A teacher is a person who provides students direct classroom teaching, classroom-type teaching in a non-classroom setting, or educational services directly related to classroom teaching (e.g. school librarian, guidance counselor).
It is not necessary for a teacher to be certified or licensed to receive cancellation benefits. However, the employing school must consider you to be a full-time professional for the purposes of salary, tenure, retirement benefits, and so on. In other words, to qualify, you should accrue the same benefits as teachers who are licensed and/or certified.
A supervisor, administrator, researcher, or curriculum specialist is not a teacher unless he or she primarily provides direct and personal educational services to students.
Under certain conditions, a teacher's aide may be considered eligible for teacher cancellation. The teacher's aide must meet the definition of a "full-time teacher." He or she must have a bachelor's degree and be a professional recognized by the state as a full-time employee rendering direct and personal services in carrying out the instructional program of an elementary or secondary school.
Volunteer teachers are not professionally employed on a full-time basis and, therefore, are not eligible for teacher cancellation benefits.
If you teach both children and adults, the majority of students must be children for the borrower to qualify for cancellation.
What Qualifies as Teaching Full-time for a Full Academic Year?
You must teach full time for a full academic year or its equivalent. There is no requirement that a teacher must teach a given number of hours a day in order to qualify as a full-time teacher; the employing school is responsible for determining whether or not the individual is considered to be a full-time teacher.
An "academic year or its equivalent" for teacher cancellation purposes is defined as one complete school year or two half years that are:
- from different school years, excluding summer sessions,
- complete,
- consecutive, and
- generally fall within a 12-month period.
A borrower who cannot complete the academic year because of illness or pregnancy may still qualify for cancellation if he or she has completed the first half of the academic year and has begun teaching the second half, but the borrower's employer must consider the borrower to have fulfilled his or her contract for the academic year.
What if the Borrower Teaches Part-Time at Multiple Schools?
Schools must grant cancellation to a borrower who is simultaneously teaching part time in two or more schools if an official at one of the schools where the borrower taught certifies that the borrower taught full time for a full academic year. For example:
- under a consortium agreement, a borrower may be employed by the consortium and teach at member schools;
- two or more schools, by mutual agreement, could arrange to have one school employ the borrower on a full-time basis and then hire out his or her services to the other school(s) involved in the agreement; or
- a borrower can be considered to have been a full-time teacher for an academic year if he or she can obtain appropriate certifications that he or she has taught in two half-time teaching positions for a complete academic year in two elementary or secondary schools or in two secondary schools.
A school may refuse cancellation for simultaneous teaching in two or more schools if it cannot easily determine that the teaching was full time.
What if the Borrower Teaches in a Private School?
You may receive teacher cancellation for services performed in a private academy if the private academy has established its nonprofit status with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and if the academy is providing elementary and/or secondary education according to state law.
A private elementary and/or secondary school does not necessarily need to be accredited for a borrower teaching there to qualify for teacher cancellation. However, the school must have established its nonprofit status with the IRS and must be licensed by the state (that is, must be providing elementary and/or secondary education according to state law).
What if the Borrower Teaches in a Preschool or Prekindergarten Program?
You may receive teacher certification for teaching service performed in a preschool or prekindergarten program only if the state considers the program to be a part of its elementary education program. A low-income-school-directory designation that includes prekindergarten or kindergarten does not suffice for a state determination of program eligibility. The school must check with the state superintendent of public instruction to determine whether these programs are part of the state elementary education program.
You cannot receive teacher cancellation for teaching service performed in a Job Corps Project unless the teaching is conducted in an elementary or secondary school or school system.
Cancellation for Teaching in Low-Income Schools
A cancellation based on teaching in a school serving students from low-income families may be granted only if you taught in an eligible school that is listed in the Directory of Designated Low-Income Schools for Teacher Cancellation Benefits. The Department compiles and publishes this directory of low-income schools annually after consulting with each state's educational agency.
The Directory lists, on a State-by-State and Territory-by-Territory basis, the schools in which a borrower may teach during the school year to qualify for deferment and cancellation benefits. The Amendments to the Directory are currently available in electronic format at:
http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/Students/repayment/teachers/.
All elementary and secondary schools operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) are considered to qualify as schools serving low-income families for the purpose of teacher cancellations of Perkins Loans and NDSLs. Elementary and secondary schools operated on reservations by Indian tribal groups under contract with the BIA are also considered to qualify for this purpose.
If you teach at a school that is on the list one year but not in subsequent years, you may continue to teach in that school and remain eligible to receive a cancellation for service in that school. If a list is not available before May 1 of any year, the Department may use the previous year's list to make the service determination for that year.
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Low Income Schools: Developing the Directory
The Department of Education considers a school to be a low-income school only if:
Information about the compilation and publication of the directory is available from: Campus-Based Operations Portals Building -- Room 600D 1250 Maryland Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20202-5453 Contact Person: Robert G. Smith |
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