Student Loan Forgiveness is Alive and Well for Educators

July 25, 2023

Former teacher, current financial planner, and 24-7 student loan forgiveness guru, David Gourley, returned last week to our podcast to share the news that potentially thousands of teachers are sitting on a "golden ticket" in the form of loan forgiveness. 

According to David, lost in the Supreme Court's recent ruling against the Biden Administrations loan relief plan, is the fact that teachers (and those working in Public Service Loan Forgiveness eligible jobs) are getting loan forgiveness. He says that every week he is meeting with at least one teacher (and often three or four) who had no idea s/he were eligible for relief. Here's what you need to know...

Qualifying for PSLF

(The following comes from studentaid.gov)

To qualify for PSLF, you must...

• Be employed by a U.S. federal, state, local, or tribal government or qualifying not-for-profit organization (federal service includes U.S. military service);
• Work full-time for that agency or organization;
• Have Direct Loans (or consolidate other federal student loans into a Direct Loan);
• Repay your loans under an income-driven repayment plan or a 10-year Standard Repayment Plan; and
• make a total of 120 qualifying monthly payments that need not be consecutive.

How to Apply for PSLF

(The following comes from studentaid.gov)

• To be considered for PSLF, you only need to submit a PSLF form. The easiest way to do this is by using the PSLF Help Tool. The PSLF Help Tool allows you to:
• Check to see if your employer is already in our employer database.
• Request that your employer’s eligibility be reviewed if it is not already in our database or has not yet had its eligibility determined.
• Prepare and sign your PSLF form, and request certification and signature from your employer—all electronically.
• Generate your PSLF form for manual signature and submission to the PSLF servicer (if electronic submission isn’t possible).
• Top tip: Certify your employment every year and any time you change employers. This lets you confirm you’re on track toward forgiveness.

David Knows of Which He Speaks

As part of this financial planning services, David helps eligible teachers and others get student loan relief. 403bwise.org has no financial arrangement with David. Individuals can absolutely get loan forgiveness on their own. At the very least, if you think you may be eligible for forgiveness, I highly recommend you listen to our interview (access below).

Stay wise and well (and share this pod widely with those you think may qualify)

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