• If you want to have the lowest monthly payment or can’t afford to make payments under the Standard Repayment Plan, select an income-driven repayment plan. These plans – set your payment at a percentage of your income, – will usually have a lower monthly payment than other plans, and – can have payments as low as $0 per month. With these plans, you’ll be in repayment for up to 20 or 25 years. If your loans are not repaid in full after 20 or 25 years, the remaining balance will be forgiven. Learn more about income- driven repayment plans. If you don’t select a specific repayment plan, your loan will be put on the Standard Repayment Plan. You can switch to a different plan at any time by contacting your loan servicer. Know whether you are eligible for loan forgiveness based on your employer or your job. • Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program: You may qualify for this loan forgiveness program if you are employed by a government or a not-for-profit organization. You must make 120 qualifying payments under an income-driven plan to qualify. Learn more about PSLF. • Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program: You may qualify for this program if you (a) teach full-time for five complete and consecutive academic years in certain elementary and secondary schools and educational service agencies that serve low-income families, and (b) meet other qualifications. Get the details of the Teacher Loan Forgiveness (TLF) Program. Find out more about forgiveness, cancellation, and discharge. Teachers! You may qualify for both forgiveness programs (PSLF and TLF) – but not for the same time period. WHEN IT’S TIME TO START MAKING PAYMENTS Make on-time payments to your loan servicer. Your loan servicer will provide you with a loan repayment schedule that tells you when your first payment is due, the number and frequency of payments, and the amount of each payment. Contact your loan servicer if you haven’t received this information. Make repayment simple and save on interest – enroll in automatic debit. Once you enroll, your payments will be automatically taken from your bank account each month. This will help you to stay on track with your payments, and as an added bonus, you may get a 0.25% interest rate deduction if you have Direct Loans. Check your servicer’s website for details.
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