Tag: loan forgiveness

Stafford Loan Forgiveness

How Does Stafford Loans Forgiveness Program Work If I’m Going To Be A Nurse?

If you apply for direct Stafford loan and are going to school to become a nurse, there is a “Stafford loan forgiveness program for nursing”. Some states specifically will get special permission to forgive loans to those nurses who graduate from a program and serve in a public service job as a community health nurse or in non-profit programs that aid families and children who are high-risk for health problems and diseases. Maryland is one such state.

Essentially a nursing student can apply for this just like any other student whose profession can take them into the civil service arena or the military. Just like those other students too, only the final 120 payments on loans not defaulted upon and even consolidated can be and are forgiven. It is the student’s responsibility to pay the rest; however if your loan amount(s) are high, 120 payments is a pretty substantial chunk of change.

On the other hand, if you die serving the military before time is up, your loans are forgiven anyway. Hardship deferments can be applied for if you would prefer to avoid death and injury until you can get your career under way. Working as a nurse in a regular hospital or hospice care does not count unless you volunteer forty hours or more a week of your time taking care of patients that normally you would be paid to care for. You also have to work forty hours a week, paid, to qualify in any forgiveness program, nursing or other. If you are also volunteering rather than taking a career path to loan forgiveness, this is an eighty hour plus work week and you best be prepared to miss out on everything else in life to accomplish your goal.

Continue reading about “NELRP” known as “Nursing education loan repayment program“.

Also find details on Student loan forgiveness for nurse practitioners too.

Student loan forgiveness for nurse practitioners

If you are a student or a practicing nurse who has mostly funded the fees through education loans and is now finding it difficult to payback the loans then there is definitely some time to rejoice. This is mainly because of the student loan debt forgiveness. In student loan forgiveness, either your employer or a government agency pays off the loans for you. One such agency that provides loan forgiveness includes the National Health Service Corps or the NHSC.

Who is the NHSC?

The NHSC is a department of the US Department of Health and Human Services and is established under the Health Resources and Services Administration. The NHSC provides medical professionals who serve in the undeserved areas with loan forgiveness and various other facilities. The undeserved areas can be mostly classified into places where very few people are willing to work such as prisons.

What does the NHSC offers to nurse practitioners?

The NHSC repays up to $25,000 annual of the health professionals’ students loans.  However, this is not applicable to anyone and every medical professional as the program has a strict qualifying criteria, which it follows before providing any kind of loan forgiveness assistance to the nurse practitioners. Thus, to seek loan forgiveness through the NHSC, you first need to qualify for loan forgiveness under their program.

Qualifying for the loan forgiveness

To qualify for the loan forgiveness it is very important for you to be serious about your work. This is mainly because; after all the agency is going to pay for the money you had used for your education. The following are some of the criteria that you need to fulfill to qualify for the loan forgiveness offered by the NHSC.

1. You need to be a citizen of the United States

2. You need to be licensed in your field

3. You need to work in the under-served areas

4. You need to be a full-time practitioner and should commit yourself towards working in an undeserved area for at least a minimum period of two years

Other facilities offered by NHSC

Apart from the loan forgiveness, once you qualify for their program, you are also entitled to the several other facilities that the NHSC provides to the medical professionals. These additional facilities mostly include a competitive salary package and some vital tax benefits.

So if you are wondering about how you are going to pay back your educational loan then it is time to look whether you qualify for the NHSC program so that you can avail loan forgiveness.