Seeking student loan forgiveness for police officers? There are several programs available to help people working in public service get relief from hefty student loan payments. 

Payments and interest accrual on federal student loans issued by the government are on hold due to the Coronavirus pandemic until the end of January 2022.¹

Now is a great time to learn about your options for loan forgiveness if you are a corrections officer or a police officer. 

Student Loan Forgiveness for Cops: Where to Start

If you aren't sure exactly which type of student loans you have, log into the Federal Student Aid (FSA) website to see a list of your federal loans, the type of loans you have, their monthly payments and their balances. 

If you are considering consolidating or refinancing your student loans, use a loan payment calculator to help you understand how your monthly payments may change.  

Law enforcement officers have a few options for student loan forgiveness. While not every officer will qualify, loan forgiveness programs may help relieve some of the financial burdens of making large student loan payments. 

Federal Perkins Loans Forgiveness for Police Officers

Perkins Loans, administered by your school (not the federal government), ended in 2017. If you still have outstanding Perkins Loan debt and are a full-time law enforcement officer or corrections officer, you may be eligible for this loan forgiveness program. 

Perkins Loans Forgiveness Basics:

• Up to 100% student loan forgiveness with five years of eligible service

• Must be employed full time as a corrections or law enforcement officer

• Must apply for the Perkins Loan Forgiveness program through your school

Start by contacting your school's financial aid or billing office. You'll need to fill out paperwork and provide proof of qualifying employment. Your college takes care of processing your request for admission into the Perkins Loan police officer student loan forgiveness program. 

If your application is approved, you may get a percentage of your Federal Perkins Loan balance (including interest) forgiven for each of the five years you participate in the program. 

• Year one: 15% cancellation of Perkins Loan balance

• Year two: 15% cancellation of Perkins Loan balance

• Year three: 20% cancellation of Perkins Loan balance

• Year four: 20% cancellation of Perkins Loan balance

• Year five: 30% cancellation of Perkins Loan balance

There's no need to make loan payments on the balance of your Perkins Loan while you are enrolled in the program and working full time as a law enforcement officer. Loan payments are automatically deferred until you stop working at a qualifying job, or your loan balance is fully forgiven.² 

Public Service Loan Forgiveness for Police Officers

Law enforcement professionals working for the government may qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) after making about 10 years' worth of on-time student loan payments if they also worked full-time for a qualifying agency during that time. 

PSLF Basics:

• Your government law enforcement job must qualify for the student loan forgiveness program.

• Your student loans must be on an income-driven repayment program for the entire 10 years.

• All government employees (not just police officers) can apply for PSLF.

• Only Direct federal student loans qualify for PSLF.

• You must work a combined 30 hours per week or more for one or more qualifying government agencies to get PSLF.

• You must make 120 consecutive on-time student loan payments before you can apply for PSLF.

There is a long list of requirements to qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Many PSLF applicants who believed they would qualify to have the remainder of their student loans forgiven under the program had their applications denied, however. Between November 9, 2020, and April 30, 2021, 98% of  PSFL applicants were rejected. 

The program has historically approved only 1% of applicants since it started in late 2017. There is a backlog of thousands of applicants, and wait times for approval or denial may take six months or longer.³ 

How to Qualify for PSLF

Police officers and correctional officers with direct PLUS, direct subsidized and direct unsubsidized loans may apply for loan forgiveness after they enroll in an income-driven repayment program and make 120 on-time payments. 

For many applicants, that's 10 years' worth of payments, but the program doesn't require that you make only one payment per month. It's possible to make more than one payment at a time to get 120 payments in during a shorter time frame than 10 years. 

Income-Driven Repayment Plan and Police Officer Loan Forgiveness

If you aren't eligible for a Federal Perkins Loan forgiveness and aren't interested in or eligible for PSLF, an income-driven repayment plan may help you reduce your monthly student loan payment.

Income-Driven Repayment Plan Basics:

• After 20 or 25 years' worth of on-time payments, the balance on an income-driven repayment plan is forgiven. 

• With income-driven repayment plans, including income-based repayment (IBR), Pay As You Earn (PAYE), Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR), and Revised Pay As You Earn (RPAYE), monthly student loan payment amounts are based on the borrower's income and family size, as reported on their most recent tax return. 

• You could end up paying taxes on the forgiven balance. 

While the balance of student loans under an income-driven repayment plan is forgiven after 20 or 25 years of making on-time payments, the amount of outstanding debt forgiven at the end of the loan term may be treated as income for tax purposes. This tax bill could easily wipe out tens of thousands of dollars in savings, depending on the taxation rate. 

