I meant to write this post a while back, but thankfully was reminded by Ben Johnson’s Facebook post. While many educators are aware of the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, for some reason the Colorado program doesn’t seem to be well advertised. Colorado currently has two loan forgiveness programs for Colorado educators, both with specific qualifications.
Colorado Educator Loan Forgiveness: This one is mainly for folks who serve in rural school districts or in hard-to-fill positions in any school district. (Note: Hard-to-fill positions encompasses a whole of you, including all elementary teachers.) Only applicants with Federal Student Loans in their name qualify. You can qualify for up to $5,000 in forgiveness each year, and the program currently lasts through 2024. There are limited funds, so not everyone may receive this, but if you meet the qualifications it’s definitely worth your time to take a shot. The deadline is February 15, 2023.
Temporary Educator Loan Forgiveness Program: This one is a two-year program, with also up to $5,000 in loan forgiveness, and focuses on those early in their careers who serve in rural and hard-to-fill positions in Colorado. Individuals who entered the educator workforce in 2019-2020, 2020-2021, and 2021-2022 qualify, and only applicants with Federal Student Loans in their name qualify. The deadline for this one is also February 15, 2023.
Helpfully, there is one application to apply for both! If you are a Colorado educator with any student loans with “Federal Student Loan” in the name, I’d highly encourage you to apply this week before the deadline.
Edit: Even after the deadline expires, you can still apply for one of the programs and the second program will open up again (likely in the fall). Fill out the application so they’ll have your info. Note that the application is “closed” right now, but will open up again later this year. Contact them at EdLoanForgiveness@dhe.state.co.us and EdLoanForgiveness@tuition.io to find out when.
Fisch Financial 
Karl, any idea if Colorado will fund this again for 2024? I teach in a hard-to-fill content area. The application isn’t currently opened, and it’s hard to tell for sure if they will open it again or if the funding is gone.
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Yes, the Colorado Educator Loan Forgiveness is funded and the application is supposed to reopen in “spring of 2024”. The Temporary Educator Loan Forgiveness (which was from federal Covid funds) is over.
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Sounds good! I will keep my eye on their website in March. Thanks! Hopefully I can get the funding.
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