Student loan forgiveness programs can make repaying education debt on a teacher's salary easier. There are several programs that offer federal student loan forgiveness just for educators. Qualifying for student debt relief can be tricky, however. If you're looking for student loan help as a teacher, here's what you need to know about forgiveness programs.

Option #1: Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program is designed to provide student loan forgiveness for people working in public service careers, including teachers. The minimum qualification requirements for this program include:

• Working full-time for a government agency or certain nonprofits
• Owing direct loans or a direct consolidation loan
• Being enrolled in an income-driven repayment plan
• Making 120 qualifying payments

Sounds simple enough, but there are some caveats for teachers. For one thing, this loan forgiveness program doesn't extend to teachers working for private, for-profit schools. And for another, few borrowers have yet to meet the conditions for loan forgiveness since applications were open in 2017. To check your eligibility, by its employer identification number, found on your W2.

Option #2: Teacher Loan Forgiveness

The Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program is another program available to teachers who took out federal loans. To be eligible for this program, an individual must:

• Teach full-time for five consecutive and complete academic years at a school that serves low-income students
• Owe subsidized and unsubsidized direct loans and/or subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford loans
• Be a highly qualified teacher holding a bachelor's degree and full state certification as a teacher with no waivers

This program offers loan forgiveness for up to $17,500 in eligible loan balances. The actual loan amount you can have forgiven depends on which subject areas you teach in. Full-time math and science teachers at the secondary level, for example, can receive up to the $17,500 maximum.

In that respect, it's less generous than the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which doesn't cap the amount of student debt that can be forgiven. Technically, you could apply for forgiveness through the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, but you can't get forgiveness for loans for the same period of teaching service.

If you're interested in this program, you'll want to research whether your school qualifies using the DOE's .

Option #3: Perkins Loan Cancellation and Discharge

If you took out loans from the now-defunct Perkins loan program to fund your education, you may be eligible to get 100% of those loans canceled. There are a few caveats, however.

To qualify, you have to work full-time in a public or nonprofit elementary or secondary school system as:

• A teacher serving students from low-income families
• A special education teacher
• A math or science teacher
• A teacher specializing in foreign languages, bilingual education, or any other underserved discipline

Loans can be canceled for teachers employed by private schools as long as the school has a nonprofit status with the IRS and provides elementary or secondary education.

Option #4: TEACH Grant

The TEACH Grant isn't loan forgiveness per se, but it is another option to consider as a teacher seeking loan help. This grant is designed for students who are still working toward a teaching degree, either as undergraduate or graduate students.

The program provides up to $4,000 per year in grant funding, but as a condition of receiving the money, you must agree to teach in a high-need field in a school that serves low-income students for at least four complete academic years within eight years of finishing your degree. If you fail to meet these requirements, grant funding becomes a loan that must be repaid.

Option #5: State-Run Loan Forgiveness Programs for Teachers

Another way to get forgiveness for federal student loans is to look at what your state government offers. The state of Illinois, for example, offers up to $5,000 in loan repayment assistance for educators in work in low-income schools.

Option #6: Federal Loan Repayment Assistance

To help student loan borrowers, the Biden administration has introduce a new income-driven repayment option called the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan. This plan sets monthly student loan payments at 5% to 10% of your discretionary income, while also increasing the income exemption from 150% to 225% of the poverty line. In effect, this means a single borrower earning less than $32,805 per year would have a monthly student loan payment of $0. 

In addition, balances won't grow due to unpaid interest, and married borrowers who file separately no longer will be required to include their spouse's income for IDR payments.

Like other IDR options, the remaining balance of your student loan is forgiven after 20 to 25 years of payments. However, if you borrowed less than $12,000, your loan will be forgiven after making 120 payments, or 10 years. For every $1,000 borrowed above that amount, 12 payments are added, up to a maximum of 20 or 25 years before the remainder of your loan is forgiven.

What About Private Student Loan Forgiveness?

If you took out private student loans to pay for a teaching degree, forgiveness is only available under the conditions set by your lender. And if you are able to have your loans forgiven, it may only be for limited circumstances, such as if you become permanently disabled or you pass away, though even in these cases they are not obligated to do so.

If you have private loans that you're struggling to repay, there are some things you can do to manage them. You might try refinancing them to get a lower interest rate and potentially a lower monthly payment. A lower rate can save you money over time if you're paying less interest overall.

You could also reach out to your lender to see if financial hardship or forbearance programs are available if you're experiencing a temporary cash-flow issue. Again, whether these options exist and whether you qualify will depend on your choice of lender.

The Bottom Line

There are several ways for you to get student loan help. You can even pursue student loan forgiveness, but it's important to read the fine print on these various programs to make sure you qualify.