What Jobs Qualify for Student Loan Forgiveness?

Student loan forgiveness is a way to have a portion or all of what you owe on your student loan balance canceled after you meet certain conditions. There are various student loan forgiveness programs, including Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), Teacher Loan Forgiveness, and National Health Service Corps (NHSC) repayment. Common jobs that can potentially qualify for student loan forgiveness include K–12 teachers in a public school, health care providers in a rural area, city government workers, or professors at a public university.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program: An Overview

Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) is designed to incentivize college graduates to pursue careers that they might otherwise dismiss due to a low earning potential. These careers are often in crucial fields, such as health care and education. By offering PSLF, the government hopes that more people will pursue careers that serve the public good.

To qualify for student loan forgiveness under PSLF, you must:

• Work for a qualifying employer while making student loan payments
• Work full-time (defined as at least 30 hours a week, or meeting other requirements)
• Make 120 qualifying student loan payments
• Have eligible loans from the Federal Direct Loan Program

When seeking PSLF, you must understand the criteria for employment and your qualifying payments. While your 120 qualifying payments don’t need to be consecutive, any payment you make must happen while working for a qualifying employer and meeting the other required employment conditions.

Another thing to keep in mind is that you’re able to consolidate loans with qualifying payments with other loans that don’t have these payments. However, your new timeline will be adjusted based on the average of all qualifying payments made on the consolidated loans. For example, if you have 60 qualifying payments toward some loans, and consolidate with other loans that have no qualifying payments, your new timeline will reflect 30 qualifying payments.

Qualifying Employment for PSLF

Note that “qualifying employment” for PSLF isn’t necessarily about a specific job but is instead more focused on who you’re working for. Eligible employers include:

• Federal, state, local, and tribal governments in the United States (including the military)
• Tax-exempt nonprofits that meet the 501(c)(3) criteria
• Certain nonprofits that might not be 501(c)(3) but provide qualifying public services, such as emergency management, early childhood education, or public interest law
• Volunteering with the AmeriCorps or Peace Corps

You must be working full-time for a qualifying employer for your payments to be credited toward PSLF. Full-time is defined, for the purposes of PSLF, as working for a weekly average of at least 30 hours.

Some exceptions include K–12 teachers who are contracted to work at least eight months of the year. They are considered working full-time throughout the year, even if they don’t work in the summer. There’s also a formula for university professors in a non-tenure track position so they can count credits taught each week and use a multiplier to reach the required full-time status.

Common Types of Jobs That Qualify for PSLF

Check with the U.S. Department of Education to verify employer eligibility. It’s also important to fill out the annual certification updates with the Education Department to create a paper trail of your employment and qualifying payments. When it’s time to have your balance forgiven, having documentation will make the process easier.

Here are some specific types of jobs that come with special rules when qualifying for PSLF:

• Part-time employment: Part-time work only qualifies if the hours you work for all your qualifying employers combined add up to at least 30 hours per week. If your amount of work for one employer isn’t sufficient, another part-time job for a different qualifying employer can help you reach that full-time threshold.
• Contractor work: Normally, contractor work wouldn’t count toward PSLF. If you’re employed by a government contractor that isn’t a qualifying employer, for example, your payments aren’t considered eligible for PSLF. You must be directly employed by a qualifying employer. However, there are some states with restrictions on hiring employees, so they hire contractors. If you’re in this situation, you can make qualifying payments, but you need to make sure you’re using the correct Employer Identification Number (EIN) on your PSLF paperwork.
• Religious work: If you proselytize, provide religious instruction, lead worship services, or do other religious activities as part of your employment, the student loan payments you make can qualify for PSLF, so long as you meet the full-time requirements.
• Employment abroad:  Your employment overseas only counts toward PSLF if you’re working for the U.S. government or another qualifying employer. For example, if you work for the United Nations, your payments won’t qualify for PSLF. However, if you work as part of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations in another country, your employer is the U.S. government and those payments will count toward forgiveness.

Other Jobs that Qualify for Student Loan Forgiveness

There are additional programs, other than PSLF, that offer student loan forgiveness for other jobs.

Teacher Loan Forgiveness

If you teach in a low-income school for five consecutive years, you might qualify for up to $17,500 with Teacher Loan Forgiveness. For some teachers, this can be a way to get a large portion of their loans forgiven in a shorter period of time.

It’s important to note, however, that the five years you spend teaching to get Teacher Loan Forgiveness won’t count for PSLF. You’ll need to make an additional 120 qualifying payments to get PSLF if you have your loans partially forgiven under Teacher Loan Forgiveness.

National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Forgiveness

There are various programs for health care providers who work in underserved communities and meet certain requirements. For example, physicians and certain nurses who work in eligible rural areas might be eligible for up to $100,000 in student loan forgiveness after providing full-time services for three years.

State Student Loan Forgiveness Programs

Check to see if your state has any dedicated student loan forgiveness programs. Some states offer their own teacher loan forgiveness programs, in addition to programs designed for student cancellation for health care providers.

Other professions might be included as well, depending on what the states currently feel they need. In these cases, your employer might not need to meet certain qualifications, so long as the job you have qualifies for a state-level forgiveness program.

The Bottom Line 

Jobs that qualify for student loan forgiveness often pay less, but student loan forgiveness for careers that serve the public good might be considered a good trade-off. Often, student loan forgiveness, especially PSLF, is paired with consolidating your student loans and then getting on an IDR plan. That way your qualifying payments are low and manageable while you work toward forgiveness.