The $5,000 and $17,500 tiers, priced on your actual balance
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Five consecutive academic years | Complete years, full-time teaching, at one or more qualifying schools; each year must count. A break resets the clock. |
| Low-income school or ESA | Listed in the annual Teacher Cancellation Low-Income (TCLI) directory for each year claimed; check your school every year, listings change. |
| Highly qualified teacher | Federal definition: bachelor's degree, full state certification, and demonstrated subject competence. |
| Eligible loans | Direct Subsidized/Unsubsidized and FFEL Stafford, taken out before the end of your fifth qualifying year. No PLUS, no Perkins (those have their own cancellation). |
| "New borrower" status | No outstanding Direct/FFEL balance as of October 1, 1998, or you borrowed on/after that date. |
| When to apply | After completing the fifth year, on the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Application signed by your school's chief administrative official. |
The $17,500 tier requires teaching secondary math or science, or special education for children with disabilities matched to your training. Everyone else who qualifies gets the $5,000 tier. Both are tax-free federally.
| Teacher Loan Forgiveness | PSLF | |
|---|---|---|
| Time to forgiveness | 5 years | 10 years (120 payments) |
| Maximum forgiven | $17,500 | No cap, entire remaining balance |
| Qualifying employer | Low-income school (TCLI list) | Any government or 501(c)(3) employer, including most public schools |
| Payment plan | Any | Any, while making qualifying payments |
| Tax treatment | Federally tax-free | Federally tax-free |
| Double-dipping | The same loans can't earn both; taking TLF wipes out those five years of PSLF credit | |
Rule of thumb: if your balance after five years of payments will be under $17,500, TLF finishes the job. If you'll still owe far more, the uncapped PSLF award at year ten usually wins, and a low RAP payment stretches the forgiven amount further.
TLF doesn't pause your loan. You keep paying for five years, and the award lands on whatever's left. So the calculator does three things: amortizes your balance under your payment, caps the award at your tier, and prices the PSLF alternative.
Balance after five years: simulate 60 monthly payments of principal-plus-interest at your rate (interest at balance × rate ÷ 12, remainder to principal). Award applied = the smaller of your tier and that remaining balance. Anything above the award is still yours to pay. For PSLF, the same simulation runs to 120 payments; whatever remains at 120 is what PSLF would erase. The 10-year standard payment, prefilled by the button, is P × r ÷ (1 − (1 + r)^−120).
Enter your eligible Direct/FFEL Sub and Unsub balance and rate. Pick your teaching category for the tier. Set your actual monthly payment, or use the standard-payment button if you haven't chosen a plan. The "years completed" field moves your estimated application year, assuming you're teaching consecutive years now.
A special education teacher finishes four years of undergrad with $27,000 of Direct loans at 6.52% (that's the 2025-26 borrowing pattern: $5,500 + $6,500 + $7,500 + $7,500). The 10-year standard payment is 27,000 × 0.0054333 ÷ (1 − 1.0054333^−120) = $306.85. After five years of those payments, $18,411 out of pocket, the balance is down to $15,675. The $17,500 special education tier covers all of it. Total cost of a $27,000 education: $18,411, forgiven $15,675 tax-free.
Now compare. Stay the PSLF course at the same payment and the loan is fully repaid at month 120 with nothing left for PSLF to forgive: $36,823 out of pocket. On this balance and payment, TLF wins by $18,411. PSLF's advantage appears when your payment is below the 10-year standard, which is exactly what happens on an income-driven plan. Take a $60,000 balance paying $250 a month on RAP: ten years of payments total $30,000, and because RAP waives interest your payments don't cover, most of the original balance still stands for PSLF to erase, tax-free, in full. TLF on that path caps out at $17,500. The crossover is the whole decision, and it moves with your payment size: lower payments leave more for PSLF to forgive.
One more rule worth repeating: the five years have to be consecutive. Teach four years, take a corporate job for one, return to the classroom, and the count starts over.
Up to $5,000 for a highly qualified full-time elementary or secondary teacher at a qualifying low-income school, or up to $17,500 if you teach secondary math or science, or special education at any level (with the teaching matched to your training). The award pays down Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized loans, including FFEL Stafford loans, up to the tier amount; PLUS and Perkins loans don't count.
You need five complete and consecutive academic years as a full-time highly qualified teacher at a low-income elementary or secondary school, or an educational service agency, where the school appears in the Department's annual Teacher Cancellation Low-Income (TCLI) directory for each year you're claiming. The years can span different schools and even different states, but a gap breaks the consecutive chain. You apply after finishing the fifth year.
It depends on the balance. TLF pays out after five years but caps at $17,500. PSLF takes ten years of qualifying payments (120 while working full-time for a qualifying employer, which includes public schools) but forgives the entire remaining balance with no cap. Small balances usually favor TLF; balances that will still be substantial after ten years of payments favor PSLF. You can't receive both for the same loans: taking TLF disqualifies those five years from counting toward PSLF.
No. TLF forgiveness is excluded from federal taxable income under the Higher Education Act. That differs from forgiveness that arrives through old income-driven plans after 20 to 25 years, which some states have taxed. PSLF is also federally tax-free.
Your loans stay in normal repayment, so you keep making payments on whatever plan you're on while teaching. TLF is applied after the fifth year to whatever balance remains, up to the award cap. If you're also pursuing forgiveness, note that RAP and Standard both work here, and servicers are limited in how much forbearance they can push on TLF applicants under 2022 federal guidance.