Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

If you have Perkins loans and teach either in a teacher shortage area or in a school that serves low-income families, you may be eligible to have those loans forgiven.  Contact your lender and request the paperwork necessary to begin that process.  34 CFR 674.53(c) enables Federal Perkins Loan borrowers who are full time teachers of mathematics, science, foreign languages, bilingual education or any other field of expertise where the State educational agency determined there is a shortage of qualified teachers to qualify for cancellation of up to 100% of their loan;

If your original Stafford loan was initiated after October 7, 1998, and you teach in a school that serves low-income families, after five years you may be eligible for forgiveness not to exceed $5,000.  34 CFR 682.210(q) enables a borrower who had no outstanding Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program loan on July 1, 1987, but who had an outstanding FFEL Program loan on July 1, 1993,  to qualify for deferment of loan repayment under the Federal Stafford Program anytime within the life of the borrower’s loan(s);

For questions concerning Federal Stafford/SLS loans contact the Federal Student Aid Hotline at 800-433-3243.  Questions concerning the Federal Perkins Loans should contact the school where the loan was received.  More information may be found at this site:  http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/cancelstaff.jsp .

You may apply for teacher loan cancellation after you have completed the five-year teaching requirement. Once you have completed a loan forgiveness application, give it to the Chief Administrative Officer at your school to complete the certification section.

STATE OF MISSOURI TEACHER SHORTAGE AREAS AS APPROVED BY THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION FOR 2009-2010 SCHOOL YEAR