Student Loan Forgiveness for Nurses

Student Loan Forgiveness for Nurses

What is Student Loan Forgiveness for Nurses?

Nurses May Qualify for Student Loan Refinancing!

Did you know that you can refinance student loan debt to rates as low as 2.13%? SoFi members save $14,000 on average. No application, origination, or pre-payment fees.

Student loan debt is a huge problem in the United States. There are over 43 million Americans with student loan debt. In total, there is over $1.2 trillion in student loan debt. Many individuals, such as nurses, may qualify for student loan relief. Relief programs are available to many different types of nurses.​

The nursing field is booming and it is actually hard for countries to keep up with amount of well-educated nurses needed to serve. There are just so many jobs available daily for nurses. Some say that nurses are even more crucial in any patients’ life than the doctor themselves.

They provide all care of patients besides surgery and even them sometimes a nurse practitioner has licensing for that. There are many types of nurses but they are all equivalently important.

The education for a nurse can be extremely expensive or average college costs depending on where you chose to get your education at. Then you are left with student loan debt that needs to be taken care of.

How to Qualify for Student Loan Forgiveness for Nurses?

To qualify for student loan forgiveness for nurses a person must possess a registered nursing degree or higher and work in the nursing industry for at least two years. Do not forget this also includes specialty nurses life certified nursing midwives as just one example. The facility that this work must be done in has to be one of the following ,which is in no specific order; Critical Access Hospital, Nursing Home, State or Local Public Health or Human Services Department, Disproportionate Share Hospital, Indian Health Service Health Center, Skilled Nursing Facility, Nonprofit, Non-Disproportionate Share Hospital, Home Health Agency, Ambulatory Surgical Center , Public Hospital, Native Hawaiian Health Center, Rural Health Clinic, Hospice Program, and or any Federally Qualified Health Center. The only exception to this is nurses who teach in a nonprofit nursing school but it must be accredited by the state whether is private or public does not matter.

Another big stipulation to this is remembering to apply in the right time frame. The application for student loan forgiveness closes early within each year. Much like nursing school since the job is booming it only accepts the first and best candidates each year. If a person forgets to apply they may have to wait a whole another year which means more debt and interest hanging over your head.

Advantages of High Educated Nurses

The amount the nursing loan forgiveness program pays varies depending on what you qualify for by your loans. The standard amount seems to be up to sixty percent of your student loans completely paid off just by the one main federal nursing loan forgiveness program. This does not include what some medical facilities may offer for loan forgiveness as well for choosing to work at their place of operation. Nursing much like teaching is one of those jobs our country cannot go without, with that being said most places of work will offer incentives not only to pay off past loans but will also pay for you to go back to school to get a higher level of education. The goal is to have debt free, highly educated people working in the most important fields there are.

If you have chosen to go into the nursing field and then graduated kudos to you! It is a hard decision to dedicate your life to the health of others. Everyone sees this is a great commitment and thankfully you could get your education paid off to nearly nothing. For more information on how to get nursing student loan forgiveness please contact your future or current place of employment for incentives of loan forgiveness they provide.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness for Nurses

If you have gone through nursing school and are working as a nurse, you may qualify to have your student loans forgiven under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness for Nurses program. Below, we will cover some important information about the program to help educate you about it.

Types of Forgiveness Programs

There are three different programs offered to nursing students to have their federal student loans forgiven. It is important that you understand the requirements of each program, so that you can properly meet the requirements and receive the aid you need.

NURSE Corps Loan Repayment Program

To qualify under this plan, all registered nurses must have graduated from an accredited school and they must sign a two-year agreement to provide services at a facility that is experiencing a shortage.

Once the graduate has served the two-year agreement, they will receive 60 percent of their existing loans. The student will have the option to serve an additional year and receive another 25 percent of the remaining loan balance. In total, a student can receive 85 percent of their student loans paid for.

In addition, students are required to work a minimum of 32 hours per week throughout the entire contract period.

Federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness

The Federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness program will forgive your student loans if you maintain a position in a qualified role and make 120 qualified payments. Nurses qualify under this program, but it is important to make sure that you are in a position that is considered qualifying.

In addition, you will need to make sure that you make all required payments and that you work a minimum of 30 hours per week. Any payments made prior to 2007 do not qualify toward the 120 payment count.

This particular loan program has some strict requirements, so you need to pay attention to what they are and make sure to follow them. For example, a single missed payment can disqualify you. Also, you need to apply to this program once you meet the requirements.

Federal Perkins Loan Discharge and Cancellation

This program is available to nurses who are graduating with any federal Perkins loans. The student must submit the proper application and documentation through their school and not to any specific lender.

Once the student has obtained five years of qualified employment as a registered nurse, the program will forgive 100 percent of the student’s student loan balance. All nurses must hold a valid license and registration to participate in this program.

Student loan forgiveness is available to nurses and the most popular program choice is under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness plan. In addition to this plan, there are the two others mentioned above and some states may offer their own additional plans as well.

