Sound too good to be true? Check again. After graduating from college (any college), just join a non-profit. Make 120 payments then burn your mortgage. Or the student loan papers at least. Read all about it at…
http://www.studentaid.ed.gov/repay-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/charts/public-service
http://www.ibrinfo.org/can.vp.html
http://www.finaid.org/loans/publicservice.phtml
The fine print: If you’re the type that likes to tell people about Jesus, this program might not work so well for you. The program includes this disclaimer: “However, when determining full-time public service employment at a not-for-profit organization you may not include time spent participating in religious instruction, worship services, or any form of proselytizing.” You CAN, however, include the time spent drilling wells or researching rice farming techniques.
Yes! I’m working towards this! I took out 55k for grad school, and am now happily employed at a Christian non-profit, but my work is not in any kind of religious teaching.
There are a few things about this program to keep in mind (which you will find out if you read the links):
1) You have to qualify for income-based repayment. This generally means you took out enough money that at your paygrade, you aren’t able to pay off the loan within 10 years (which is the standard repayment).
2) Your 120 payments don’t have to be consecutive. If I quit my NGO job and work for the private sector, I can come back to a not-for-profit job and pick up where I left off in my qualifying payments. As a woman, if I have a child and take 2 years off in the middle of those 10 years to be home with my baby, I can’t use the payments I make during those 2 years toward the 120, but I can pick up where I left off when I do re-enter the workforce. In that sense, it’s a much better deal for men than for women, but I’ll take what I can get!
3) Any government job will also qualify (teachers, librarians, AmeriCorps)
I hope *no one* will switch from evangelism / Bible-teaching, etc., to “more acceptable” (to our society) forms of serving God, because of this! If you’re “supposed” to drill wells, go for it! But if you’re “supposed” to teach eternal truths, don’t deviate! Let’s *all* resist letting the world “squeeze us into its mold” (I think that’s J.B. Phillips’ paraphrase of Rom 12:1). Also, there was one of the kings of Judah or Israel (I can’t find the place in the Bible right now) who paid money to a foreign power (Syria?) to protect him. The prophet (Isaiah?) told him to rely on God only. “But what about all that money I paid?”, said the king. The answer: “The Lord is able to make all that up to you, and much more.” So, don’t let the “easy way out” (which is *right* for many, OK? and is not “the easy way out” in those cases) let you change your God-given course!
Well said, Jim!
According to the IBRinfo.org page you are eligible if
-You work for a 501(c)(3) organization
-You work for government (list ones)
-You work for AmeriCorps or Peace Corps
If you DON’T meet one of those criteria, then you can qualify if you work for an organization that is “not a business organized for profit, a labor union, a partisan political organization, or a non-profit organization engaged in religious instruction, worship services, or any form of proselytizing;”
What I see, is that any 501(c)(3) qualifies.
The restriction on religious instruction etc. is for other businesses that are not organized for profit.