Illinois AHEC has written about the various federal loan forgiveness programs targeted toward specific health professionals and specific health sites. If you do not qualify for those programs, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program might be for you. As reported this month by CNN, at least 100,000 borrowers nationwide have been found to be eligible for cancellation of their loans, which would total about $6.2 billion in federal student debt relief.

This debt relief comes as a result of temporary changes to the loan forgiveness program announced in October 2021 by the U. S. Department of Education. The program, created about 15 years ago, was designed to wipe away remaining federal student loan debt after an eligible public service worker makes 10 years of monthly payments. However, there were many problems with eligibility and some said they discovered they weren’t eligible after making what they thought were qualifying payments. Only borrowers with specific types of federal loans and enrolled in certain repayment programs were eligible, and by 2021 only a very small percentage of applicants had received forgiveness.

Last year, the Biden administration temporarily expanded eligibility through October 31, 2022.

The expansion means that even borrowers whose loans didn’t originally qualify may now be eligible. The process can be time consuming so it is best to apply well before the deadline.

Information on this loan forgiveness program is available at StudentAid.gov.

Information on the programs designed specifically for health professionals is available from HRSA.