Student loan forgiveness for doctors

8 forgiveness and repayment assistance programs for doctors

Not all of these programs offer full forgiveness, so you might want to apply for more than one. However, it might require a longer-term commitment, since service typically can’t count toward two separate programs.

1. Public Service Loan Forgiveness

• Amounts

  100% of your federal Direct Loans

• Eligibility requirements

  To qualify for PSLF, you need to meet the following criteria:

  • Work full time for a qualifying employer
  • Have federal Direct Loans — or consolidate loans from other programs with a Direct Consolidation Loan
  • Make 120 repayments on an income-driven repayment plan

  A qualifying employer is a government or tribal entity, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization or another nonprofit that offers public health care, education or other types of public service.

Doctors working in public service can qualify for the federal government’s Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program. This popular program works by forgiving your full federal loan balance after making 120 repayments while working a public service job on an income-driven repayment plan.

You might qualify if you decide to teach, work in public health or safety, or join the Peace Corps, AmericaCorps or military. If your residency program meets the criteria for employment, it might count as well. But don’t change your career for it. Nearly all of the first few rounds of applicants were rejected after receiving misinformation about requirements from their servicers and the Department of Education.

Take a deeper dive into the PSLF Program

2. National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program

• Amounts

  Up to $50,000 for full-time service or $25,000 for half-time service

• Eligibility requirements

  To qualify for the NHSC Loan Repayment Program, you need to meet the following criteria:

  • Participate in the Medicare, Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance Program
  • Licensed and trained to practice as an NHSC-eligible primary care physician, dentist or behavioral and mental health specialist in your state
  • Work in an eligible discipline
  • US citizen or national

  Eligible disciplines include:

  • Allopathic (MD)
  • Osteopathic (DO)
  • Physician Assistant (PA)
  • Nurse Practitioner (NP)
  • Certified Nurse-Midwife (CNM)
  • Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS)
  • Doctor of Medicine in Dentistry (DMD)

  • Dental Hygienist
  • Health Service Psychologist (HSP)
  • Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW)
  • Psychiatric Nurse Specialist (PNS)
  • Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT)
  • Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)

The National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Loan Repayment Program offers student loan forgiveness in exchange for two years of service in a Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA). After your initial term, you might be eligible for even more forgiveness if you extend your contract. Forgiveness through this program is not counted as taxable income.

You can find out if your community qualifies as a Health Professional Shortage Area by visiting the Health Resources and Services Administration website.

3. National Institute of Health Loan Repayment Programs

• Amounts

  Up to $35,000 per year

• Eligibility requirements

  Intramural and extramural research loan repayment programs (LRPs) have different general eligibility requirements. On top of this, each specialization might have additional requirements or exceptions.

  Type of requirement	Intramural	Extramural
  Degree	MD PhD DO DDS DMD DPM DVM ADN BSN You might also qualify if you hold an equivalent doctoral degree from an accredited institution. Physician Assistants are eligible for this program as well.	MD PhD PharmD PsyD DO DDS DMD DPM DC ND OD DVM You might also qualify if you hold an equivalent doctoral degree from an accredited institution. The Extramural Contraception and Infertility LRP also accepts some master’s degrees and certifications.
  Type of research	The NIH must appoint you in a qualified research area. The Loan Repayment Committee (LRC) must approve all Aids and Clinical Research for Individuals from Disadvantaged Backgrounds LRP research assignments. Most general LRP awards go toward LRC-approved research conducted by senior researchers that fit the NIH’s priorities.	Research must average 20 hours of work per week during each quarter of your award and abide by federal laws and regulations.
  Funding or employment	You must be either an NIH employee or have a firm commitment of employment from an authorized NIH official.	Funding must come from one of the following: Nonprofit Foundation University Professional association US government agency Funding includes NIH grants and university salaries. Your employer must be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

  Additional general requirements include:

  • US citizen, national or permanent resident by the start of the award date
  • Debt-to-income ratio of 20% or higher

  You also won’t qualify if you:

  • Owe a health professional service obligation to the government
  • Work more than 20 hours per week at a federal government agency — other than the NIH
  • Get research funding or a salary from a for-profit institution or organization
  • Have a current or past judgment lien against property from federal debt

The National Institute of Health (NIH) Loan Repayment Programs are geared toward medical researchers who work at the NIH as well as other nonprofits or government agencies. Qualified applicants can receive up to $70,000 for a two-year award as long as you have at least $140,000 in eligible debt — including federal and private student loans. You can renew the award in one- or two-year increments as many times as you’d like.

4. National Health Service Corps Students to Service Loan Repayment Program

• Amounts

  Up to $30,000 per year for four years

• Eligibility requirements

  To qualify for this program, you need to meet the following criteria:

  • Pursuing an MD, DO, DDS or DMD in an eligible specialty
  • Attending a school accredited by the appropriate association
  • Enrolled full time as a final-year student graduating before July 1, 2020
  • Eligible for federal employment — some positions might require certain vaccines or a security clearance
  • Pass first component of licensing exams
  • No defaults on federal loans or payment obligations
  • Not in breach of a service obligation
  • No existing service obligations that will overlap with the service requirements of this program
  • Committed to providing primary service care in an HSPA based on letters of recommendations, an essay, your resume and your transcript

  Eligible specialities by discipline

  Physicians

  • Family Medicine
  • General Internal Medicine
  • General Pediatrics
  • Geriatrics
  • Obstetrics and Gynecology
  • Psychiatry

  Dentists

  • General Dentistry
  • Pediatric Dentistry

  Required accreditations by school type

  • Allopathic: Liaison Committee on Medical Education — sponsored by the American Medical Association and the Association of American Medical Colleges
  • Osteopathic: American Osteopathic Association Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation
  • Dentistry: American Dental Association Commission on Dental Accreditation

The National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Students to Service Loan Repayment Program is designed to encourage soon-to-graduate medical students to work in an HPSA — meaning you might have to move.

