My student loans totaling over $100,000 were forgiven in 2024. Yes, I am completely serious. Student loan forgiveness does happen and it worked for me. I really did not think I would ever NOT have student loans. They loomed over my head for more than twenty years, making it difficult to purchase a house, and weighed down my credit score. Owing over a hundred thousand dollars in school loans was overwhelming.
How Did I Owe So Much?
Like many first-year college students, my experience with money and loans was extremely limited. But in the mid-nineties when I started college, it was incredibly easy to secure student loans. My first year was covered by a scholarship, but I was left on my own to pay for school after that. My parents did not have the means to cover my education, and I had never expected them to. So, when I found out I could easily get student loans, this became my solution.
By graduation, I owed around $20,000, which was manageable. Shortly after graduation, I added a part-time night job to my already full-time work schedule so that I could start making payments towards my student loan balance. This went on for a couple of years until I decided to start a master’s program in a different state.
Once again, I resorted to student loans, but this time I discovered that I was able to get a much higher amount for graduate school. I ended up using student loan money to pay for my out-of-state tuition during my first year, as well as living expenses. I was working part-time as a graduate assistant at my university, but it did not pay enough to even support me much less cover my tuition costs. Even with the eventual transition to in-state tuition due to my job at the school, the loans quickly piled up. Before long, my student loan balance was in the six figures!
In one of life’s little ironies, my graduate school career had an unexpected ending. During my final year, I became discouraged and burnt out while working on my thesis. After a bad thesis committee meeting (me and three professors who critiqued my work), I felt completely deflated and just walked away from it all. In retrospect, I should have stayed, swallowed my pride, and just powered through. But my forty-something self thinks far differently from the person I was in my twenties.
How I Did It
Unlike some of the loan forgiveness programs that cancel student loan debt based on the type of job you have, the field you are in, or even the location you have chosen to work in, mine was more straightforward. I simply had my loans for so long (20+ years) that I qualified for loan forgiveness based on my Income-Driven Repayment plan.
In early 2024, I received a letter telling me that I may qualify for student loan forgiveness. I was skeptical because I had had the loans for so long, but I followed up with the letter anyway. Qualifying for loan forgiveness required me to first move my student loans to a different lender. This was a simple process, even though it took a month or two. It also did not cost me anything. Once that was done, I filled out the necessary information provided to me online. About a month later, I received an email with this at the top:
Congratulations! The Biden-Harris Administration has forgiven your federal student loan(s) listed below in full.
This debt relief was processed as part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s one-time account adjustment because your student loan(s) have been in repayment of at least 20 or 25 years. An adjustment to your account updated the number of payments that qualify towards income- driven repayment (IDR) forgiveness.
I immediately checked to make sure everything was legit of course, and it was. My student loan balance was completely gone in my lender account. This change in balance was reported to the credit bureaus, and within the next couple of months, my new student loan status was reflected in my credit report. My credit score started to go up rapidly! No matter how much you are told that student loans are “good debt,” I can say with certainty that they do impact your credit score, including your score getting better after the loans are gone from your credit report.
Different Ways to Achieve Student Loan Forgiveness
- Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) Plan: This is the plan that helped me qualify for loan forgiveness. If you have been paying on your student loans for over 20 or 25 years under an IDR, you may qualify to have the remaining balance of your loans forgiven. To see if you qualify for an Income-Driven Repayment Plan, you can fill out an application here.
- Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF): If you work in public service, you may be able to get assistance with your student loans. Full-time government and nonprofit employees may qualify for student loan forgiveness under PSLF. Learn more about and apply for Public Service Loan Forgiveness here.
- Teacher Loan Forgiveness (TLF): For anyone who has been a full-time teacher for five full and consecutive school years at a school that caters to low-income families, you may qualify for loan forgiveness under TLF. Learn more about Teacher Loan Forgiveness here.
- Military: People frequently join the US military in search of help with paying for their higher education. So, it should not be a surprise that there are special benefits for members of the US military. Through the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act and Department of Defense student loan repayment program, members of the armed services can benefit from capped interest rates and payment as well as protections in court regarding their student loans. Service in the US military may count towards Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) requirements. You can apply here for a limited interest rate.
- School-Related Discharge Options: In some situations, you may qualify for a School-Related Discharge. If you attended a school that closed while you were a student there or soon after, or you attended a school that was dishonest to you or gave you the wrong impression about the school in order to get you to enroll, then you may qualify to have your student loans discharged from that school. Learn more about School-Related Discharge here.
- Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) Discharge: If you are someone with a total permanent disability, it is possible you may be eligible to have your student loans discharged. Additionally, if you were the recipient of a TEACH Grant, having your loans discharged under Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) release you from your Teach Grant service obligation. TPD discharge does require specific documentation to prove your level and length of disability. Along with your application, you will also need to provide documentation of your total and permanent disability from the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Social Security Administration (SSA), or an authorized medical professional. Learn more about TPD discharge here.
Exclusion
Please note that these options I have discussed are only available for those of you who have federal student loans. Private student loans are managed differently as they are not backed by the federal government. Private loan forgiveness is uncommon. You would need to contact your lender to see what their qualifications are.
