MN State Loan Repayment (SLRP) Program Frequently Asked Questions

For the Minnesota Loan Forgiveness Programs, a qualified educational loan eligible for repayment means a government, commercial or foundation loan for actual costs paid for tuition, reasonable education expenses and reasonable living expenses related to the graduate or undergraduate education of a health care professional. 

The Minnesota State Loan Repayment Program and the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program restrict eligible loans to government and commercial loans for educational purposes related to the degree under which you will be completing your service obligation.

Educational loans that have been paid in full, are in default, or were obtained for someone other than the applicant do not qualify. Personal lines of credit, credit card debt, and debt associated with relocation or residency programs, do not qualify for repayment. Parent PLUS loans are not eligible.

Consolidated loans may be considered for repayment as long as they only include qualifying educational loans. You will be required to submit sufficient documentation for each consolidated loan in the form of: (a) an account statement and (b) a disbursement report. 

Qualifying educational loans can be consolidated and/or refinanced into a private/commercial educational loan (e.g. SoFi, Wells Fargo, Link Capital, LendKey). Refinancing or consolidation that includes other forms of non-educational debt are not allowable.

We will only pay for health profession educational loans related to the discipline in which you are awarded loan forgiveness/repayment. Any educational loans incurred to obtain a non-health related degree are not eligible.

Loans which are currently in default are not eligible.

The Minnesota Loan Forgiveness Programs are entirely funded by the state of Minnesota and administered by the Minnesota Department of Health, Office of Rural Health and Primary Care (ORHPC). Recipients have the responsibility of finding their own work at an employer that meets the state criteria. 

The Minnesota State Loan Repayment Program is funded by the state of Minnesota and a grant from the National Health Service Corps. It is administered by the Minnesota Department of Health, Office of Rural Health and Primary Care but must follow federal guidelines required under the grant. Recipients can only work at approved worksites that are also participating in the program. 

The National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program is funded and administered by the federal government. The Minnesota Department of Health, Office of Rural Health and Primary Care provides technical assistance to sites and providers during the application process.

Candidates may apply for more than one program at the same time, depending on eligibility during the application cycle. However, Minnesota State Loan Repayment Program (SLRP) and the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program (NHSC) prohibit candidates from completing service obligations under multiple programs at the same time. You cannot receive and participate in an award from SLRP, NHSC or Delta Dental. 

The Minnesota Loan Forgiveness Program will ONLY allow an awardee to participate concurrently with the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program, as only non-defaulted Direct Loans (subsidized, unsubsidized, consolidation, PLUS) are eligible under the federal program. If awarded, you must make arrangements with your loan servicer to ensure payments will be counted toward PSLF progress.

No. Due to limited funding, the loan forgiveness and loan repayment programs are competitive and not all applicants are awarded.

Applications will be evaluated on the provider’s commitment to medically underserved populations, commitment to primary care, the ability of the provider to meet the unique needs of the community, demonstrated cultural competencies, amount of remaining student debt, and geographic need throughout the state. For the Minnesota Loan Forgiveness Program, preference will also be given to those closest to completing their training.

Yes. Our office has compiled a courtesy listing of other opportunities. Please check with each sponsoring agency for further information.

Please contact health.loanforgiveness@state.mn.us

Outstanding student debt means remaining debt owed at the time of application/contracting. Award cannot exceed outstanding debt at time of contracting.

The Legislature included language to give preference to applicants who can best serve diverse populations. Diverse cultural competencies may include, but are not limited to: clinical rotations in an underserved area/population; volunteer hours serving or working with an underserved area/population; background from diverse ethnic or racial communities; and/or, fluency in more than one language. Applicants who can demonstrate cultural competencies will be given additional points during the review process.

The Minnesota Loan Forgiveness Programs do not require this. However, if selected, you will be required to practice in Minnesota after completing training, and maintain all active licensure and certifications. 

The Minnesota State Loan Repayment Program and the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program DO require you to be a U.S. citizen or a national.

Applicants to all programs must have a Minnesota home address by the time of contract start. Applicants serving Minnesota patients/clients but who have a home address in another state are not eligible. Applicants serving Minnesota patients/clients via telehealth but who have a home address outside of Minnesota are also not eligible.

The Minnesota State Loan Forgiveness Program ranks applications based on a current resume/CV; letter(s) of reference; and a 1-2 page essay concerning knowledge of the patient population to be served, addressing access to health care issues and how the applicant will change health care outcomes of that population, documenting diverse cultural competencies, and the completeness of the application. 

The Minnesota State Loan Repayment Program ranks applications based on: the likelihood of the candidate being eligible for receiving a federal award (primarily based on the score and status of the Health Professional Shortage Area designation), a current resume/CV, letters of reference, answers to two essay questions concerning the applicant’s knowledge of the patient population to be served and the applicant’s knowledge of the health of that population, the percentage of the population served that is uninsured/underinsured as addressed in the site application; and the application. 

The federal National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program primarily ranks candidates based on the score assigned to the Health Professional Shortage Area designation in which the applicant is intending to practice.

The licensed professions that can apply under the Minnesota Loan Forgiveness Program are: licensed psychiatric nurse/nurse practitioners; licensed clinical social worker (LICSW); licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT); licensed professional clinical counselor (LPCC); licensed alcohol and drug counselors (LADC); and, a licensed psychologist (LP). Psychiatrists are eligible to apply under the Rural or Urban Physician Program.

