Teacher Loan Forgiveness

Teacher Loan Forgiveness (TLF) is a separate federal program from PSLF. If you serve as a full-time classroom teacher for five complete and consecutive academic years at a low-income school, the program provides forgiveness of either $5,000 or $17,500 for Federal Direct or Stafford Loans, depending on the subject area you teach.  

Under PSLF’s requirements, your five years of employment used to receive Teacher Loan Forgiveness cannot be credited to PSLF, as you cannot simultaneously qualify for both programs due to the “double benefits” provision. 

Teachers should seek help by going to the NEA Student Debt Navigator to determine which forgiveness program is right for them. Teacher Loan Forgiveness does not apply to education support professionals, specialized instructional support personnel, or higher education faculty. 

Please note that to be eligible for TLF, you must not have had an outstanding balance on Direct Loans or Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program loans as of Oct. 1, 1998, or on the date that you obtained a Direct Loan or FFEL Program loan after Oct. 1, 1998.  

Learn More About Teacher Loan Forgiveness

Income-Driven Repayment Plans

Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plan applications are live again. If you were enrolled in the SAVE plan, we recommend that educators pursuing PSLF immediately enroll into one of the three remaining IDR plans – PAYE, IBR, ICR – in order to continue making qualifying payments for PSLF. 

Income-driven repayment plans can help keep payments affordable (and be as little as $0 per month depending on your income). Educators must be in one of these repayment plans to qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

• Monthly payments are determined by discretionary income, rather than loan balance. With an income-driven repayment plan, you will pay around 10-15 percent of your discretionary income. You can estimate your monthly payments using the Federal Student Aid Loan Simulator.
• Being enrolled in an income-driven repayment plan is the only way to qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, which could forgive your student loans in as little as 10 years. Even if you don't qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, when you participate in an income-driven repayment plan your balance is forgiven after 20 or 25 years.
• The less you earn, the less you pay. Monthly payments can go down when you are facing financial hardship. On an IDR plan, your payments may be as low as $0 per month.

Currently, the three income-driven repayment plans, all of which are eligible for PSLF, are:

1. Pay As You Earn (PAYE)
2. Income-Based Repayment (IBR)
3. Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR)

Apply for an income-driven repayment plan

The COVID Payment Pause

In March 2020, as part of the CARES Act, Congress paused federal student loan payments, the accrual of interest, and collection efforts for most federal student loan borrowers. This payment pause officially ended on August 30, 2023. This happened in two stages: 

• Interest accrual restarted on September 1, 2023
• Payments were due starting October 2023

The months during the payment pause count towards PSLF for Federal Direct Loans. For other loans, pursuant to account adjustment, those months will count if the loans were in a repayment status or in certain situations of deferment and forbearance. 

NEA members should use our Student Debt Navigator to figure out which IDR plan is the best for their financial situation.