For teachers who have worked 5 consecutive years in a “Low Income School” http://studentaid.ed.gov

Although a summary of the new requirements is provided below, for complete information about this program, contact the holder of your loan. To qualify, you must have been employed as a full-time teacher for five consecutive complete academic years in an elementary or secondary school that has been designated as a "low-income" school by the U.S. Department of Education.

If your five consecutive complete years of qualifying teaching service began on or after October 30, 2004:

You may receive up to $5,000 in loan forgiveness if you were a highly qualified full-time elementary or secondary school teacher.

You may receive up to $17,500 in loan forgiveness if, as certified by the Chief Administrative Officer of the school where you were employed, you were:

1. a highly qualified full-time mathematics or science teacher in an eligible secondary school OR
2. a highly qualified special education teacher whose primary responsibility was to provide special education to children with disabilities, and you were teaching children with disabilities that corresponded to your area of special education training and have demonstrated knowledge and teaching skills in the content areas of the curriculum that you were teaching.

If your five consecutive complete years of qualifying teaching service began before October 30, 2004:

You may receive up to $5,000 in loan forgiveness if, as certified by the
Chief Administrative Officer of the school where you were employed, you were:

1. a full-time elementary school teacher who demonstrated knowledge and teaching skills in reading, writing, mathematics, and other areas of the elementary school curriculum OR
2. a full-time secondary school teacher who taught in a subject area that was relevant to your academic major.

You may receive up to $17,500 in loan forgiveness if, as certified by the Chief Administrative Officer of the school where you were employed, you were:

1. a highly qualified full-time mathematics or science teacher in an eligible secondary school (for the definition of a highly qualified teacher, click here) OR
2. a highly qualified special education teacher whose primary responsibility was to provide special education to children with disabilities, and you were teaching children with disabilities that corresponded to your area of special education training and have demonstrated knowledge and teaching skills in the content areas of the curriculum that you were teaching.

How to Apply

*Note: You can only apply for teacher loan cancellation after you have completed the five-year teaching requirement

Obtain an application from your lender or the loan servicing agency holding your loan. Once you have completed the application, give it to the Chief Administrative Officer at the school where you are teaching to complete the certification section. That individual must certify that you have taught full-time for five consecutive years at that school, and:

1. if you're teaching in an elementary school, that you have knowledge of or teaching skills in reading, writing, mathematics, and other areas of the elementary curriculum
2. if you're teaching in a secondary school, that you are teaching in a subject area relevant to your academic major.

Each year, the U.S. Department of Education publishes a list of low-income elementary and secondary schools.

To find out if a school is classified as a low-income school, check our online database for the year(s) you have been employed as a teacher.

Low-Income School Search

https://www.tcli.ed.gov/CBSWebApp/tcli/TCLIPubSchoolSearch.jsp