I Was in State Prison and Wonder if I Can Get My Student Loans Forgiven

Question:

Dear Steve,

I was in prison for about 3 years and I was wondering about student loan forgiveness for State prisoners.

I read your article about student loan forgiveness for prisoners and you basically only mentioned it to be for federal prisoners. But would it apply to State prisoners as well?

Kendra

Answer:

Dear Kendra,

I believe you are talking about my article here.

In my article, I pointed out what seems like a loophole for applying for Public Service Loan Forgiveness if you are employed in prison by a government entity.

Technically, some may meet the technical guidelines and apply for forgiveness but the requirements to make someone eligible are pretty narrow.

So the strategy would be applicable as well if you worked for a state government organization when you were in prison and had made on-time payments towards your federal student loans while you were employed. You would have needed to make at least 120 and the current Trump Department of Education says you must be employed by the qualifying employer at the time the forgiveness is approved.

Steve Rhode Debt Coach and Author

Steve Rhode is the Get Out of Debt Guy and has been helping good people with bad debt problems since 1994. You can learn more about Steve, here.

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