Q: How can I Get My Student Loans Forgiven?
A: There are many ways to get out of your student debts besides writing a check. Some of these steps require some pre-planning but not all of them. As you may know. It is almost impossible to discharge your sudent loan debt through bankruptcy. There still are other options left while limited these options include:
1. Military Service
Join the military & you can get all of your schooling paid for. Talk to a local recruiter in your area for further details or visit their websites.
2. Volunteer work
a. Peace Corps – Each year you serve you can get 15% knocked off your student debt up to a total of 70%
b. Americorps – You can serve 12 months and recieve a $7400 in a stipend and on top of that recieve $4725 to put towards your student debt.
c. Volunteers In Service To America(VISTA) – For 1700 hours. You can recieve $4725
3. Become a full time teacher
Due to The National Defense Education Act. Teachers in low income areas can have a great portion of their student loan debt forgiven. For your first and second year teaching you can get 15% each year of your student debt forgiven. For your third and fourth year you can get 20% each year forgiven.
4. Become a Registered Nurse
In exchange for the initial two years service commitment, you can receive 60 percent of your total loan forgiven. If you serve a 3rd year you can have another 25% knocked off. At the same time you also receive the salary and benefits they you have negotiated with your employer.
5. Become a public interest attorney
Look into the college cost reduction act of 2007. H.R.2669 Signed into law Sept 27th, 2007. Section 401 of the bill states that anyone who server in public service that has made 120 monthly payments can have the rest of their loan entirely forgiven.
So there you have it. Student Loan Forgiveness is not so easy but its also not impossible. If you know of another way to get your student loans forgiven. Leave us a comment and we’ll add it to the list. It is also important to point out again that you cannot discharge student loan debt in bankruptcy. This is very important to know when you’re going to get student loans. If its a bad deal don’t just walk away but run as fast as you can in the opposite direction.
The best way to get rid of your student debt is to pay it off immediately. Life without debt is always better than life with debt. Some people say “It’s so cheap there is no need to ever pay it off”. Its cheap now, wait until you lose your job and miss a payment and the interest rates goes up to 18%. This has happened to thousands of Americans. Don’t let this happen to you.
It is also important for me to point out that if you’re going to go into debt to get an education. Make sure there are jobs available for the career of your choosing. Also make sure that the jobs pay for enough money to pay back the loan. $80,000 worth of student debt for a liberal arts degree might not be the best financial move. Even if you love liberal arts. You won’t love being in debt.