Student Loan Debt Forgiveness: One Place for up to K of Forgiveness
Author: Kevin Ihrig
If you have student loans, you have probably heard of student loan debt forgiveness. Your employer or some other entity pays off loans for you, often to fairly high limits. You need to qualify, and here I have written up some help in that process.
NHSC? Who is that?
You probably have heard of the Peace Corps or Americorps. The NHSC has some similarities, but you don’t work for the NHSC, you work at an NHSC approved site, in an approved position. NHSC stands for National Health Service Corps, a department in the US Department of Health and Human Services, under the Health Resources and Services Administration.
What does the NHSC do?
The NHSC helps attract health care workers for locations that don’t get enough applicants but that still need professionals. For instance, a facility that has trouble due a remote or inner city location, or perhaps due to the type of facility, like a mental health facility or correctional institution where fewer people want to work.
The NHSC then offers some help – you had to see this coming – through student loan debt forgiveness. And they are serious about it. In some cases, you can qualify for up to k. Helpful, right?
How to Get the Cash
You have to be as serious about work as the agency is about awarding this money to get it. You have to be licensed in your field. Here is a short list for reference, from the NHSC Loan Repayment Program site (From http://nhsc.bhpr.hrsa.gov/applications/lrp/default.htm)
Eligible Clinicians
- Allopathic (MDs) or Osteopathic (DOs) physicians
- Primary Care Certified Nurse Practitioners (NPs)
- Certified Nurse-Midwives (NMs)
- Primary Care Physician Assistants (PAs)
- General Practice or Pediatric Dentists (DDSs or DMDs)
- Registered Clinical Dental Hygienists (DHs)
- Health Service Psychologists (HSPs)
- Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSWs)
- Psychiatric Nurse Specialists (PNSs)
- Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs)
- Licensed Professional Counselors (LPCs)
That’s quite a list. To take advantage of the program, hop over to their site and read up on it. You have to apply during an open season, and be selected. The awards go to those with the most need, so keep that in mind.
Facilities List
On the NHSC site, you can also find a list of facilities that employ people who can qualify. The site lists a couple of requirements, such as that you be licensed and fully trained, and working at the site. Not all positions qualify for the loan repayment, so be sure to check in advance.
The list of places to work has hundreds of entries. It has clinics, hospitals, correctional institutions, prisons, mental health clinics, dental offices, tons of places to work. You may already work at an approved facility.
Where to Find More Info
To contact the NHSC and find their rules for this program, check out the link above. I found this site through the American Counseling Association, or ACA website. If you work in a professional field, you can find an association that relates to your career. Your association may have more information on loan student loan debt forgiveness. Start looking around, and you may be surprised what you find.
The American Medical Association (AMA), for example, has some loan forgiveness info on their site as well. The New York State Nurses Association,or NYSNA, also offers guidance. Look for a state or national association that relates to your field and see if you can start applying for some kind of student loan debt reduction program.
End Result
How did we live before the internet? Finding these resources takes time, and some work. When you are up to your ears in debt, you might not think of programs like these, and not everyone can get into one of these programs. Still, I believe that with consistent effort, you will make a dent. You chose a great career helping people, and many groups and associations understand that, and offer help.
More Careers
If the above careers don’t apply to you, remember many more student loan debt forgiveness programs apply to other fields. I’ve found some programs for engineers, even. Many states have programs for teachers and public safety workers like police officers and firefighters. Lawyers in public service also have many programs they can apply to for relief.
Keep trying, apply to the programs you can, and thank you for the work you do wherever you are.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/personal-finance-articles/student-loan-debt-forgiveness-one-place-for-up-to-50k-of-forgiveness-566527.html
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Can student loans be discharged under the new chapter 7 bankruptcy laws? What about credit card transactions?
Are there any ways to include student loans on a bankruptcy judgment?
Yeah, I know the law changed recently, but are there any execptions to the law that made it harder to include school loans on a bankruptcy? What if the person filing bankruptcy either has a disability or has a low income? What type of strategies exist for having school loans included on a bankruptcy? Thanks
Which judges or courts are most likely to discharge student loans on the basis of hardship…?
