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Question for anyone who might know offhand: do clerkships satisfy the public service component of the IBR public service loan forgiveness program? That is, if I were to clerk for two years, then go into government for eight years, would my loans be forgiven since I spent ten years total in public service? Or do clerkships not count as public service?

Thanks!

Yes, as far as I know.

yep. they may not qualify for your individual school's LRAP program (mine didn't), but they do count towards the 10 years for federal forgiveness purposes as far as the government is concerned

Yes, this is exactly what I'm doing. (Also, it doesn't have to be 120 consecutive payments, it just has to be 120 payments total; so as long as you get into IBR at the beginning, if you get a private sector job in there for some period of time, your payments will count again if you go back into public service.)

Also, it doesn't have to be 120 consecutive payments, it just has to be 120 payments total; so as long as you get into IBR at the beginning, if you get a private sector job in there for some period of time, your payments will count again if you go back into public service.

Whoa - I have no idea. Are you sure about that? That would be amazing...

Shaggier1 wrote:

Also, it doesn't have to be 120 consecutive payments, it just has to be 120 payments total; so as long as you get into IBR at the beginning, if you get a private sector job in there for some period of time, your payments will count again if you go back into public service.

Whoa - I have no idea. Are you sure about that? That would be amazing...

It is true. Transitioning back to IBR can be really hard. Remember that what you pay in IBR is linked to what you made the previous year. That means going from a high-paying firm to low-paying government gig makes for a really difficult transition year. Even if you manage to qualify for IBR (which will be tough) your payments will be based off the salary from the firm.

Citizen Genet wrote:

Shaggier1 wrote:

Also, it doesn't have to be 120 consecutive payments, it just has to be 120 payments total; so as long as you get into IBR at the beginning, if you get a private sector job in there for some period of time, your payments will count again if you go back into public service.

Whoa - I have no idea. Are you sure about that? That would be amazing...

It is true. Transitioning back to IBR can be really hard. Remember that what you pay in IBR is linked to what you made the previous year. That means going from a high-paying firm to low-paying government gig makes for a really difficult transition year. Even if you manage to qualify for IBR (which will be tough) your payments will be based off the salary from the firm.

Not really: http://loanconsolidation.ed.gov/forms/adoi.pdf