I am a sophomore psychology student at a small liberal arts college in Atlanta. And even with the substantial scholarship and grants from my school, I am going to be about $40,000 in debt when I graduate in 2018. And that's fine. I'm getting a fantastic education, and unfortunately, I would probably be in a similar amount of debt if I had chosen to go to a public in-state college because of the amount that my parents make, which is both slightly too much and slightly too little. But in my search for things to do after graduation and getting my loans in order for the upcoming school year, I found a potential solution to my debt problem. It isn't a guarantee, but it is a possibility that is good to know about called loan forgiveness.

I know this is true of psychology students, and possibly for other majors, but when there are shortages of people to work in specific fields, in order to fill those spots, loan forgiveness may be offered. These jobs are often at local, state, or federal government agencies or non-profit organizations that have been "designated as tax-exempt by the IRS under Section 501(c)(3) of the IRC." According to the article I read, as long as you work in some capacity for these agencies, it will count. You could be a secretary as long as the place you work qualified as one of these agencies, and that's something that your employer should know.

According to the PSLF (Public Service Loan Forgiveness) Program's website, the point of the program is to encourage people to work in public service industries such as emergency management, military service, public safety, law enforcement services, public education, or public library services. The program allows full-time positions of at least 30 hours a week to be filled, and those who work in those positions are rewarded by the loan forgiveness. They still have to make 120 payments on their student loans that are consolidated into one loan, but if those 120 payments are on time and you still work at the approved agency, after 10 years, the loan is forgiven.

120 payments may seem like a lot. But when we calculating the debt I will have accrued over four years, it equaled at least 300 payments;That's 25 years! I would be almost 45 before my debt was paid off, and that's just undergraduate. Who knows how long I'd be working to pay off debts if I went to grad school. So having to stay ten years at a secure job in a field that I enjoy doesn't seem like such a bad idea when compared to 25 years elsewhere. And while the jobs that qualify for the loan forgiveness are very specific and may require me to move, It's worth it to not be in debt for my education for as long.