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| Payments made by HESAA to redeem a portion of your student loan balance(s) are currently not treated as taxable gross income. The American Rescue Plan Act temporarily excluded from federal income taxes any student loan payments that a third party makes on your behalf between 2021 and 2025. Under current law, loan redemption payments made on or after January 1, 2026 will once again be considered taxable income for federal income tax purposes. However, loan redemption payments made on your behalf are not considered taxable income for New Jersey State gross income taxes, and unlike the federal income tax law, the New Jersey State law is not scheduled to expire. |
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| After initially being hired for full-time faculty employment at an eligible institution, you must maintain continuous full-time employment at an eligible institution. If you change jobs and are no longer teaching at an eligible institution, you are no longer eligible to participate in the program. |
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| Please do not send your documents separately. Only complete application packages will be considered for funding. |
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| In the event program funds are exhausted in a given fiscal year, applicants will be placed on a waiting list for loan redemption in the date order in which the Authority received their applications. The number of people on the waiting list will be limited to an amount equal to the number of participants newly funded in that fiscal year. Applicants who are not accepted into the program, or onto the waiting list, may reapply the following fiscal year, provided funding is available. If program funds do not become available in a given fiscal year, eligible applicants on the waiting list will carry over to the next fiscal year for potential eligibility for program participation, subject to program funding. |
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| No. Once you have been accepted into the program, and have signed your service agreement, program funds are reserved for your entire service commitment. However, you will need to provide an Employer Certification annually in order to remain in the program. |
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| You do not have to submit an official copy as long as the copy you do submit shows the school name, degree awarded and the graduation date. |
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| If you meet the qualifications above, then download and print the application. Once you have completed your sections, have your employer complete their section; attach all required documentation and submit it to the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (HESAA) as a single package. |
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| HESAA sends the payment directly to your lender. You will receive a letter confirming that the payment was sent. Please allow some time for the lender to post the payment to your account. You should check your student loan account to verify that the payment was received. |
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| Although you may withdraw from the program at any time, the maximum service commitment is five years. |
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| No. Your employment as a full-time faculty member must begin within one year after your graduation date. |
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| A written appeal may be submitted to the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority Director of Legal and Governmental Affairs within 30 days of the date of the notification of ineligibility. The written appeal must include a copy of the notification of ineligibility received by the applicant from the Authority and the reason(s) why the applicant feels he or she is eligible to participate in the program along with any documentation which the applicant has obtained to support the appeal. |
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| Each year, prior to your employment anniversary date, you will receive an "Employment Certification" form to complete and return to our office. Once we receive this form, we will send a payment to your lender. The maximum payment schedule is as follows: First year: $5,000; second year: $7,000; third year: $10,000; fourth year: $13,000; and fifth year: $15,000. The total loan redemption cannot exceed $50,000. We will notify you also when the payment is sent. |
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| No. Defaulted student loans are not considered eligible for redemption under the program guidelines. |
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| A copy of the most recent eligible student loan billing statement is required. |
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| We will review your completed application, and if all eligibility criteria are met, we will send a letter and service agreement. You must read the agreement, sign it, date it, and have it notarized. Return both pages of the agreement to our office. Keep a copy for your records. We will also notify applicants who do not meet the eligibility criteria. |
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| There is no penalty for withdrawing from the NFLR Program. However, only complete years of service receive redemption payments. If you withdraw, or are employed for less than one full year, you will not receive a payment. There is no proration for part-time or part-year service. |
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| The Nursing Faculty Loan Redemption Program is funded through a State of New Jersey appropriation. As a result, funds are limited for this program. If you are already in the program (with a signed service agreement), then funds are reserved for your entire service term. Once funds are allotted, no further applications will be accepted. As funds become available, participants on any wait list may be offered service agreements before new applications are accepted. |
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| Any federal or New Jersey state (NJCLASS) student loans where you are the borrower and which were incurred for the degree which qualifies you for this program are eligible, up to the program maximum of $50,000 total. Loans that someone else borrowed on your behalf (such as PLUS loans) are not eligible for redemption. Loans obtained for an undergraduate degree are not eligible for redemption. |