In exchange for partial student loan forgiveness, students are asked to commit to three years working full time at an NHSC-approved site in an HPSA. After the initial term, you can sign up for additional one-year service contracts in exchange for more forgiveness.

5. Health Professions Loan Repayment Program

• Amounts

  $40,000 per year

• Eligibility requirements

  You must meet one of the following criteria to qualify:

  • Commissioned officer in a health profession willing to sign an agreement to serve in active duty in the Navy during the program
  • In a health profession with a skill shortage in the Navy
  • Full-time student in the last year of school for a healthcare profession other than medicine, dentistry or osteopathic medicine
  • In the final year of a residency program for medicine, dentistry or osteopathic medicine

The Health Professions Loan Repayment Program (HPLRP) is meant to encourage new doctors to enter the Navy and current Navy members to reaffirm their active-duty commitment. You can’t apply online, but instead have to go directly through a Navy Medical Programs recruiter.

Repayment assistance through this program counts as taxable income, so you might receive approximately 25% less funds than you qualified for.

6. Faculty Loan Repayment Program

• Amounts

  Up to $40,000

• Eligibility requirements

  To qualify for this program, you need to meet the following criteria:

  • Health professions degree or certificate in an eligible discipline
  • Employment commitment to work as a faculty member at an approved institution for at least two years
  • Written agreement from the school to match forgiveness offered through this program
  • US resident, national or permanent resident
  • From an economically or environmentally disadvantaged background

  Eligible health professions degrees or certificates

  • Allopathic Medicine
  • Osteopathic Medicine
  • Podiatric Medicine
  • Dentistry
  • Pharmacy

  • Nursing (RN or APRN)
  • Physician Assistant
  • Veterinary Medicine
  • Public Health — only graduate-level degrees
  • Behavioral and Mental Health — only graduate-level degrees
  • Allied Health — only bachelor’s or graduate-level degrees

  Approved institutions

  Your institution must meet the following requirements to be approved:

  • Nonprofit
  • Located in a US state or territory
  • Accredited by the appropriate institution — varies by discipline

The Faculty Loan Repayment Program (FLRP) is designed to diversify the faculty in healthcare programs by providing loan repayment assistance to instructors from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Unlike some other loan repayment programs, you need to already have a contract to teach for at least two years in order to qualify. Your school also has to pledge to match the FLRP’s award or provide a waiver. FLRP awards are taxable, so the program withholds 39% of the funds to pay the IRS.

7. State loan repayment assistance programs

Most states offer loan forgiveness and repayment assistance programs to doctors that work in the area. Like other programs on this list, they tend to have a work commitment and might require you to move to an underserved area. How much forgiveness you receive, eligibility criteria and if your award is taxable depend on the program.

You can find a state program near you by searching the forgiveness program database on the Association of American Medical College’s website.

8. Cross-military loan repayment programs

Most branches of the military offer repayment assistance to doctors who have served their country for a certain amount of time. These include, but aren’t limited to:

• Active Duty Health Professions Loan Repayment Program (ADHPLRP). Available to active-duty service members of the Air Force, Army and Navy.
• College Loan Repayment Program. Active-duty, Army Reserve and Army National Guard soldiers are eligible for this program.

You can learn more about the programs available to you by visiting your local military recruiting office or talking to your commanding officer. Military service also often qualifies for many other programs on this list.

How to pay off student loans while serving in the military

4 tips for paying off medical school debt

While forgiveness can help reduce your student debt load, there are other strategies you might want to consider while you’re waiting to qualify:

• Change your federal repayment plan. Contact your servicer to find out if you can change your term or sign up for income-driven repayments if you’re working a low-paying job. And make sure you’re on a plan that’s eligible for your forgiveness program.
• Refinance private loans for a better deal. Refinancing companies particularly love working with doctors since you’re in such a high-paying field. You might be able to get a more favorable rate and term.
• Triple-check the requirements of your forgiveness program. The top reason borrowers are rejected from forgiveness programs is that they didn’t fully understand the terms and conditions.
• Don’t change your career just for PSLF. If you have career goals that don’t include public service, you might not want to change paths just for PSLF — 99% of first-round applicants got rejected, and you might derail your career for no reason.

9 more tips for paying off medical school debt

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Bottom line

Forgiveness might be a good option if you were already planning on working in public service, since it can make a significant dent in your loan balance. But it requires a serious commitment and might not be worth it if you want to start earning a high salary fast. If that’s the case, you might want to considering refinancing your student loans for a lower rate instead.

Frequently asked questions

• Do I have to pay taxes on the forgiven amount?

  It depends on the program. While the IRS says that generally you don’t have to pay taxes on forgiveness that has a work requirement, you might with some of these loan repayment assistance programs.

• Can I settle my student loan debt for less?

  It’s possible with private loans, but you can’t settle federal loan debt. You can do it yourself by negotiating with your servicer or hiring a student loan debt relief company. If you decide to hire help, thoroughly vet your debt relief company to make sure it’s legitimate — the government has been cracking on student loan debt relief scams in the past year.

• Does residency count toward loan forgiveness?

  It might, depending on the program and the terms of your residency. Reach out to both your forgiveness program and your hospital to find out if your work there can qualify.