Feds Pay Student Debt

1. Paying Off Student Loans: go get a job with any federal agency!

The Office of Personnel Management runs the Federal Student Loan Repayment Program.

"If you work for any federal program, or even if you are unemployed and looking for a job or willing to switch jobs, . . . you should seriously investigate this program.

It allows any federal organization that you work for to pay off your student loans on your behalf足to the tune of $10,000 a year, up to a maximum of $60,000.

In exchange for paying off your loans, you must work for the federal agency for a set period of time, usually three years." (above = from: E足how.com) Any federal agency can offer this money as a "recruitment or retention incentive."

Go here: Federal Student Loan Repayment Program quick fact sheet on the program in .pdf is here Yo, Oregonians, are there 276 federal openings as of today? Yes, get your federal job here. nice study about where the federal jobs are (both by type of job and location)

2. Separate Deal ­ You Don't Even Have To Work For The Feds Or, if you've got a real ton of college/post­college debt, try a 10 year gig (making 10 years of reduced monthly payments) with any public service organization, whether public or private, and the rest of the debt is forgiven.

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program provides for forgiveness of the remaining balance of a borrowers eligible loans after the borrower has made 120 payments on those loans. In general, only borrowers who are making reduced monthly payments through the Direct Loan Income Contingent or Income Based repayment plans will have a remaining balance after making 120 payments on a loan.

What types of public service jobs will qualify a borrower for loan forgiveness under this program?

The borrower must be employed full time (in any position) by a public service organization, or must be serving in a full­time AmeriCorps or Peace Corps position.

"Public service job" means A federal, state, local, or Tribal government organization, agency, or entity (includes most public schools, colleges and universities) A public child or family service agency A non­profit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code that is exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code (includes most not­for­profit private schools, colleges, and universities) A Tribal college or university; or A private organization that is not a for­profit business, a labor union, a partisan political organization, or an organization engaged in religious activities (unless the qualifying activities are unrelated to religious instruction, worship services, or any form of proselytizing) and that provides the following public services Emergency management Military service Public safety

Law enforcement Public interest law services Early childhood education (including licensed or regulated health care, Head Start, and state足funded pre足kindergarten) Public service for individuals with disabilities and the elderly (including nurses, nurse practioners, nurses in a clinical setting, and full足time professionals engaged in health care practioner occupations and health care support occupations) Public education Public library services and School library or other school足based services.

Good description of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.

3. Helpful Links a neat website for student loan breaks high quality site on paying for college: collegegold.com #2 (finaid.com) pdf file: February 2010 overview of college debt by noted leader Mark Kantrowitz, Publisher of FinAid and FastWeb: .pdf is here I just want to lower my payments on my school loans.

Nice summary of the "lower my payments" option. #2 summary of the "lower my payments" option.

Example calculation of the "lower my payments option" by Stanford As of July 1, 2010, the "lower my payments" option was eased in 2 ways:

Removing the marriage penalty For married couples who have two sets of student loans, the new income based repayment formula will no longer penalize married couples. Combined loan payment amounts can be used to calculate eligibility as long as couples file their taxes jointly.

Previously, only a single money loan balance could be

measured against total household income.

Current balance vs repayment balance Previously, income based repayment was calculated using the amount borrowers owed when they first entered repayment.

Now, income足based repayment calculations will be calculated using the current amount owed. This will help reduce the load on former students who have had loans in deferment, building interest without making payments.

The two changes are summarized neatly in this article.