Encourage our Educators Act
This bill amends title IV (Student Assistance) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to modify provisions of the teacher loan forgiveness program.
Specifically, the legislation reduces from five to three years the period of service a full-time teacher must complete consecutively to be eligible for forgiveness under the Federal Family Education Loan or Direct Loan program. It also increases from $5,000 to $17,500 the amount of available loan forgiveness for an elementary or secondary school teacher in any subject. (Currently, forgiveness up to $17,500 is only available for a full-time secondary school math or science teacher or for a special education teacher.)
The bill eliminates the prohibition on counting the same qualifying service for both the teacher and the public service loan forgiveness programs.