For the Minnesota Loan Forgiveness Program, both direct inpatient and outpatient care can be provided and are eligible under the program. 

For the State Loan Repayment Program, only outpatient care is eligible.

For the Minnesota Loan Forgiveness Program, there is a minimum three-year commitment working in an eligible clinic, facility or area with an optional 4th year. You must inform the loan forgiveness administrator of your decision of whether to pursue the fourth year of your contract. You do not have to reapply each year. The exception for the required service commitment is nurses in nursing homes – they must work a minimum of two years with the option to extend an additional two years for a maximum of four years. 

For the State Loan Repayment Program, there is a two-year service commitment, and it can be extended on a case-by-case basis.

Yes. For the Minnesota Loan Forgiveness Program, mental health professionals are required to be licensed and cannot be working towards their license to be eligible. However, preference will be given to recent graduates and licensed professionals with significant debt. 

For the State Loan Repayment Program you must already be licensed and practicing to be eligible.

A designated rural area for the Loan Forgiveness Programs is defined as a statutory and home rule charter city or township that is (1) outside the seven-county metropolitan area, as defined in section 473.121, subdivision 2 excluding the cities of Duluth, Mankato, Moorhead, Rochester and St. Cloud.

For the Minnesota Loan Forgiveness Program, you must be close to finishing your required 4,000 supervised hours of practice, as statute requires you to be licensed upon the start of your contract, if selected. 

For the State Loan Repayment Program, you must be a licensed mental health care professional at the time of application.

Underserved urban communities in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth, Mankato, Rochester, St. Cloud or Moorhead designated as a mental health OR primary medical care health professional shortage area (HPSA) or medically underserved area (MUA), or with medically underserved populations (MUPs). Locate shortage areas by address on the Health Resources and Services Administration Data Warehouse webpage.

Prior work experience in an eligible profession does not qualify towards your minimum two or three year commitment. The service commitment begins when you sign a contract with the Minnesota Department of Health.

Yes, you are eligible to apply if you have a signed commitment to begin work at a qualified worksite. Your service commitment will not begin until you have begun work at your worksite and your contract has been executed.

Job duties must be direct patient care for at least 30 hours per week for 45 weeks per year. Up to 20% of the required 30 hours per week in clinical supervision is allowed. Hours cannot be fulfilled meeting with providers, process improvement, policy development, supervising, or administering programs. 

The 30 hour direct patient care requirement does not apply to faculty.

Estimate your total yearly patient case load, from that number tally the number of your patients that use state public programs or sliding fee scale. Divide the state public program and sliding fee number by the yearly total if the quotient is 0.25 or higher you have met the 25%. Ex. 100 total yearly patients, 35 patients on public program/sliding fee 35. 35/100=0.35 or 35%.

Telehealth appointments are eligible if the Urban or Rural Mental Health Professionals also offers physical appointments to clients. Clients must be living in Minnesota. Appointments using app-based services such as Cerebral and Talkspace are not eligible.

Loan repayment awards are sent at the beginning of each contract year. You should receive your first installment within 30 days of the start of your contract. You will receive successive year’s installments after you submit the appropriate employment verification and sufficient loan documentation at the beginning of each year of service, with the maximum being two years for the State Loan Repayment Program and four years under the Minnesota Loan Forgiveness Program. 

Annually, ORHPC requires participants to verify their continued employment and submit documentation that they have applied the loan forgiveness funds to their designated educational loan(s). This information will be verified prior to each annual disbursement. It is at the discretion of the participant to pay their loan servicer(s) with an annual lump sum payment, or make monthly payments that total the annual disbursement from ORHPC.

If a participant does not fulfill the minimum obligation, or if the participant cannot verify that program funds were spent towards approved student loans, the participant will be required to repay the total amount ORHPC paid plus interest, at a rate established according to Minnesota Statutes 270C.40.

Yes, you must use the full award amount to pay your loan debt, and you will be required to submit documentation that demonstrates this.

Yes, you may change employers during your contract period as long as the new employer meets the requirements of your original loan forgiveness/repayment program contract and profession.

If you need to take a leave of absence during your contract, you must inform the loan forgiveness administrator. Service obligations may be suspended as a result of an illness, parental leave, disability or temporary job transfer lasting less than a total of 12 months during a three– or four–year commitment. All requests for temporary suspension of service must be in writing in advance (if known) and substantiated by documentation deemed acceptable and approved by the state on a case–by–case basis. The agreement end date will be extended by the amount of time a participant is in suspension status.

For the Minnesota Loan Forgiveness Program, you must begin your full–time service obligation no later than March 31 following award notification. 

You must already be employed to be eligible to apply to the Minnesota State Loan Repayment Program.

Yes, the disbursements you receive are both state and federally tax exempt. The Minnesota Department of Health will not issue a 1099, and you will have to document the disbursements on your tax return. Contact a tax professional with questions.

Download the MN Loan Forgiveness forms and MN State Loan Repayment forms. These forms are for awardees and current participants only. Please do not complete and/or submit these forms unless instructed to do so by the loan forgiveness administrator.