Reminder: Public Service Loan Forgiveness start(ed) July 1

For all of us in ASP (at a state university or 501c(3) non-profit) still paying off our student loans, consolidation to be eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness program started July 1, 2009.  Check out Equal Justice Works for more details, but the gist of it is that many people in lower-paying public interest or public service jobs can reduce their loan payments and be eligible to have their (public) loan debt forgiven after 10 years/120 qualifying payments.  The devil is in the fine print of the program; read carefully!

As of July 1, Federal Direct Loans did not have the Income-Based Repayment option available if you consolidated online, but you could change plans once the option was up and running. It is critical to consolidate your loans with the Federal Direct program, or your payments will NOT count towards the Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

Pass on this information to your students. Many of our students suffer from disillusionment and depression because they wanted to be attorneys working in public service positions, but realize they can not pay off their law school loans making public service wages. These students can benefit greatly from this program.  This will give them the opportunity to pursue their dream, make payments towards their loans, and eat more than Raman noodles and mac-and-cheese. (RCF)

Other helpful links:

http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/DirectLoan/index.html

https://www.nslds.ed.gov/nslds_SA/SaFaq.do

http://www.pin.ed.gov/PINWebApp/pinindex.jsp