The new bankruptcy law makes it difficult to discharge student loans through bankruptcy (before there used to be a seven-year waiting period), but allows a judge to do so for reasons of hardship. What states, courts, or judges have been most willing to do this?
Wiping out student loans in bankruptcy?
If I wipe out student loans in bankruptcy will my cosignor’s credit be affected? My mother-in-law cosigned on 2 of my student loans and she has A-1 credit. I am considering the option of filing for bankruptcy and trying to wipe out my loans in the process. I know it will show up on my credit report which is fine…I just don’t want to affect her credit in the process. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.
I have found out that you can claim student loans in your bankruptcy if you can prove that you can’t pay them…so I need someone who knows the law to tell me if her credit will be affected?
In Bankruptcy law in what cases could student loans be included?
I live in Ohio and my husband and I are filing bankruptcy. I was reading about bankruptcy laws and saw where it said that student loans could be included if the judge ruled that it would cause undue hardship. What does this mean, and when is it considered an “Undue hardship”
Student loans are generally not dischargeable, and each request is considered by the bankruptcy judge. Should a debtor be totally and permanently disabled and have no reasonable expectation of earning income for the remainder of the debtor’s life, that might be discharged — unless the judge found an expectation of inheritance, etc. (and believe me, they will investigate!) Terminal illness may also be considered to constitute undue hardship. Mere poverty, other obligations, and inconvenience are not considered undue hardship in bankruptcy court when tax dollars are up for discharge. It’s really tough to meet! Your attorney can give you advice on this issue, and will be able to research the cases for any applicable precedents. I trust you have an attorney. If not, you need one! (If a bankfuptcy is filed and then thrown out, which can happen by errors and omissions in the filing as well as anything the court considers fraud, all discharged obligations are immediately in full force, and the debtor is barred from re-filing for bankruptcy for quite some time.)
Student loans cannot be discharged at all under any bankruptcy. Credit card debt can be discharged if you qualify for chapter 7, but the big change is that most people will not qualify for chapter 7, but instead must file chapter 13 bankruptcy, which creates a 3-5 year payment plan in which all disposable income is used to pay off the debt. After the plan is fulfilled, the remaining debt is discharged.
As stated by another poster, bankruptcy is governed by federal law and where you file for bankruptcy is determined by where you live. You have ZERO choice in the matter.
Also the change in regards to discharge of student loans was NOT changed by the “new” bankruptcy law, that change was implemented in 1998.
As to discharge for reasons of hardship, while it can be done few people will qualify. Proving hardship usually requires showing that you can’t provide a minimum standard of living for yourself and your dependents if you have to repay the loan
Hardship discharge
Student loans are no longer dischargeable in bankruptcy just because they have been in pay status for a given period of time. The only way the loan can be discharged is by proving that repayment of the loan will create an undue hardship on the debtor/borrower and his family.
This standard is generally interpreted to mean that the debtor cannot maintain a minimally adequate standard of living and repay the loan. It usually requires a showing that the conditions that make repayment a hardship are unlikely to improve substantially over time. Many courts use the test for undue hardship found in the Brunner case.
Courts in some circuits will permit the judge to find that the debtor can repay a portion of the loan without hardship, and to discharge the balance of the loan.
To discharge a student loan in bankruptcy, the debtor must bring an adversary proceeding in the bankruptcy case. The debtor must prove at trial that repayment constitutes undue hardship.
at one time there were allowed, but the attorney had to word it just right and everyone had to approve of it….but several years ago approximately 10 years ago the government and the financial people figured out that a lot of students were using bankruptcy to get out of paying their student loans..a lot are either government money or insured by some type of government loan..so the government said we need to put a stop to this, and I believe they did just that…
so at this time I say the answer to your question is no..
sorry…but no..hey I am still paying for mine….I just wish they would cut the interest way way down…
but I would ask a really good attorney this one before you make any decisions…
good luck
You can not default on a loan to the government. You can skate by with just about every other debt, but when you owe taxes or any other type of payment to the government, you’re in it for life. If you declared bankruptcy, your life would be almost put on hold for several years, and you may even have to move in with friends or relatives until you are able to establish credit on your own again, during that time, your expenses would be limited, so paying off that government debt would have to be a top priority for you.