For many borrowers who participate in an income-driven repayment plan, their monthly payments aren't high enough to keep up with interest accrual. So, even as they make regular payments, the loan balance continues to climb. While the current taxation of forgiven student loans has been suspended under the stimulus bill, tax relief is scheduled to end on January 1, 2026.⁴ 

Other Options for Police Officer Student Loan Relief

While there's a lot of talk about the possibility of widespread student loan forgiveness, it may be wise to come up with an alternate plan to handle student loan debt. The CARES ACT suspended payments, interest and collections on all federal student loan debt, but that relief was limited to Direct federal student loan debt. It's likely that any widespread student loan forgiveness would be for the same types of federal student loans.⁵ 

Make Your Loans Eligible With Consolidation

Borrowers with Perkins loans and Family Federal Education Loans (FFEL) have the option to convert that debt into a Direct loan, which may help them gain access to certain current and future loan forgiveness options.

To learn more about consolidating various loan types to a Direct loan, sign onto HSLDS.ed.gov to see your loan types. You can also consolidate loans being serviced by different entities into a single loan so you only have to deal with one servicer.⁶ 

Start the consolidation process by signing into studentaid.gov. Complete the Federal Direct Consolidation Loan Application to choose a federal loan servicer and request that your loans be combined. 

Refinance Private Student Loans

Police officers with private student loan debt may consider refinancing their loans at a lower interest rate to make monthly payments more manageable and to reduce the total amount of interest they pay over time. 

When you refinance a private student loan, you take out a new loan with a (hopefully) lower interest rate and shorter term to pay off your old student loan. Even if your payment is lower with a refinanced loan, look closely at the total amount of money you'll pay over the life of the loan. Longer loan terms and fees could mean that you'll pay more for a new loan than you would if you stuck with your former lender. 

Like other types of loans, you'll need good credit, a good payment history, and stable employment to qualify for student loan refinancing through a private lender. If your credit is in good shape, you may be able to refinance all of your loans (public and private) with a new private loan with a monthly payment and payoff timeline that works better for you.

If you decide to refinance federal student loans with a private lender, you may be ineligible for the student loan interest tax deduction. If this deduction currently helps you lower your tax bill, make sure you understand whether you can continue to claim this deduction with your new loan before signing paperwork.⁷  

Talk to Your Employer's Human Resources Department

Police officers may have access to additional resources to help them wipe out student loan debt. Your human resources department may be able to help you with an employer-sponsored student loan tax relief program. 

Employers currently have access to temporary tax relief allowing them to contribute up to $5,250 toward paying down employees' student debt each year. The benefit remains in effect until at least 2025 and works for both private and federal student loans.⁸ 

Your human resources department may have other resources earmarked for police officers to help with student loan debt. 

Student loan forgiveness programs for cops may not be plentiful, but there are a few options for people who work in law enforcement and want to reduce or eliminate their student loan debt. If you decide to pursue student loan forgiveness for law enforcement, be sure to evaluate all of your options before moving forward.

¹ Federal Student Aid, 2021, Coronavirus Info for Students, Borrowers, and Parents, Accessed September 1, 2021, [StudentAid.gov]
² Legal Information Institute, 2009, 34 CFR § 674.57 - Cancellation for law enforcement or corrections officer service - Federal Perkins, NDSL, and Defense loans, Accessed September 1, 2021, [Law.Cornell.edu]
³ Adam S. Minsky, 2021, New Data Shows Most Who Apply To This Student Loan Forgiveness Program Are Denied, Accessed September 1, 2021, [Forbes.com]
⁴ Adam S. Minsky, 2021, Congress Makes Big Change To Income-Based Repayment: What Student Loan Borrowers Should Know, Accessed September 1, 2021, [Forbes.com]
⁵ Adam S. Minsky, 2021, Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness Review: Should You Take Steps Now To Get Student Debt Cancelled Later?, Accessed September 1, 2021, [Forbes.com]
⁶ Columbus School of Law, 2021, Direct Loan Consolidation Process, Accessed September 1, 2021, [Law.edu]
⁷ Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 2021, Should I refinance my private student loan into one with a lower rate?, Accessed September 3, 2021, [ConsumerFinance.gov]
⁸ Dave Strausfeld J.D., 2020, New tax incentive for employers to help with student loans, Accessed September 3, 2021, [Future.AICPA.org]