Public Service Loan Forgiveness and PM&R

[flyingpanda87]

Was just thinking about the different options for public loan service as a PM&R doc. After residency, what are some of the most attractive options for PSLF-VA perhaps? Any purely outpatient jobs that would qualify? Just contemplating the future, thanks!

There is a note on the website showing that those working with disabled do qualify, but it isn't really explained in detail...

A
public service organization
is:
•
A Federal, State, local or Tribal gov
ernment organization, agency or entity;
•
A public child or family service agency;
•
A non-profit organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal
Revenue Code that is exempt from taxation under Section 501(a
) of the Internal
Revenue Code;
•
A Tribal college or university; or
•
A private organization (that is not a labor union or a partisan po
litical organization) that provides at least one of the follo
wing public services:
•
emergency management,
•
military service,
•
public safety,
•
law enforcement,
•
public interest law services,
•
early childhood education (including licensed or regulated ch
ild care, Head Start, and State funded pre-kindergarten),
•
public service for individuals with disabilities and the elderly,
•
public health (including nurses, nurse pr
actitioners, nurses in a clin
ical setting, and full-time professionals engaged in hea
lth care practitioner
occupations and health support occupations, as such
terms are defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics),
•
public education,
•
public library services,
•
school library services, or
•
other school-based services.

https://studentaid.ed.gov/sites/default/files/public-service-employment-certification-form.pdf

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[Tromner]

My understanding is that if you are the employee of a non-profit or government group then your payments will count. This theoretically applies to residency if you are at a non-profit hospital (as many academic hospitals are). Same goes for after residency. The VA would qualify. It all depends on who is actually writing your checks.

 

[RangerBob]

My understanding is that if you are the employee of a non-profit or government group then your payments will count. This theoretically applies to residency if you are at a non-profit hospital (as many academic hospitals are). Same goes for after residency. The VA would qualify. It all depends on who is actually writing your checks.

And that's really the key part. Usually the medical center will sign your checks in residency, which is why most residency programs count (most are non-profit, but not all, so be sure to check if it matters to you). But many times the attendings at that same institution are paid by a physician's foundation, which are often for-profit.

VA's, as Tomner mentioned, will always qualify.

Of course, we should all be careful about depending on loan forgiveness--it very well could disappear, and I personally wouldn't base my job or residency on whether it's eligible for PSLF. But I am certainly hoping it stays around as my residency program is eligible and I would love to work at a VA...

 

[Tromner]

I'm starting to look at the paper work required and weather I need to consolidate some loans to qualify and etc. I spoke to my school's financial aid dept, but the lady kept talking in abstracts, like she had never actually read the paper work.

Is there anyone that has already gotten time and locations approved that I could message one or two basic questions?

Thanks

 

[RangerBob]

You need to consolidate any non-direct loans (FFELP). They are eligible for IBR and PAYE, but my understanding is they're not eligible for PLSF and possibly the loan forgiveness portion of IBR/PAYE (so the benefit would be the monthly payment and capitalization benefits). I think that's pretty much any loan during and before the 2009-2010 school year.

I'm consolidating my FFELP loans with a direct consolidation loan so they'll be eligible for PSLF. Like I said earlier, I think the odds are we won't be able to benefit from it, but I'll be doing 4 years of residency and possibly a fellowship, possibly to be followed by working at a VA, so I see no harm in being prepared to take advantage of the program if it's still around 10 years from now. But I'm going to make payments as an attending with the assumption that the program will go the way of the dinosaur for us...

 

[outdoorfanatic]

I know this is dragging up an old thread, but I thought interested parties might want to be aware that the Obama administration has decided to cap PSLF forgiveness at $57,500. This is obviously a game changer for those of us who were considering this as an option. There is a petition available here: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/pe...orm-forgiving-all-qualifying-student/wkqnqBCH

 

[ACLPCL]

This read may be worth your while:
http://whitecoatinvestor.com/refinance-and-pay-off-or-go-for-pslf/

 

[The JockDoc]

Here's at least some positive news for current borrowers planning on PSLF:

http://educatedrisk.org/analysis/ed...oposals-combined-incomes-pslf-caps-paye-terms

Small sigh of relief. You still never know what can happen in a few years though.

 

[RangerBob]

I think the real test will be in 2017, when the first cohort of people will be eligible for forgiveness through PSLF. We'll see what the public/government has to say when a neurosurgeon or two gets his/her 500k in debt forgiven. (I'm sure there will be at least one who did one or two fellowships, paid only the minimum, so might only have had one or two years of the full 10-year repayments).

I hope it sticks around--I'd love to benefit from it. But I also think it's a terrible policy that probably shouldn't have been proposed in the first place since it encourages people to borrow more and there's also so much uncertainty behind whether the program will still exist.

 

[The JockDoc]

I agree, the underlying problem of skyrocketing tuition isn't addressed through this policy.

It's not just doctors in the large student debt-income ratio with potential for improved income club. For example, there are heavily indebted lawyers working in public service jobs who could use that experience receive PSLF prior to a big-time lawyer gig. I'm envisioning that they could add a powerful voice in upholding the current PSLF aside from us money-grubbing doctors.

In the end, PSLF = bailout for grad students/professionals, which seems to have been the government's preferred method of dealing with huge problems like failing banks, mortgages, and car companies around the time PSLF was conceived 7-8 years ago. Those problems were never fully fixed, rather, public money was thrown at them until the affected were on their way again.