Public Service Cancellation

You may be eligible for cancellation of a percentage of the original principal balance of your Perkins loan if you complete at least one year of a service detailed below.  At the beginning of the service year, you must have made all payments due and submit a completed Public Service Cancellation form to the Harvard Student Loan Office.  At the end of the year, you must file a cancellation form certifying that you have completed the year of service.

Nurse or Medical Technician Cancellation:  The borrower has served full time as a nurse or medical technician providing health care services. The borrower must provide health care services directly to patients.

Child or Family Services Cancellation:  The borrower has served full time as an employee of an eligible public or private nonprofit child or family service agency and has directly and exclusively provided services to high-risk children who are from low-income communities or has supervised the provision of such services. To receive loan cancellation for being employed at a child or family service agency, a borrower employed in a non-supervisory capacity must be providing services directly and exclusively only to high-risk children who are from low-income communities.  The borrower may also be providing services to adults, but these adults must be members of the families of the children for whom services are provided, and the services provided to adults must be secondary to the services provided to the high-risk children.  The types of services a borrower may provide to qualify for a child or family service cancellation include child care and child development services, health, mental health and psychological services, as well as social services. The Department of Education has determined that an elementary or secondary school system or a hospital is not an eligible employing agency.

Law Enforcement/Corrections Officer/Prosecuting Attorney/Public Defender Cancellation:  The borrower has served full time in a qualifying position. To establish the eligibility of a borrower for this cancellation provision, the school must determine that (1) the borrower’s employing agency is eligible and that (2) the borrower’s position is essential to the agency’s primary mission.  Agencies that are primarily responsible for enforcement of civil, regulatory, or administrative laws are ineligible. Further definitions outlined on Public Service Related Postponement/Cancellation Request form.

Full Time Fire Fighter:  The borrower has served as a full time fire fighter with a local state or federal fire department or fire district.

Tribal College/ University Faculty Service:  The borrower has served as a full time faculty member at a Tribal College/University.

Librarian Service:  The borrower has served as a full time librarian with a Master’s degree in library science and is employed in an elementary or secondary school that qualifies for Title I funding, or in a public library that serves a geographic area that includes one or more Title I schools.

Military Service Cancellation:  The borrower has served a period of full time active duty in the armed forces (that is, the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard), the National Guard, or the Reserves. The service must be in an area of hostilities or an area of imminent danger that qualifies for special pay under Section 310 of Title 37 of the U.S. Code.

Volunteer Service Cancellation:  The borrower has served as a Peace Corps or Americorps*VISTA (under Title I, Part A of the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973) volunteer. Americorps volunteers do not qualify for this cancellation unless their volunteer service is with Americorps*VISTA. An Americorps*VISTA volunteer may only qualify for this cancellation if the Americorps*VISTA volunteer elects not to receive a national service education award for his or her volunteer service. The Americorps*VISTA volunteer must provide appropriate documentation showing that the volunteer has declined the Americorps national service education award. An authorized official of the program must certify the borrower’s service.