Student Loan Forgiveness for Teachers: TLF vs. PSLF

More than 60% of full-time public school teachers have borrowed money to pay for their education, according to the Learning Policy Institute. If you're one of the many teachers who took out federal student loans to earn your degree, you may qualify for loan forgiveness.

Programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) and Teacher Loan Forgiveness (TLF) are designed to offer relief to educators, depending on your role and how long you've worked. Private student loans aren't eligible for forgiveness, but there are other ways to manage that debt.

Here's what you need to know about student loan forgiveness for teachers.

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What is student loan forgiveness for teachers?

If you're a teacher with federal student loans, you may be eligible for forgiveness through two main programs: Public Service Loan Forgiveness and Teacher Loan Forgiveness. Each offers relief but has different requirements.

The TLF program forgives part of your loan balance after five years of teaching at a low-income school. PSLF forgives your remaining loan balance after 10 years of service and is open to public and private school teachers who work at not-for-profit schools.

However, you can't use the same years of service to qualify for both programs. For example, if you achieve forgiveness through TLF, the five years you spent meeting its requirements won't count toward PSLF. But you can still qualify for both programs using different years of teaching service.

The Teacher Loan Forgiveness (TLF) program

The Teacher Loan Forgiveness (TLF) program offers up to $17,500 or $5,000 in forgiveness on federal Direct Loans, depending on the subject you teach. To qualify, you must teach full-time for five consecutive years at a qualifying low-income school or educational service agency. You can check if your school qualifies by using the Teacher Cancellation Low-Income (TCLI) Directory.

Only special education teachers and secondary math or science teachers can receive the full $17,500 in forgiveness. Other teachers may qualify for up to $5,000.

If you're pursuing TLF, you can apply for Teacher Loan Forgiveness Forbearance, which pauses your monthly payments — though interest will still accrue. This option may help you maximize forgiveness, but it's only available if your loan balance is smaller than the forgiveness amount you're eligible for ($17,500 or $5,000).

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program

Public Service Loan Forgiveness is available to teachers with federal Direct Loans who work at nonprofit schools. The program forgives your remaining loan balance after you make 120 qualifying payments (typically over 10 years) while teaching full-time for a qualifying employer. These payments don't need to be consecutive.

Qualifying employers include government organizations at any level, such as federal, state, local, or tribal, and nonprofit organizations that are tax-exempt.

You can also enroll in an income-driven repayment plan to reduce your monthly payments as you work toward forgiveness. These plans adjust your payment amount based on your income and family size, helping to make your loan payments more manageable.

As you work toward forgiveness, you'll need to submit a form each year to certify your employment with your school, or anytime you switch employers. After completing 120 payments, you can apply for forgiveness.

Eligibility criteria

Not all teachers qualify for loan forgiveness. Here's what you need to know about the requirements for each teacher loan forgiveness program.

Who qualifies for TLF?

To qualify for the Teacher Loan Forgiveness program, you must meet the following criteria:

• Be a full-time teacher for five consecutive academic years, with at least one of those years being after the 1997-98 school year.
• Teach at a qualifying elementary or secondary school, or educational service agency that serves low-income students.
• Have loans that were disbursed before completing your five academic years of service.

If you taught for less than a full academic year, you may still qualify if:

• You taught for at least half the year.
• Your employer considers your duties for the year complete.
• You left for postsecondary education, medical leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act, or were called into active duty for more than 30 days.

To receive the maximum forgiveness amount of $17,500, you must be a highly qualified full-time teacher in secondary math, science, or special education. Special education teachers must have worked with students whose disabilities matched their area of training and demonstrated subject knowledge.

If you didn't teach in these areas, you may still qualify for as much as $5,000 in forgiveness as a highly qualified full-time elementary or secondary education teacher.

Who qualifies for PSLF?

Public Service Loan Forgiveness has more flexible eligibility requirements compared with TLF. You don't need to teach at a low-income school or even be a teacher to qualify. Most full-time staff at non-profit public and private schools will meet the employment criteria.

To qualify for PSLF, you must:

• Work full-time (at least 30 hours per week) for a U.S. federal, state, local, or tribal government, or a qualifying nonprofit organization.
• Have federal Direct Loans or consolidate other federal loans into a Direct Consolidation Loan.
• Make your payments under an income-driven repayment plan or the 10-year Standard Repayment Plan.
• Make 120 qualifying monthly payments, which typically takes 10 years of on-time payments.

TLF vs. PSLF

How to apply for teacher loan forgiveness

If you want to pursue teacher loan forgiveness, below is a look at how to apply.

The TLF application

Once you've completed the necessary years of teaching at a qualifying school, you can submit a Teacher Loan Forgiveness Application to your loan servicer. If you have multiple loan servicers, you'll need to submit a separate application for each. Be prepared to work with the chief administrative officer of your school to finalize the application.

The PSLF application

To get started, enroll in an income-driven repayment plan and make sure all your payments are on time and in full — late or partial payments won't count toward forgiveness.

Next, use the PSLF Help Tool to submit a PSLF form each year and whenever you change employers. Once your form is processed, the number of qualifying payments will be updated in your Federal Student Aid dashboard so you can track your progress toward the required 120 payments.

After you've made 120 qualifying payments, the U.S. Department of Education will coordinate with your loan servicer to forgive your remaining loan balance.

Check Out: Private Student Loan Forgiveness Alternatives

Alternatives to forgiveness

If you don't qualify for teacher student loan forgiveness, there are still ways to ease the burden of repayment. Here are a few options to consider:

Income-driven repayment (IDR) plans

If your loan payments feel unmanageable, an income-driven repayment (IDR) plan could offer relief. These plans adjust your monthly payment based on your income and family size, often lowering the amount you owe each month. Any remaining balance is forgiven after 10 to 25 years of payments, depending on the plan.

State-sponsored loan repayment assistance

The state where you teach might offer a loan repayment assistance program for teachers. Unlike federal forgiveness programs, state-funded programs might be able to help repay your private student loans, too.

For example, Texas teachers may qualify for the Math and Science Scholars Loan Repayment Program, which helps public school math and science teachers get repayment assistance for as much as $10,000.

Contact your state's department of education to see what relief options are available.

Perkins Loan cancellation

Teachers with Perkins Loans may qualify for 100% loan cancellation if they teach full-time at a low-income school or in certain high-need subjects like math, science, foreign languages, or special education. Even private school teachers can be eligible if their school is a nonprofit that meets state education standards.

Refinance student loans

Refinancing student loans can be a useful option to lower your interest rate and reduce the overall cost of your debt. You can also extend your repayment term to lower monthly payments, though this will increase the amount of interest paid over time.

Just be cautious about refinancing federal loans into private ones, as this will make you ineligible for federal protections and forgiveness programs, which are valuable options for teachers.