Federal student loans offer benefits that many other loans don't. One of the benefits is the ability to qualify for loan forgiveness—under special circumstances, the federal government may forgive part, or all, of your federal student loans. This means you're no longer obligated to make your loan payments.

FEDERAL STUDENT LOAN FORGIVENESS

    • Standard Repayment – The borrower will pay a fix amount each month for the life of the loan.  The payment would be determined by your borrowed amount, interest rate, and term of the loan.
    • Graduated Repayment – The borrower would make payments lower than the standard repayment plan, but would gradually increase every two years.
    • Income Contingent(ICR) – In this plan, the borrower would make payments based on their income, family size, loan balance, and interest rate.Borrowers in the ICR can have a payment as low as $0.00/mo
    • Income Based(IBR) – This plan bases the borrowers payment strictly on their income and family size.  The balance of the loan and interest rate are not used in calculating the monthly payment.  The borrower would be responsible to pay 15% of their discretionary income to their federal student loans. Borrowers in the IBR can have a payment as low as $0.00/mo
    • Pay As You Earn(PAYE) – This plan usually has the lowest monthly payment, and is also based on your income but uses 10% of your discretionary income as a payment instead of the 15% used in IBR.  Qualifying for the PAYE repayment plan is more difficult than the others. Borrowers in the PAYE can have a payment as low as $0.00/mo
***Its important to keep in mind all the programs are offered for federal student loans.  Private loan borrowers are not able to benefit from any of the information.

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If you are not fortunate enough to have Federal student loans, there are still options available.  Not as good as the ones the government offers, but you may be able to refinance for lower rates, better terms, and lower payments.  

Never consolidate your federal debt with a private loan, as you will lose many of the benefits.

PRIVATE STUDENT LOAN COMPANIES (FOR REFINANCE)

LenderRatesLoan TermKey Details 
citizen bank Fixed: 4.74%+
Variable: 2.19%+		 5, 10, 15, and 20-year loans • Refinance up to $300k
• Broad list of eligible schools
• Discount up to 0.5%		 Get offers
college ave Fixed: 4.74%+
Variable: 2.50%+		 5, 10, and 15-year loans • Refinance up to $150k
• 5k minimum balance
• Minimum household income of $75k		 Get offers
commonbond Fixed: 3.50%+
Variable: 2.14%+		 5, 7, 10, 15, and 20-year loans • Autopay (ACH) rate reduction of 0.25% available
• Minimum income of $50k
• No maximum loan balance		 Get offers
iHelp Fixed: 4.75%+
Variable: 3.25%+		 10, 15 and 20-year loans • Refinance up to $250k
• $10k minimum balance
• $24k minimum income or $18k with a cosigner		 Get offers
rhode island student loan authority Fixed: 4.24%+ 5, 10, and 15-year loans • Only available to Rhode Island residents and graduates
• Autopay discount of 0.25%
• Add cosigner for lowest rates

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