Reviewed program guide
Teacher Loan Forgiveness
A federal program that can forgive up to $5,000, or up to $17,500 for certain math, science, and special education teachers, after five consecutive complete academic years of full-time teaching at a qualifying low-income school or educational service agency.
Teacher Loan Forgiveness is a federal program for people who teach full time for five consecutive, complete academic years at an elementary or secondary school, or an educational service agency, that serves low-income families and appears in the Department of Education's annual directory of designated low-income schools. The benefit is up to $5,000 for most eligible teachers, and up to $17,500 for a highly qualified math or science teacher at a secondary school or a highly qualified special education teacher whose training matched the students' disabilities. Those figures are a lifetime cap across the federal loan programs, not an amount per loan. You apply through whoever holds your loans, at no charge, and you can do it without hiring anyone.
Reading this guide does not decide eligibility. The free screening checks your answers against reviewed routing criteria.
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At a glance
Overview
Teacher Loan Forgiveness is a federal program for people who teach full time for five consecutive, complete academic years at an elementary or secondary school, or an educational service agency, that serves low-income families and appears in the Department of Education's annual directory of designated low-income schools. The benefit is up to $5,000 for most eligible teachers, and up to $17,500 for a highly qualified math or science teacher at a secondary school or a highly qualified special education teacher whose training matched the students' disabilities. Those figures are a lifetime cap across the federal loan programs, not an amount per loan. You apply through whoever holds your loans, at no charge, and you can do it without hiring anyone.
Who it may help
This may fit you if you taught, or are teaching, full time in a school or educational service agency that serves low-income families. Two gates catch people by surprise. You cannot have had an outstanding balance on a federal Direct or FFEL loan as of October 1, 1998, or on the date you took out a later loan, and that single rule rules out many mid-career teachers. The loan you want forgiven also has to have been made before the end of your fifth year of qualifying service. Roles such as school librarian or guidance counselor are generally not treated as teaching for this program, which is a question worth settling early rather than after five years. Screening can organize preliminary facts and records, but screening cannot determine qualification or select a final path.
How it works
After you finish the five years, you send an application to the holder of your loans, and each holder gets its own application. A chief administrative officer at your school or district signs the certification that you taught full time for the years you claim. That person no longer has to be a principal: on the current form a superintendent, a human resources official, or another district or agency official can sign, and a single official with access to the records for every school listed can certify service across several schools and several years. While the application is pending, your loan holder applies a forbearance unless you tell them you want to keep paying, and continuing to pay during that window can reduce what is left to forgive. Administrative support can help organize forms, records, and communications; it does not replace the decision-maker's review.
Documents and next steps
Useful records include your federal loan history showing balances as of October 1, 1998 and the disbursement date of each loan, contracts or letters showing your teaching dates and full-time status for each academic year, the names and years of every school or educational service agency where you taught, your credential and any documentation supporting the higher benefit tier, and contact details for the district official who can certify your service. If you took leave inside an academic year, gather the medical, military, or coursework records showing why the year was interrupted and that your employer treated your contract as fulfilled for salary and tenure purposes. The next step is to compare the records with the cited official source and any current instructions issued by the responsible agency, court, creditor, or other decision-maker.
Read this carefully
Important considerations
The biggest decision here is sequencing, not paperwork. Federal rules on both sides bar counting the same teaching service twice, so years used for teacher forgiveness cannot also count toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Because the public-service path can reach an entire remaining balance, taking $17,500 now can cost far more later, depending on your balance, your repayment plan, and how long you intend to stay in the classroom. Two other traps: full time here means whatever your state's standard is for full-time teaching, which is a different test from the 30-hour federal standard used for public-service forgiveness; and the low-income listing has a continuity rule, so if your school was listed in your first qualifying year, later years still count even after it drops off. Attorney judgment is separate from administrative help and is required for individualized legal strategy or advice.
Common questions
Frequently asked questions
These answers provide general information. Your facts and records determine what may apply.
Can the same teaching years count for both Teacher Loan Forgiveness and Public Service Loan Forgiveness?
No. Rules on both sides bar it: a period of teaching service used for teacher forgiveness cannot also be credited as qualifying months for public service forgiveness. That makes this a sequencing question. Teacher forgiveness pays a fixed maximum, $5,000 or $17,500 in the higher tier, and pays it after five years. Public service forgiveness has no dollar cap and can reach whatever balance is left after ten years of qualifying employment and payments. If your balance is large, spending five teaching years on the smaller benefit can be the more expensive choice; if your balance is modest, the reverse may hold. The comparison turns on your balance, your repayment plan, your income, and how long you plan to teach, and it is worth working through before you file either one.
My school came off the low-income directory partway through my five years. Did I lose the benefit?
Not necessarily. The rule has a continuity provision: if the school or educational service agency appeared on the annual low-income directory for at least one of your qualifying years, your later years there can still count even after it drops off the list. That is why the first qualifying year is the one to check first. The directory is published each year by the Department of Education and is searchable by state and year, and if a given year's directory is not out by May 1, the prior year's list may be used. Because listings shift, it is worth documenting the year-by-year status while district records are still easy to obtain.
Who counts as a highly qualified teacher for the $17,500 tier?
This is the least settled part of the program, and it deserves a straight answer. The regulation still defines highly qualified by reference to a section of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act that Congress repealed for most purposes in 2015, and the current application form still carries that legacy definition. The Department has kept administering the program on the older standard, which leaves a real interpretive gap. In practice your chief administrative officer certifies the status, and it has to hold for all five years, not just one. Before anyone counts on the higher tier, it is worth confirming the standard with your loan holder and reviewing your credential history. A law firm should not be the one opining that you meet it.
Official sources
- Federal Student Aid, U.S. Department of Education (opens in a new window)
Retrieved Jul 24, 2026
- Federal Student Aid, U.S. Department of Education (opens in a new window)
Retrieved Jul 24, 2026
Important disclosure
This page provides general information, not a qualification or legal determination. Screening and services cannot guarantee approval, forgiveness, discharge, settlement, timing, or any particular result. The responsible agency, court, creditor, or other decision-maker applies the controlling requirements.
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