Relief & forgiveness for unpaid student loans

Official information on student loan forgiveness can be found here:

http://studentaid.ed.gov
http://www.mapping-your-future.org/paying/loanForgiveness.htm

Cancellation for teachers applies to Stafford Loans made to "new borrowers" on or after October 1, 1998, and to the portions of a consolidation loan derived from these loans. You might be able to have up to $5,000 of your Stafford Loans canceled if you are teaching in a low-income school and you are a new borrower. A new borrower is one who received his or her first Stafford Loan on or after October 1, 1998, or who, when the new loan was made, had no remaining balance on a Stafford Loan made prior to October 1, 1998. To qualify, basically you must work as a full-time teacher for five consecutive years in an elementary or secondary school that has been designated as a "low-income" school.

Relief prerequisites:

• One of your five qualifying years of actual teaching should be after the academic year of 1997-98.
• Approved loan must be applied before the end of the 5th year of qualified teaching.
• If teaching in an elementary school, the school should be a public or private non-profit.
• Defaulted loans cannot be cancelled for teching services, unless, repayment agreements have been made with the loan provider.
• Receipients of AmeriCorps benefits for the same teaching service can no longer get loan forgiveness. For more detailed information on AmeriCorps benefits, click here.

Every year, the United States Department of Education will publish a certified list of low income secondary and elementary schools. An online database is normally available for research to determine if your employer school is considered a low-income school.

You will want to check the database for the recent years in which you were a teacher at that particular school. Questions about the inclusion or omission of a particular school must be directed to the state education agency in the state where the school is located, and not to the United States Department of Education.