North Carolina Student Loan Forgiveness Programs

Are you looking for opportunities that can help you clear your student loan debt? If yes, then the student loan forgiveness programs can be beneficial. North Carolina Student Loan Forgiveness Programs are designed to help students who reside in North Carolina. It can help you have your loan amount forgiven depending on the program type you choose. It doesn't happen overnight and isn’t an easy process, hence, we’re here to help. The public service loan forgiveness can also be looked into for a qualifying student loan forgiveness program.

It should be noted that there are several jobs available to help you get your loans forgiven. Having an in-depth understanding of the various student loan forgiveness jobs out there is crucial to see if your job can get your student loans forgiven. In this article, we focus more on the Student loan forgiveness programs available in North Carolina.

Table of Contents

Student loan forgiveness program
North Carolina Student loan forgiveness programs
What to do if I don’t qualify for a student loan forgiveness program

What is a student loan forgiveness program?

It is simply a process of simplifying your student loan repayment, among many other repayment options, student loan forgiveness is one. Student loan forgiveness can only work if you a federal student loan. This is the special benefit provided by the ED for federal student loans. Under special conditions, the federal government can forgive the loan up to a certain extent, and in some cases, they can forgive the entire amount. There are many kinds of student loan forgiveness programs for people from different backgrounds such as law, education, and public service. If you’re not required to pay back a loan due to the benefits provided by the government or financial institutions for the job you do, it is called student loan forgiveness.

Know more about Student loan forgiveness programs and their benefits.

Worried about your college tuition? Read more on Best student loans

North Carolina student loan forgiveness programs

The loan forgiveness programs in North Carolina are for those who are employed as a public servant. This includes people with the profession as doctors, nurses, mental health professionals, lawyers, and teachers. But there are specific eligibility criteria to get qualified for a student loan forgiveness program. Important details on a few student loan forgiveness programs available in North Carolina are given here.

1) North Carolina state loan repayment plans

The North Carolina Office of Rural Health serves the North Carolina State Loan Repayment Program (SLRP). This program helps mental health professionals who offer primary and psychiatric care in rural and underserved areas.

Working under some departments can fetch you the qualification for the student loan forgiveness program. The below-mentioned departments are a few that qualify you for the student loan forgiveness program.

Federal Community Health Centers (also identified as Federally Qualified Health Centers, or FQHCs)
State-Sponsored Rural Health Centers
County Health Departments
State Mental Health Hospitals
Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment Centers
Community Mental Health Facilities

The North Carolina SLRP requires a minimum of two years of service. There’s also a possibility for extra student loan forgiveness. You can be eligible only if you’re given an additional one-year contract. The amount awarded is based on the amount of important educational loans, hours worked per week, and working at a united care site. You can receive up to $50,000 of loan forgiveness.

Check for all the Student loan forgiveness programs by the state that can help you

2) North Carolina legal education assistance foundation program

North Carolina legal education assistance foundation (NC LEAF) is in place to encourage law school graduates to enter and remain in public service. If you are a lawyer working in North Carolina and have earned your accredited degree in the past 10 years, you could be eligible for the NC LEAF loan repayment program.

Requirements to be considered to get loan forgiveness

Have a full-time job in a North Carolina qualifying public service
Be in good standing with the North Carolina Bar
Must first use other sources of loan forgiveness available; which includes loan repayment assistance programs offered by employers
Annual gross income from all sources may not exceed $55,000 for a single person or $95,000 jointly
Must have at least $10,000 of student loan debt
Must produce the monthly bills from a law school loan provider

If you meet these requirements, you can receive up to $400 of monthly help to repay your student loans. The total amount of forgiveness can’t exceed $4800 yearly.

3) FELS programs

The Forgivable Education Loans for Services (FELS) program offers student loan forgiveness for North Carolina citizen students pursuing their degree. This loan is offered by the North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority. Your degree can be in any of the fields mentioned below:

Teaching
Health
Counseling
Medical
Nursing

There are restrictions on which area of concentration you choose in these fields. Also, the program is open only to certain fields for undergraduate and graduate school. FELS recipients must be registered for at least six credit hours each semester to be eligible for funding for undergraduate or graduate programs. You must also be ready to work in a North Carolina preferred critical shortage profession. Along with these, you must have a specified CGPA.

This loan repayment cannot be combined with your loans from other state or federal forgiveness programs.

You can qualify for a maximum of $20,000 for your undergraduate degree; $20,000 for a master’s degree and up to $56,000 for a doctoral degree. Generally, a loan for one educational year is forgiven in return of full-time employment. Loans accrue interest at the rate of 8% per year from the date of the loan disbursement. If you don’t complete the required service after graduation, you must repay the loan in cash.

4) North Carolina loan repayment programs

The North Carolina Office of Rural Health offers a loan forgiveness program — the North Carolina Loan Repayment Program (NC LRP). This program is for qualifying health-care providers. You must be willing to provide primary care services to an eligible facility. This facility must be serving those designated as a Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA). You’ll agree to a four-year service commitment at one of such facilities. During this time, you must provide at least 32 hours per week of onsite clinical practice.

Physicians and dentists can receive up to $100,000 of loan repayment. Nurse practitioners, nurse-midwives, physician assistants, psychiatric nurse practitioners, and dental hygienists can receive up to $60,000 of loan forgiveness.

5) Loan repayment assistance program

The University of North Carlina offers a Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) for public service practicing lawyers. You can go to the American Bar Association state LRAP contact page to find all the LRPA programs that are open in North Carolina. Many states offer the John R. Justice student loan repayment programs to prosecutors and public defenders, to help and work in the state justice systems. They provide repayment assistance for public defenders and state prosecutors who are employed as public defenders and prosecutors for a minimum of three years.

What to do if you don’t qualify for a student loan forgiveness program?

If you are from other states you need to know the top student loan forgiveness program in your state.

North Carolina has numerous opportunities to help fund your education. Most importantly, you should investigate scholarships and grants. It even offers scholarships for teachers who want to return to school and pursue administration.

Private student loans are very helpful when needed. But they cannot be forgiven. Here are the solutions to deal with student loans.

Exhaust all grants and scholarships: Exhaust all grants and scholarship options you are eligible to receive, there are several scholarships namely the Aubrey Lee Brooks Scholarship, Crumley Roberts Scholarship provided to students attending North Carolina State University. And Crumley Roberts Scholarship focusing on woman employees. And student attending North Carolina Florence Kidder Memorial Scholarship and Jagannathan Scholarship are awarded. J. Howard Coble Scholarship is provided for incoming college freshmen.
Refinancing can help: You can refinance private student loans while pursuing a forgiveness program with your federal student loans if you have both types. When refinancing your private student loans, compare both interest rates and loan terms of different refinancing lenders. You can approach the best companies to refinance your student loans. Refinancing doesn't hold any value if not refinanced for a lower interest rate and better repayment terms.
Look out for a student loan lawyer to help you: If your private student loans aren’t in good standing, you may be getting calls from debt collectors. In North Carolina, the statute of limitations for a lender to sue you for unpaid debt is three years. However, if you’re going through financial difficulty, consider looking into this option with a student loan lawyer.

Payment becomes an issue if all students cannot find employment directly related to what they have studied. The students with better networking abilities find better jobs sooner which helps them pay the debts faster with a good salary. So, for the student to be able to repay the debt, a skill to have a decent employee is a must. For those who do not have the necessary expertise loan forgiveness programs act as the best options.