Teacher Loan Benefits

The state of Texas offers certain special benefits to teachers who teach in areas of subject-matter shortage or who teach in low-income schools. One of these benefits is an opportunity for teachers to qualify for partial student loan forgiveness, deferment or cancellation benefits. These benefits depend on the type of student loans the teachers have, the date they took out their first loan and whether their loan benefits require teaching in a designated low-income school or subject-matter teacher shortage area.

To help teachers determine if their student loans have any forgiveness, deferment or cancellation benefits, the TEA has created a Quick Reference Chart for Teacher Loan Benefits and a Fact Sheet about the opportunities for 2002-2003.

Designated Subject-Matter Teacher Shortage Areas for Texas

For the 2002-2003 school year, the designated subject-matter teacher shortage areas are:

• Special Education
• Bilingual/ESL
• Mathematics
• Science
• Foreign Language
• Technology Applications

Designated Low-Income Schools

Designated low-income schools are those that are eligible for Title 1 funds and that have greater than 30 percent enrolled students from low-income families. For low-income status of a school, visit the U.S. Department of Education's online database at http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/Students/repayment/teachers.