Wednesday, 17 March 2010
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Get Rid of Student Loan Debt...Without Paying a Dime
Student loan debt is one of those things that just hangs over your head. And for more and more students these days, they are an unavoidable burden if they'd like to attend college. I managed to avoid racking up too much debt during undergrad, but the idea of paying back my law school loans makes me a little sick to my stomach.
Fortunately, there are alternative ways to escape student loan debt that doesn't require paying it back. I knew about a handful of ways before, but a recent post on Moneyning has a round-up of 10 ways to eliminate student debt without paying them and there are many alternatives on the list that were new to me.
Some of programs they highlight are:
- Teaching: Teaching full-time in designated low-income schools may cancel Perkins and Stafford loans. Furthermore, many school districts facing teacher shortages are developing their own programs to attract more teachers.
- Peace Corps: Volunteering with the Peace Corps means your room and board are covered and, depending on the amount of time you volunteer, up to 70% of your student loans may be repaid.
- Hospitals: Some hospitals will offer repayment programs to attract staff, usually aimed at nurses, physical therapists and occupational therapists.
- Army National Guard: In addition to military scholarships for future attendance, the Army National Guard has a repayment program for up to $10,000.
- State Government Employee: Most states offer some kind of loan repayment for state employees, particularly those earning lower incomes.
- Employment: While not a common benefit, some employers offer loan repayment as another perk in the employment package.
- LRAP (Loan Repayment Assistance Program): I know from experience that most law schools offer some type of loan repayment program for people who choose to go into public interest, and there is a few federal LRAP program as well. Apparently, there is a similar option for medical students.
Check out the Moneyning post for additional alternatives, as well as more information about the ones listed here and for links for some of these programs. I think it's great they did this post because so many people are unaware of the alternatives out there that can be really helpful. Granted, most of these programs have some very specific restrictions, but it's still better than nothing.
Have you, or do you plan to, taken advantage of an alternative method for repaying student loans?
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- From: Cara
- Name: Cara
- About Me: I'm a 24 yr old back in the Midwest for law school. I've survived the first semester as a law student after working as a paralegal for two years. Let's see how the rest of the time goes!
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Comments (19)
So where are these schools facing teacher shortages? Every district out here seems to be downsizing, not trying to find more teachers to employ.
@ELIZerson@xanga - You're right, this is an issue. But one option is to get into a program like Teach for America, which places teachers in low-income schools. The downside is they don't offer a very high salary, but they offer training courses (good for those with no teaching background) and student loan repayment programs. Americorps is another good option. It's like Peacecorps but here in the US.
@Kat - Thanks for the suggestions. I wonder if there are ways to find these in-need schools without joining an organization like TFA or Americorps. I have a bit of an issue with the very basis of how TFA works (placing ill-equipped, not well trained "teachers" in extremely rough spots), though I do know that a lot of those placements do work out well.
Well, TFA does a pretty intensive screening process and they only accept college grads. They also do an intense 5-week teacher training program before putting you in a school, which is more than many teachers go through (for example, non-education majors who are hired out of college). A friend of mine went through the initial process but then decided to go to grad school instead. But there are other ways especially if you have experience and are able to relocate. On the other hand, it's rough for every new job-seeker right now, and I'm sure teaching is no exception.
You can also get a percentage of your Perkins loan forgiven for teaching Special Education. I was a SpEd teacher before I had my child and got about half of my loan forgiven.
You forgot Fake Your Own Death.
@ELIZerson@xanga - I don't know the link off the top of my head but I know there is a website that has pdf's for each state of the schools & subjects that qualify.
i'm already a substitute teacher... and i have a stafford loan from devry! boooooooooooo!
I'm an Education major so the teaching thing is definitely going to help me, but I was already planning on teaching in a low-income urban area anyway, so win-win i guess.
@ELIZerson@xanga - totally agree. I graduated in 2009 with my BA in elementary education, and am still searching for my chance to get my foot in the door with a school. There's normally a job fair for teachers in my county, where we can meet all of the local principals and hand out our resumes. They haven't done that for the past two years because of budget cuts. There a minimal hirings. Some, not none, but they get TONS of applicants for one position. It's not very promising at the moment, and with my student loans starting to added up, I'm attempting to find a part-time job just to keep them under control.
@snowboardnmom@xanga - I'm about to graduate this coming May, and I'm not hearing positive things about the education jobs around here (Chicagoland/NW Indiana). So I've been looking into full-time tutoring gigs and the like... anything to pay off my loans :P
You guys should check into teaching English overseas too. There's no loan payback that I know of but its reliable employment and all you usually need is an undergraduate degree. I have taught in Japan but you can easily get a job teaching English in many different countries and some of them pay more than others.
I'm enlisting in the Army National Guard because of my loans.
However, they no longer mention the $10,000 to pay off loans anymore.wow, i had no clue about all this, thnks for putting this info up!
dont feel as stressed out as before...lol
@niceBrice@xanga - haha i honestly thought when clicking on this link that faking death would be an option on it :p
I thought about doing the Peace Corps.. until I found out that they only pay back Perkins loans.. and I have all Stafford loans. :(
Another option I'm considering is if you work for a non-profit company for 10 years (or something like that), then the government will pay off the rest of your loans.
Yeah... the Peace Corps only offers help to pay back parts of Perkins loans. (whatever those are.)
And to be honest, if you're only thinking of going to a foreign country for 2 years to teach/do manual labor/be away from everyone you know and love, and possibly, have to learn a whole new language (like Swahili.. like my good buddy maria, who went to Africa...)... you're in It for the wrong reasons. The Peace Corps is not about "oh em geeee, they'll pay my student loans!" It's hard and it's long and it'll make you miss your family, because flying home is expensive, and you don't really get paid much at all..... and sometimes you'll get internet access when you get to go away for a weekend once in a while and you get mail sometimes... Maria emailed us about once a month. Sometimes she was in a really bad place, and other times, having the greatest time of her life... (She taught English, math and science at the village school. ...the math and science I know for sure, not 100% sure on the English...)
HOWEVER. if you DO go.. they can hold your payments and interest until you get back.. which is still nice.
Sorry if that offends you, @TurquoiseDots@xanga. But it's true. :/
And yes.
I used to be an education major... but I'm not willing to get into the work force.. and not have job security. (I was music ed...)
SO. If you're planning on that whole 'teach in a title 1 school for 5 - 10 years and have 50-100% of your loans repaid" business to work out, good luck!
There IS Teach For America- another good option, which does offer a stipend (on top of your measly teaching salary..) that can be used for loan repayment- or housing or whatever you want to use it for.
@Kat - yeah!! when I was an Ed major, I was going to do teach for america... but, what do you do with a music teacher when you can't even afford to pay your core teachers? sigh. :)
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