If you are interested in receiving student loan forgiveness, it is important to make sure you understand what is required and you should also speak with your student loan servicer to discuss your options.

NURSE Corps Student Loan Forgiveness

The NURSE Corps Student Loan Forgiveness program is designed to forgive the student loans of those students who meet the requirements. Below, we will discuss more about the program to help you gain a better understanding of what it is and how to apply.

How Does NURSE Corps Student Loan Forgiveness Work?

Graduate nursing students can apply for the program to receive loan forgiveness. To be eligible for forgiveness, the nursing student must be licensed and registers and they must have completed their full training courses. The graduate will also need to work a minimum of 32 hours per week for the entire length of their commitment.

The commitment requires that the nurse work in an eligible center that has a shortage. The length of the commitment is two years. Everyone applying for the program must be a US citizen and have attended and graduated from an accredited school.

What Are Some of the Eligible Facilities?

The program requires that a nurse work in an eligible facility that has a shortage. Not all facilities are considered to be part of the program, so it is important to review whether or not the one you choose qualifies.

Some eligible facilities include:

· Private or public hospitals

· Critical access hospitals

· Rural health clinics

· Hospice programs

· Ambulatory surgical care

· Urgent care center

· State or local public health departments

Note: The above list is not a full list of facilities, but a short list to provide you with an idea of what types of facilities may qualify.

How Much of My Loan is Forgiven?

One of the most popular questions is how much of the loan is actually forgiven. You can receive up to 85 percent of your loan forgiven. The way it works is – once you complete the first two years of your commitment, you will receive 60 percent of your student loan balance. If you choose to, you can sign a commitment for another year and receive an additional 25 percent of your loan balance.

Are There Any Disqualifiers?

Yes. There are several different ways that you may be disqualified and ineligible to receive a reward. It is important that you always pay attention to where you work and the number of hours you receive as any variations in these two things can make you ineligible.

Also, if you are currently defaulted on any of your loans, taxes, child support, or any other federal and government liabilities, then you may be disqualified from the program as well.

Another disqualifier would be if you are suspended from your job, your license is revoked, or you fail to re-register or certify.

Lastly, nurses who work on an on-call basis, traveling basis, or anything else of the sort will not be able to qualify for the program either. If you are switched from full-time to on call or part-time, you will lose your eligibility too.

If you are interested in learning more about the NURSE Corps Student Loan Forgiveness Plan, talk to your student loan servicer today.

Perkins Loan Discharge for Nurses

Perkins Loan Discharge for Nurses is available to help forgive some of the student loan debt taken on by those in nursing positions. This helpful program has benefited many students and will continue to benefit students working as nurses. Below, we will go over the details of the program to help you decide if it is the right forgiveness plan for you or not.

Is Every Nurse Eligible?

No. There are specific positions within the medical field that qualify to apply for loan forgiveness once the requirements have been met. The following are all qualified positions:

· Medical assistants

· Registered nurses

· Certified nursing assistants

· American registered nursing practitioners

· Licensed practical nurses

In addition to the above positions, there are other medical technicians who qualify for the loan forgiveness program including, but not limited to:

· Physical therapists

· Dental assistants

· Respiratory assistants

Are All Loans Forgiven?

This is where it gets a bit tricky and it is important that you pay attention and speak with your loan servicer from time to time about your eligibility. Your benefits are fortunately NOT capped at any amount, so you can essentially have ALL of your student loans forgiven, but of course, there are some requirements.

The good thing about the Perkins Loan Discharge for Nurses program is that you will receive forgiveness for your loans for each year that you complete qualified service. For example:

-If you serve one to two years of full time employment, you will receive a 15 percent principal loan and interest cancellation.

-If you serve three to four years of full time employment, you will receive a 20 percent principal loan and interest cancellation

-After you have served five years of full time employment, you will receive 30 percent of your principal loan and interest cancelled.

This equates to 100 percent of your loan being forgiven, but only if you serve out the five years of employment time:

Year 1: 15%

Year 2: 15%

Year 3: 20%

Year 4: 20%

Year 5: 30%

Total: 100%

How to Apply for Forgiveness

Yes, you read that right. You MUST apply for forgiveness and it will not simply be granted without the application. Many students believe if they serve the time, the loans are automatically forgiven, but this is false and can lead to you missing out on the forgiveness altogether.

Once you have met the required employment times, you will need to fill out the correct application and then turn it into your school. From there, you will need to provide any documentation requested to prove your employment, etc.

You will hear back from the school about your cancellation and student loan forgiveness. It is important that you continue to pay on your student loans until you are for sure that the loans have been cancelled, otherwise, your loans may go into default, thus making you ineligible.

As a student seeking forgiveness under this program, it is your responsibility to make sure that you are always meeting the requirements and following the eligibility guidelines.

If you are interested in this program, speak with your student advisor to learn more.