I am in my 5th year as a highly qualified science teacher in a low income district. I took the first 80 days off as part of an extended maternity leave (30 days of sick time, 50 days unpaid).  Will this year count as my 5th year and thus allow me to apply for forgivness?  I believe I was technically still a full-time employee and I think I filled my district’s obligation for a year of teaching.

On page 3 section 8 of the Teacher Loan Forgiveness application it states that “You must be employed as a full-time teacher for five complete academic years.”  I always took this as leaves such as this qualify because you were employed.  However what I always advised people was to apply as the DOE makes the final decision and if you get denied try again the next year (after reviewing your denial reason) but based on the language in the application it looks like you would be good to go.