Hello,

I am a special education teacher at a Title 1 school, for two years.  I taught as a highly skilled mathematics teacher, at another Title 1 school, for one year.  Three years combined. My loans are deferred for one more year as I finish my masters. Before my loans were deferred, I was paying through the Income Based Repayment option.  By the time my master’s is finished, I’ll have approximately $50,000 in loans. So far, I have made 30 of 120 payments towards the PSLF. (This is an after thought after I finished typing this post:  All 30 payments have been towards my undergraduate loans. Can I combine my master’s loans with my undergraduate loans?  My undergraduate/graduate loans are from separate lenders.)

I learned that there is another loan forgiveness program for teachers called the Teacher Loan Forgiveness option.  After five consecutive years of teaching at a title 1 school, I have the opportunity to have $17,500 forgiven on my loans.  My research on studentaid.ed.gov leads me to the understanding that if I take this option of loan forgiveness, then my payment counts (30 of 120) towards PSLF will restart at 0.

Here are a few of my questions:

It is my innate understanding that I should not file for the Teacher Loan Forgiveness.  If I was to pursue the Teacher Loan Forgiveness, my approximate loans will be $32,500.  Then restarting 120 of this amount would probably be less than the amount I was paying for the IBR plan.  So, I would finish the repayment of the loans before I could receive the benefits of PSLF. 

Otherwise, my other option is to finish the remaining payments towards the PSLF.  For this option to be worth while, the PSLF would need to forgive an amount greater than $17,500.

Another question:  I have recently married my best friend.  The past few years we file our taxes jointly.  If my spouse and I file our taxes separately, would this affect the amount I would pay under the IBR plan?  If so, would this be a worthwhile option?

I hope this post isn’t as big as a headache for you as it is for me!

Thanks for your time,

Mike

Can I combine my master’s loans with my undergraduate loans? - Yes you can consolidate them all together, but that means the clock would “restart” towards the 120 payments needed to qualify.

My undergraduate/graduate loans are from separate lenders.  - In order for payments to count towards the 120 needed for the PSLF, the lender HAS to be the DOE.

My research on studentaid.ed.gov leads me to the understanding that if I take this option of loan forgiveness, then my payment counts (30 of 120) towards PSLF will restart at 0. - No, that’s incorrect.  You can qualify for both, and for the Teacher Loan Forgiveness you do not have to be in either the Income Based, Income Contingent, or Pay as you Earn programs.

It is my innate understanding that I should not file for the Teacher Loan Forgiveness.  If I was to pursue the Teacher Loan Forgiveness, my approximate loans will be $32,500.  Then restarting 120 of this amount would probably be less than the amount I was paying for the IBR plan.  So, I would finish the repayment of the loans before I could receive the benefits of PSLF.  - The programs are independent of each other, and the clock does not restart if you use the TLF.  However, since you’ll still have to qualify for the Income Based, Income Contingent, or Pay as you Earn repayment program - having $17k of the balance forgiven will likely make it very hard to qualify for the repayment plans.  You can run the scenarios at these links:
http://studentaid.ed.gov/repay-loans/understand/plans/income-based/calculator
http://studentaid.ed.gov/repay-loans/understand/plans/income-contingent/calculator

Another question:  I have recently married my best friend.  The past few years we file our taxes jointly.  If my spouse and I file our taxes separately, would this affect the amount I would pay under the IBR plan?  If so, would this be a worthwhile option? - It may very well be a good option , but by doing so will likely increase the amount of taxes you owe, or decrease your return.  Run the different scenarios if you do your own taxes, or have your tax preparer run the scenarios for you; then compare that to the potential savings the PSLF would be worth to you.

Michael, I am a teacher at a title one school as well, and I have also looked into teacher loan forgiveness. My research has shown that the five qualifying years of service you use for teacher loan forgiveness cannot also count toward your pslf. Therefore, I’ve personally decided to just do pslf. I’m in the same boat as you with high loan debt as a teacher….thank goodness for pslf! The previous poster is right. If you consolidate the two, your clock will start over. I consolidated my grad and undergrad because I did grad right out of undergrad so I hadn’t made any qualifying payments to begin with. If I were in your shoes, I wouldn’t consolidate.