There is no federal law called the Teacher Debt Relief Act. A bill by that name was introduced in the Senate in 2024 but was not enacted.1Congress.gov. Text – S.3695 – 118th Congress (2023-2024): Teacher Debt Relief Act The relief that actually exists for teachers comes from three federal programs: Teacher Loan Forgiveness (TLF), Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), and Perkins Loan cancellation for teachers. TLF pays out a flat amount after five years, PSLF cancels whatever is left after ten years of qualifying payments, and Perkins cancellation erodes the balance across five years of eligible service. Which one fits you depends on your loan types, where you teach, and how long you plan to stay.
Teacher Loan Forgiveness
TLF forgives up to $17,500 of your Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans or Federal Stafford Loans after five full, consecutive academic years of teaching at an eligible low-income school or educational service agency.2Federal Student Aid. 4 Loan Forgiveness Programs for Teachers You must have been a new borrower on or after October 1, 1998, meaning you had no outstanding balance on Direct Loans or FFEL loans on that date or when you first borrowed after it.3eCFR. 34 CFR 682.216 – Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program
The amount depends on what you teach. Highly qualified secondary math or science teachers and highly qualified special education teachers can receive up to $17,500. Other highly qualified full-time teachers at an eligible low-income school can receive up to $5,000. Those are ceilings. If your balance is smaller than the cap, you get only enough to zero it out.4Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. What Is the Best Student Loan Forgiveness Option for Teachers?
Public Service Loan Forgiveness
PSLF is the bigger benefit for teachers carrying real debt. It cancels whatever remains on your Direct Loans after 120 qualifying monthly payments made while working full-time for a qualifying employer.5Federal Student Aid. Student Loan Forgiveness That is a minimum of ten years, with no dollar cap.
Any U.S. government organization at the federal, state, local, or tribal level qualifies as an employer, so nearly every public school district counts. Section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofits qualify as well, along with certain other nonprofits providing public services such as early childhood education or services for people with disabilities. Labor unions and partisan political organizations do not qualify.6Federal Student Aid. Public Service Loan Forgiveness FAQs Full-time means averaging at least 30 hours per week during the certified period, regardless of your employer’s own definition. Vacation and FMLA leave count as hours worked.
Only Direct Loans qualify. If you hold Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program loans, you must consolidate them into a Direct Consolidation Loan first, and payments you made on the FFEL loans before consolidation generally will not receive retroactive credit toward the 120-payment count.7Federal Student Aid. Guidance for FFEL and Perkins Loan Program Participants on the Limited Public Service Loan Forgiveness Waiver
One trap on the repayment side. Payments under the standard 10-year plan technically count, but that plan pays off your balance in exactly 120 payments, so nothing is left to forgive. To benefit from PSLF, you need an income-driven repayment (IDR) plan that keeps monthly payments lower. The IDR menu has changed sharply in 2026: SAVE was blocked by a federal appeals court and is no longer available, and PAYE and ICR are scheduled to sunset by July 2028. Income-Based Repayment (IBR) remains available for loans first disbursed before July 1, 2026. For loans first disbursed on or after that date, the new Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) is the only IDR option.
Perkins Loan Cancellation
No new Perkins Loans have been issued since 2017, but if you still have a Perkins balance you can eliminate up to 100 percent of it over five years of qualifying teaching performed on or after October 7, 1998. The cancellation is graduated: 15 percent of the original principal (plus that year’s interest) in each of years one and two, 20 percent in each of years three and four, and 30 percent in year five.8Federal Student Aid. Perkins Loan Cancellation and Discharge
Qualifying categories include math, science, special education, bilingual education, foreign languages, and other designated shortage areas. Your state may define additional shortage subjects. Perkins cancellation is handled by the school that made the loan or its assigned servicer, not by the servicer for your Direct Loans.
