MTA members who have attended webinars conducted by Cambridge Credit Counseling know that the firm promotes the Public Service Loan Forgiveness and Teacher Loan Forgiveness programs as a way of alleviating the financial stress that comes with student loan borrowing. It is especially important to factor in the benefits of both programs before you borrow so you can create a repayment strategy that works for you. It is a lot easier to borrow when you know that you will only need to make payments for 10 years.
There are several questions to consider when creating a borrowing/repayment strategy to get you to forgiveness, but most are pretty straightforward:
- Are you going to keep teaching for another 10 years?
- Will you have only federal loans or will you have some private loans in the mix?
- Are Grad PLUS loans treated differently?
- What subject do you teach?
- Are you also a candidate for Teacher Loan Forgiveness?
- What if you are a counselor rather than a classroom teacher? A custodian or a school librarian?
- Is your current loan repayment plan eligible for PSLF?
Loan forgiveness is not just for new teachers. If you have children who are reaching college age or are already in school, you may have options to have those loans forgiven through the PSLF program. Most public employees are unaware that their federal Parent PLUS loan balances can be discharged after 120 qualifying payments. There are some fairly tricky eligibility requirements to make sure your payments qualify, and there are some minefields to navigate, but there is also the potential to have thousands of dollars in debt forgiven without tax liability.
MTA Benefits has partnered with Cambridge Credit Counseling to help you create a path to loan forgiveness that accommodates your specific mix of loans, your current budget, and everything you would like to accomplish with your hard-earned money. Click here to learn more.