| Publication Date: July 7, 2008
Award Year: Subject: Revised Teacher Loan Forgiveness Application and Forbearance Request Forms Summary: This letter announces the approval of revised versions of the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Application and Teacher Loan Forgiveness Forbearance Request forms for use by borrowers in the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program and the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program Posted on 07-07-2008 Dear Colleague: The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved revised versions of the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Application and Teacher Loan Forgiveness Forbearance Request forms for use by borrowers in the FFEL and Direct Loan programs. The revised forms are attached to this letter. The Teacher Loan Forgiveness Application is used by borrowers to apply for loan forgiveness after they have completed at least five consecutive, complete academic years of full-time qualifying teaching service at a low-income elementary or secondary school. The Teacher Loan Forgiveness Forbearance Request is used by borrowers to apply for forbearance while they are completing their qualifying teaching service prior to applying for loan forgiveness. Borrowers may receive forbearance based on performing qualifying teaching service only if their loan forgiveness benefit (up to $5,000 or up to $17,500, as applicable) will satisfy their total anticipated outstanding loan balance at the end of the fifth year of qualifying teaching service. Implementation of the Revised Forms Program participants may begin distributing the attached (in both WORD and PDF formats) OMB-approved revised forms immediately. Beginning January 1, 2009, only the attached revised forms may be provided to borrowers. However, the previous versions of the forms may continue to be processed after that date. Imaging Technology Each of the attached forms instructs the borrower to complete and sign the form in ink. This request is made to accommodate imaging technology, but a pencil signature does not invalidate a form. In developing the forms, consideration was given to bar coding. Accordingly, the space at the top, bottom, or sides of the forms may be used for this purpose. Printing Instructions The attached forms must be printed with black ink on white paper. The typeface, point size, and general presentation of the forms may not be changed from the versions that were approved by OMB. However, program participants may remove bold type in section headings or may add bold or italic type to the instructions. In addition, the order of the program names that appears throughout the forms - Federal Family Education Loan Program/William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program - may be reversed depending on which program is using the forms. Obtaining Copies for Reproduction The revised forms, in both Microsoft Word and PDF format, are provided as attachments to this letter. They will also be available in PDF format on the NCHELP web site. Guaranty agencies are responsible for ensuring that the forms used by the agencies and their lenders are identical to the forms approved by OMB. No changes may be made to the forms except as expressly authorized above. Sincerely, Jeff Baker, Director |