Using TLF and PSLF Together
You can use both programs across your career, but you cannot count the same teaching time twice. Any period used to qualify for TLF does not count toward PSLF, and time counted toward PSLF does not satisfy the five-year TLF requirement.2Federal Student Aid. 4 Loan Forgiveness Programs for Teachers
The practical approach is sequential. Finish your five consecutive years of TLF-eligible teaching, collect up to $17,500, then begin building your 120 PSLF payments. A math teacher at a low-income school who claims TLF after five years and then teaches ten more years at any public school could have the remaining balance wiped out through PSLF. Going straight for PSLF gets you to full cancellation sooner but forfeits the TLF payout along the way.
Which Schools Qualify
TLF requires that your school or educational service agency appear in the Teacher Cancellation Low-Income (TCLI) Directory. A school makes the directory if its district is eligible for Title I funding and more than 30 percent of its enrollment meets a federal measure of poverty.9Federal Student Aid. Information About Teacher Cancellation Low-Income Directory Updates Both public and nonprofit private schools can appear. The directory is updated annually, and you can check it before taking a job.
PSLF has no low-income requirement. Any public school, public university, or government agency counts, and private schools organized as 501(c)(3) nonprofits count as well.6Federal Student Aid. Public Service Loan Forgiveness FAQs Teachers at suburban or well-funded public schools that would never appear on the TCLI Directory usually still qualify for PSLF.
Taxes on Forgiven Amounts
TLF, PSLF, and Perkins cancellation are all permanently excluded from federal taxable income.10Taxpayer Advocate Service. What to Know about Student Loan Forgiveness and Your Taxes The exclusion sits in 26 U.S.C. ยง 108(f)(1), which exempts loan discharges conditioned on working in certain professions for a broad class of employers.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 108 – Income From Discharge of Indebtedness
IDR forgiveness is different. The American Rescue Plan Act’s temporary rule making all student loan forgiveness tax-free expired on December 31, 2025. Starting in 2026, if your remaining balance is forgiven after completing an IDR plan (typically after 20 or 25 years), the forgiven amount is treated as taxable income.10Taxpayer Advocate Service. What to Know about Student Loan Forgiveness and Your Taxes For a teacher who reaches PSLF, this does not matter because PSLF has its own permanent exemption. For a teacher who drops off the PSLF track and eventually receives IDR forgiveness instead, it does.
A Warning About TEACH Grants
The Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant is not a forgiveness program, but it can turn into debt that then needs forgiving. TEACH Grants come with a service obligation: teach full-time for at least four years in a high-need field at a low-income school or educational service agency. Fail to complete the obligation and the entire grant converts to a Direct Unsubsidized Loan with interest backdated to the original disbursement.12Federal Student Aid. TEACH Grant Program Teachers who completed the teaching but missed the annual certification paperwork have found themselves owing far more than the grant was worth. The converted loan is eligible for the forgiveness programs described here, but the accumulated interest inflates the balance. Treat the annual TEACH certification deadline as seriously as the teaching itself.
Applying
For TLF, submit the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Application to your servicer after you have completed the five consecutive years. Your school’s chief administrative officer must certify that you taught full-time at an eligible Title I school or educational service agency.13Federal Student Aid. Teacher Loan Forgiveness Application You cannot apply before the five years are complete.
For PSLF, the PSLF Form does two jobs: it certifies employment and, once you hit 120 qualifying payments, becomes your forgiveness application.14Federal Student Aid. Public Service Loan Forgiveness Form Submit it every year and whenever you change employers. Annual submission is not technically required, but it is the most reliable way to catch tracking problems before they cost you years. Your employer’s authorized official signs the employment section.15Federal Student Aid. Public Service Loan Forgiveness and Temporary Expanded PSLF Certification and Application
State Programs
Most states run their own teacher loan repayment programs, generally aimed at shortage subjects like math, science, and special education, or hard-to-staff rural and urban schools. Annual awards range from around $1,000 to $10,000 or more, with multi-year caps. Several states offer total benefits between $15,000 and $30,000 over the life of the program. State benefits can usually be combined with federal forgiveness, but each state sets its own rules and deadlines. Check your state’s department of education website for what is currently on offer where you teach.