09/13/2005
"Highly Qualified" Teacher Loan Forgiveness Update

New guidance has been issued by the Secretary of Education regarding Teacher Loan Forgiveness under the Taxpayer-Teacher Protection Act (TTPA) of 2004 (H.R. 5186). A "highly qualified" teacher is one who meets the standards of the definition contained in the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation without regard to the date of enactment of NCLB. This means that some borrowers may immediately qualify for the increased $17,500 level of teacher loan forgiveness having completed five years of full-time teaching service as a "highly qualified" teacher in those teaching specialties outlined in the TTPA. Under the regulations in 34CFR 682.215, the loan for which forgiveness is sought must have been made prior to the end of the borrower's fifth year of qualifying teaching service.

This is a change to prior policy, which stated that the five years of qualifying teaching service for eligibility for the $17,500 loan forgiveness for certain "highly qualified" teachers cannot begin before January 8, 2002 (date of enactment of NCLB).

For your convenience, included are the links for the following Teacher Loan Forgiveness forms:

Teacher Loan Forgiveness Application (borrower form)
Teacher Loan Forgiveness Forbearance (borrower form)
Teacher Loan Forgiveness Discharge Request (lender form)

If you have questions, please contact Cody Layman at clayman@osrhe.edu or 405.225.9294.