I had heard that law enforcement officers could have student loans cancelled.  Until yesterday, I was only aware of the program that let you cancel a student loan after ten years of payments.  However, I found out about the Perkins loan cancellation program that is supposed to cancel 100% of loans for law enforcement officers who have worked for 12 consecutive months.  

The problem I find is that the Sallie Mae website says to contact your loan servicer, loan servicer refers you to Sallie Mae.... I have requests in to both to find out how to start this process.

Has anyone done this?  Have any tips?

https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/charts

Just my two cents and I'm sure lll be called a dick (cant help it after 22 years and count in LE) but if you borrow it you should pay it ALL back. Flame on.

J-

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That is an extremely valid point. I'm undecided on whether I would. Just wanted to find out more info.

Not sure if this is something along the lines of GI Bill ( I.e. do something not everyone does and get rewarded, an incentive to get people in LE ) or just more socialism.

Never heard of the program. I know there used to Pell Grants for certain professions with LE being one IIRC.

J-

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There are all sorts of in I time programs.  When I was in college they had the law enforcement education program (LEEP).  Under that program, you got student loans, but if you did go into LE, the loans were forgiven at 25% per year...after four years, balance owing was zero.

Find out more about your program.  Many loan places are not all that familiar with the terms, and I caught them making stuff up.

I finished my Masters last year and I'm in the middle of the cancellation process.  What do you want to know?



Also, I have paid all my others back fully.  I feel that the cancellation program is a government incentive to better educate citizens.

I'm not an LEO but I am in the process of attempting to use the Perkins Loan Cancellation program in another field (teaching/ SPED).

Pell grants are gift aid up front- with no obligation to repay them regardless of what occupation you go into. They awarded based on expected family contribution (in other words based on means testing). I think it is really important to emphasize that it's not money for nothing.

Federal Perkins loans are money that you borrow with an obligation to repay. As an incentive for taking on certain types of employment the government has created a mechanism to have it forgiven on a percentage basis based on years of service. (in teaching for example, it is 15%, 15%, 20%, 20%, 30% IIRC) The forms reflect the ability to apply to delay payments based on future service (so that the forgiveness will cover more/ you will pay less out of pocket)- but I chose not to apply for that, at least not at this point in time.

There are also forgiveness programs associated with the Stafford Loan program as well, which are likewise intended to encourage people to go into certain career fields by providing additional financial incentive upon completion of certain amounts of service.

One challenge that I'm having is getting the necessary employer approvals, though hopefully that will end up working out. )