Free $5k for teachers ($17.5k for others)

Posted: February 13th, 2012 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | No Comments »

Christie was reminding our high school teachers of this federal loan forgiveness program. If I’m reading it right, it’s a pretty sizable amount, for those who teach in high-poverty schools.

If your five consecutive, complete years of qualifying teaching service began on or after October 30, 2004:

You may receive up to $5,000 in loan forgiveness if you were a highly qualified full-time elementary or secondary school teacher.

You may receive up to $17,500 in loan forgiveness if, as certified by the Chief Administrative Officer of the school where you were employed, you were:

A highly qualified full-time mathematics or science teacher in an eligible secondary school;

or

A highly qualified special education teacher whose primary responsibility was to provide special education to children with disabilities

The rules are slightly different for those who started teaching before that date.

The full explanation is here.

There’s also TEACH grants if you’re current in some sort of grad program.