You must work full-time (at least 30 hours a week) for a local, state, federal or tribal government organization or agency. You also qualify by working full-time at 501(c)(3) organizations and other nonprofits that provide public service such as health or education.

To maximize your PSLF benefit, repay your loans on the Income-Based Repayment (IBR) Plan, the Pay As You Earn Repayment Plan, or the Income Contingent Repayment (ICR) Plan, which are three repayment plans that qualify for PSLF. PSLF is best under IBR, Pay As You Earn, or ICR.

For borrowers who qualify for PAYE, monthly loan payments will be two thirds of what they would be under IBR. Additionally, after 20 years of monthly payments, any remaining student loan balance is forgiven. PAYE is also an eligible repayment plan for borrowers seeking to qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

REPAYE is an eligible repayment plan for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program. If you're working toward PSLF and considering consolidating your loans in order to qualify for REPAYE, you should read this first.

Under the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program, if you teach full-time for five complete and consecutive academic years in a low-income school or educational service agency, and meet other qualifications, you may be eligible for forgiveness of up to $17,500 on your Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans.

Registered nurses who work at least 32 hours a week at a qualified facility can get 60% of their student loans paid off over two years of employment. Borrowers have the option of getting an additional 25% of their loans paid off by the Nurse Corps program for a third year. Applications are only accepted once a year.

While student loan discharge isn't the same as forgiveness, it could leave you debt-free. In rare circumstances, borrowers can get their student loans completely canceled.