organization or a
private, not-for-profit organization.
The types of
Loans eligible for student loan forgiveness are: Federal Direct Stafford/Ford
Loans (Direct Subsidized Loans), Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford/Ford
Loans (Direct Unsubsidized Loans), Federal Direct PLUS Loans (Direct PLUS
Loans) for parents and graduate or professional students, Federal Direct
Consolidation Loans (Direct Consolidation Loans). Here is a list of easy ways to pay off student
loan debt using student loan forgiveness programs:
1. Volunteer in the
ACTION program (including VISTA). Volunteers in Service to America call
1-800-942-2677 or 202-606-5000, americorps.gov/about/programs/vista.asp.
2. AmeriCorps call
1-800-942-2677, americorps.gov. Volunteers may apply for partial cancellation
of Perkins Loans call 1-800-424-8580 or 202-692-1845, www.peacecorps.gov.
4. The American Federation of Teachers maintains a list of other loan
forgiveness programs for teachers, http://www.aft.org/funding-database/stafford-loan-forgiveness-program,
http://www.aft.org/funding-database/perkins-loan-forgiveness.
5. Employees who serve in the legal industry contact
Equal Justice Works www.equaljusticeworks.org/
202-466-3686, The American Bar Association (ABA) www.americanbar.org also has a summary of
Loan Repayment Assistance Programs.
6. National Institutes of Health's NIH Loan Repayment Programs www.lrp.nih.gov/ student loan debt for
citizens who are conducting clinical medical research.
7. US Department of Agriculture's Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment
Program (VMLRP) www.nifa.usda.gov/vmlrp
offers loan forgiveness.
8. Contact the American Physical Therapy Association www.apta.org/ 1-800-999-2782 or the American
Occupational Therapy Association www.aota.org/
301-652-2682.
9. Disadvantaged Health Professions Faculty Loan Repayment Program www.hrsa.gov/loanscholarships/repayment/faculty/
10. Indian Health Service (IHS) Loan Repayment Program www.ihs.gov/loanrepayment/
11. American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) maintains a database of
state and other loan repayment programs for medical school students http://services.aamc.org/fed_loan_pub.
12. US Department of Education Cancellation/Deferment Options for Teachers studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/teachercancel.jsp?tab=repaying
and Teacher Loan Forgiveness Form https://www.myeddebt.com/borrower/PDFFrames.jsp?fileName=form.teacher.loan.forgiveness.pdf.
13. US Department of Education maintains a database of low-income schools
eligible for teacher loan cancellation for Perkins and Stafford loans https://www.tcli.ed.gov/CBSWebApp/tcli/TCLIPubSchoolSearch.jsp.
14. The Federal Student Loan Repayment Program http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/student-loan-repayment/
allows federal agencies to make payments directly to the student loan holder.
15. Student Loans can
be discharged or canceled http://studentaid.ed.gov/repay-loans/forgiveness-cancellation
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