LAST UPDATED: 06/18/2026
Teachers in the United States may be eligible to cancel part or all of their educational loans using one or more of the options below.
Loan Forgiveness Opportunities
Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program
PSLF forgives the remaining balance on your Direct Loans after 120 qualifying payments (a minimum of 10 years).
Instead, PSLF requires that you work for a qualifying employer.
In order for your payments to count toward the 120 needed to get forgiveness, you must meet specific requirements.
View complete program details at StudentAid.gov/publicservice.
Teacher Loan Forgiveness (TLF) Program
TLF forgives up to $17,500 of your Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans and Subsidized and Unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loans after five complete and consecutive years of teaching at a qualifying school.
To qualify for TLF, you must have been employed as a full-time teacher at an eligible school for five complete and consecutive academic years. At least one of those years must have been after the 1997–98 academic year, and you must have been a new borrower on or after Oct. 1, 1998.
Learn more about the TLF Program.
Perkins Loan Cancellation for Teachers
This program forgives up to 100% of your Federal Perkins Loan(s) if you teach full time at a low-income school or if you teach certain subjects.
If you’re eligible for Perkins Loan cancellation, up to 100% of your loan(s) may be canceled in the following increments:
- 15% canceled per year for the first and second years of service
- 20% canceled for the third and fourth years
- 30% canceled for the fifth year
Each amount canceled per year includes the interest that accrued during that year. Unlike other forgiveness programs, Perkins Loan cancellation forgives portions of your loans in yearly increments after you meet service requirements. Other forgiveness programs wait to forgive your loans until after you complete all the required years of your service requirement.
To find out if a school is classified as a low-income school, refer to this attached online database for the year(s) you’ve been employed as a teacher.
Learn more about Perkins Loan cancellation. To apply for Perkins Loan cancellation, contact the holder of your Perkins Loan for next steps.