If you had to take student loans in order to finish your education, the government has some good news for you. Two new programs began in July 2009 that might help you to get that student debt paid in full.

The first program is called income based repayment or IBR. This option is for student loans and can help to reduce your payments to the place where they are affordable. That means that some people with low incomes will not have to make a payment until their income increases and that nearly everyone will qualify for payments that are less than ten percent of their income. Only those with incomes over 60, 000 per year will have to pay more than ten percent of their income on student loans.

If you are enrolled in these programs, and still have debt after twenty-five years of payments, the debt is then forgiven. Time that your loan is in deferment or when you are not required to make payments on the student debt are also included in the twenty five year period required for debt forgiveness.

In addition, interest that is in excess of the minimum payment will be paid by the government on your behalf.

Your student debt must meet certain criteria, so be sure to read the government website for more information and to see if you qualify.

The second program is designed for persons who work for non-profit or government organizations. This program offers forgiveness for student loans that are still outstanding after you have worked for a qualifying employer and paid on the loan for ten years.

To qualify for this program you must work for a government agency, which may be tribal, federal, state or local) a 501(c)(3) agency or the Peace Corps. Other organizations may also qualify so check out the website for more information.

The time period is retroactive until October first 2007 so older payments may count toward the total of 120 payments. The earliest anyone could qualify for debt forgiveness is October 1, 2017. So that means that in just over eight years you could be finished paying for student loans forever.

Stafford loans, grad plus loans and consolidated loans all qualify for this program as long as they are included in the direct loan program. Other student debt must be switched from the Guaranteed loan program to the Direct Loan Program in order to qualify for this benefit.

In the event that you are still paying back student debt under the standard ten year program, you may feel that you are drowning in debt. By switching to one of these programs, you can reduce the amount of your monthly payment and see a light at the end to the tunnel. Make sure that you keep your student loan payments current and look forward to the day when they are paid in full.

Dawn Enstruthe is a writer for Ginko Financial which has info on become a certified fiancial planner and low Chicago mortage refinance rates.