Teacher Loan Forgiveness Programs
Background
The U.S. Department of Education (USED) Teacher Loan Forgiveness Programs are intended to encourage individuals to enter and continue in the teaching profession. Borrowers of certain USED loans may quality for deferment, forbearance or cancellation of all or part of their loans for teaching service in a designated low-income school or in a designated teacher shortage area/subject-matter shortage area, depending on the type of loans and when the loans were made.
Teacher Shortage Area Loan Forgiveness Program
Every year the Nevada Department of Education (NDE) submits a list of teacher shortage areas to the U.S. Department of Education (USED). NDE gathers teacher shortage information from each school district, charter schools (District 18), private and parochial schools. This information is used to complete the written documentation requested by the U.S. Department of Education in order to submit Nevada's "teacher shortage area" proposal for designation by the USED. Teachers with certain types of student loans may qualify for partial loan forgiveness, forbearance, deferment or cancellation benefits.
U.S. Department of Education Teacher Loan Forgiveness
The Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program is intended to encourage individuals to enter and continue in the teaching profession and is administered by the U.S. Department of Education. A teacher may be eligible for forgiveness of up to $17,500 on Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans and Subsidized and Unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loans.
A teacher may also be eligible for forgiveness of the outstanding portion of a Direct Consolidation Loan or a Federal Consolidation Loan that repaid an eligible Direct Subsidized Loan, Direct Unsubsidized Loan, Subsidized Federal Stafford Loan, or Unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loan. Complete information for the loan forgiveness process and eligibility requirements can be found on this website: Teacher Loan Forgiveness
Teacher Cancellation Low Income Directory
The Teacher Cancellation Low Income (TCLI) Directory, which is published by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) each year, is the database that identifies schools designated by the U.S. Department of Education as serving low-income students. More specifically, to be included in the TCLI Directory, the number of students meeting the measure of poverty must exceed 30% of the total number of students enrolled. To qualify for many teacher loan forgiveness or cancellation programs, or to satisfy the TEACH Grant service obligation, a borrower's or grant recipient's qualifying teaching service must be performed at a school or ESA that is listed in the TCLI Directory. The TCLI Directory dates to the 1997-1998 school year.
In Nevada, the data for the TCLI Directory originates from the Nevada Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Free and Reduced Lunch Data/Report. The reports from the Nevada Department of Agriculture include
all schools that report data back to 2008-2009.
Typically, the Nevada Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Free and Reduced Lunch Data/Report for the current school year is finalized in the latter part of December,
and the TCLI Directory update for Nevada is subsequently updated in January.
TEACH Grant
The federal Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant Program can help you pay for college if you plan to become a teacher in a high-need field in a low-income area. To be eligible for a TEACH Grant, you must be enrolled as an undergraduate, postbaccalaureate, or graduate student at a school that participates in the TEACH Grant Program. A TEACH-Grant-eligible program leads to a bachelor’s or master’s degree or is a postbaccalaureate program. A Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant is different from other federal student grants because it requires you to take certain kinds of classes in order to get the grant, and then do a certain kind of job to keep the grant from turning into an loan.
For more information go to the TEACH Grants webpage or contact the financial aid office at the school where you’ll be enrolled to find out whether the school participates in the TEACH Grant Program and to learn about the programs of study at the school that are TEACH-Grant-eligible.