Tag: Student loan forgiveness

Student loan forgiveness for nurse educators

How to get Student loan forgiveness for Nurse Educators

Student loan forgiveness is a US government program that helps the registered educator nurses with certain non-profit healthcare services and loan forgiveness. The program participants get 60% from the total nursing education loan. They also get salary and other benefits that based on the negotiations with the employing facility.

Requirements for taking student loan forgiveness:
Below are the eligibility criteria for taking loan payment:

  • You should have degree of Doctoral, any Associate Degree, and Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree or diploma in nursing.
  • You must have completed full time with 32 hours in a weak as a Registered Nurse (RN). Alternatively, you should have current, unencumbered, permanent or unrestricted license that show your practice as a RN and the license should be authorized in the State where you performed your practice.
  • You must be a US national, US born, US citizen, legal permanent resident.
  • You must have worked as a full time nurse faculty member at any non-profit nursing school whether it is public or private.
  • You must have completed education in the nursing program for which loan balance is applied.

Eligible Facilities Types:
Eligible facilities to take student loan forgiveness for nurses are as under. Remember just non-profit facilities are able to take loan from the following types:

  • Hospitals
  • Skilled nursing Facilities
  • Hospice programs
  • Federal level Qualified health centers
  • Rural health clinics, native Hawaiian health centers, Indian service health centers
  • Human services department
  • Local or State public health
  • Nursing homes

First preference applicants for funding:

  • Those applicants have loan preference that got 40 percent total educational loan after qualifying or greater from their base annual income.
  • It is also given to those nurses that are working in the facilities types that contain the large amount of stern nursing shortage.

Before you apply:

  • Keep in mind that applications for student loan forgiveness are accepted only once per year.
  • Read the loan program guidelines as well as the application carefully as the program guidelines updates yearly.
  • There is an agreement in the application that requires you to accept the point that you will serve two years at facility that are displayed on your application form.
  • In case they select you and you do not fulfill the listed obligations then you will have to face severe financial penalty.

Application process:
To apply for student loan forgiveness for nurse educators loan program follow below steps

  • Choose the loan forgiveness organization from where you want to take the loan. For example HRSA service or student loan organization.
  • Complete the general information and agreement section on application form and then submit the form.

What to expect:

  • If an applicant is selected for NELRP program award, then a contract will be signed from secretary of health and human services. Keep in mind, the contract will not be effective without Secretary’s sign. You will receive a copy of contract, payment authorization worksheet (PAW) and award letter.
  • You will get monthly award payment in two years. Electronic funds shift to saving or checking account of participants.

Student loan forgiveness for nurse practitioners

If you are a student or a practicing nurse who has mostly funded the fees through education loans and is now finding it difficult to payback the loans then there is definitely some time to rejoice. This is mainly because of the student loan debt forgiveness. In student loan forgiveness, either your employer or a government agency pays off the loans for you. One such agency that provides loan forgiveness includes the National Health Service Corps or the NHSC.

Who is the NHSC?

The NHSC is a department of the US Department of Health and Human Services and is established under the Health Resources and Services Administration. The NHSC provides medical professionals who serve in the undeserved areas with loan forgiveness and various other facilities. The undeserved areas can be mostly classified into places where very few people are willing to work such as prisons.

What does the NHSC offers to nurse practitioners?

The NHSC repays up to $25,000 annual of the health professionals’ students loans.  However, this is not applicable to anyone and every medical professional as the program has a strict qualifying criteria, which it follows before providing any kind of loan forgiveness assistance to the nurse practitioners. Thus, to seek loan forgiveness through the NHSC, you first need to qualify for loan forgiveness under their program.

Qualifying for the loan forgiveness

To qualify for the loan forgiveness it is very important for you to be serious about your work. This is mainly because; after all the agency is going to pay for the money you had used for your education. The following are some of the criteria that you need to fulfill to qualify for the loan forgiveness offered by the NHSC.

1. You need to be a citizen of the United States

2. You need to be licensed in your field

3. You need to work in the under-served areas

4. You need to be a full-time practitioner and should commit yourself towards working in an undeserved area for at least a minimum period of two years

Other facilities offered by NHSC

Apart from the loan forgiveness, once you qualify for their program, you are also entitled to the several other facilities that the NHSC provides to the medical professionals. These additional facilities mostly include a competitive salary package and some vital tax benefits.

So if you are wondering about how you are going to pay back your educational loan then it is time to look whether you qualify for the NHSC program so that you can avail loan forgiveness.