Student Loan Payment Programs

There are three student loan payment programs available for educators and education support professionals

• High Needs Educator Student Loan Payment Program
• Speech Language Pathologist Student Loan Payment Program
• Mental Health Professionals Student Loan Payment Program

High Needs Student Loan Payment Program

Eligibility:

Educators are eligible to apply if they have a qualified student loan and teach on a standard certificate in a high needs Delaware public school and/or a high needs subject area, listed below.The list of Delaware high needs schools can be accessed here: High Needs Schools. An applicant can receive only 1 payment per year and no more than 5 payments over the applicant's lifetime.

Educators in any facility operated by the Department of Services for Children, Youth and their Families in which education programs are provided are also eligible to apply.

High Needs Subject Areas:

Speech Language Pathologist Student Loan Payment Program

Eligibility:

Must be employed full-time as a speech-language pathologist in a Delaware public school, for at least 1 school year. An applicant must have secured a qualifying student loan prior to submitting an application. An applicant may receive only 1 loan payment per year and may not receive more than 3 loan payments in the applicant's lifetime.

Mental Health Services Student Loan Payment Program

Eligibility:

An applicant must be employed as a school counselor, school psychologist or a school social worker in a Delaware public school for at least 1 school year. An applicant must hold an educator's licence and certificate issued by the Delaware Department of Education. An applicant may receive only 1 loan payment per year and may not receive more than 3 loan payments in the applicant's lifetime.

For all three student loan payment programs:

• The loan payment will be sent directly to the educator's student loan provider
• Payments are subject to taxation which will be amortized over the course of a recipient's paycheck
• These programs are different from the Federal Teacher and Public Service Loan Forgiveness programs
• Student Loan payments, though these programs are applicable to private and federal student loans 

Information that will be helpful to have before you begin the online application

• Your PHRST Employee ID number, this can be found on your paycheck
• Your Adjusted Gross Income from the most-recent tax year
• The total dollar amount of your outstanding student loans
• The name of your student loan lender (If you have multiple lenders, the name of the lender that you would be requesting payment be sent to)

APPLICATION:

There is 1 application for all three student loan payment programs.The 2022-2023 application will open on November 1, 2022 and will close at 4:30 PM on November 30, 2022

 APPLICATION 

Timeline:

• November 1, 2022 – application is live and can be accessed on this website
• 4:30 PM November 30, 2022 – application will close
• End of February 2023 – announcement of recipients
• End of March 2023 – loan payments initiated, it will take up to 6 weeks to process individual payments to student lenders

If you have questsions about these prgorasms you can contact the Delaware Higher Education Office at dheo@doe.k12.de.us