South Carolina Student Loan Forgiveness Programs

South Carolina offers student loan repayment assistance programs through SC AHEC for rural doctors, dentists, and mental health providers, plus the BOLD program, which pays up to $90,000 for nurses who teach nursing. Teachers get help up front through forgivable loans and the Teaching Fellows scholarship rather than payments on existing debt. Everyone else should start with federal forgiveness programs, where the bigger dollars are.

SC AHEC Rural Provider Incentive Program

The South Carolina Area Health Education Consortium pays primary care physicians $25,000 a year for up to four years to practice in a county under 50,000 people, and $15,000 a year in larger rural areas or urban FQHCs (SC AHEC). SC family medicine residents can lock in an enhanced $30,000 a year for four years, and APRNs and PAs receive $12,500 a year. The money is an incentive paid to you rather than a payment to your servicer, so it stacks cleanly with the options in our breakdown of student loan forgiveness for doctors.

SC AHEC Rural Dentist Loan Repayment Program

This program contracts for up to $100,000 over four years with community dentists who practice in a South Carolina Health Professional Shortage Area and treat at least 100 unduplicated Medicaid patients (SC AHEC). Funds are appropriated to MUSC and administered by SC AHEC, and MUSC dental faculty can receive one-year contracts. Dentists who don't fit should check our list of student loan forgiveness programs for federal dental options.

SC AHEC Rural Behavioral Health Professional Incentive Program

Created through state budget proviso 23.5 in July 2024, this program pays licensed mental health professionals $15,000 a year for up to four years, or $60,000 total, to practice full time in a non-urbanized part of the state (SC AHEC). Part-time providers receive $7,500 a year. Counselors and social workers working toward PSLF at a nonprofit clinic can pair it with our nonprofit student loan forgiveness breakdown.

BOLD Nursing Faculty Loan Program

The BOLD (Better Outcomes, Less Debt) program lets current nursing faculty refinance graduate student loans into a state loan, and the state forgives up to $30,000 for every two years of teaching, to a $90,000 maximum (South Carolina Student Loan). The Commission on Higher Education expanded it in March 2025 to cover existing loans held by faculty at public colleges and universities (SC CHE). Nurses outside academia have other routes in our roundup of student loan forgiveness for nurses.

SC Teachers Loan And Career Changers Loan

South Carolina Student Loan lends teacher education students up to $2,500 a year as freshmen and sophomores and up to $7,500 a year after that, capped at $27,500, while career changers can borrow up to $15,000 a year and $60,000 total (2026-27 application). Each year of full-time teaching in a critical subject or critical geographic area cancels 20% of the loan or $3,000, whichever is greater. Teaching in an area that is both critical subject and critical geography cancels 33 1/3% or $5,000 a year, and our list of student loan forgiveness options for teachers covers the federal programs you can add later.

South Carolina Teaching Fellows

Teaching Fellows receive up to $6,000 a year for four years, including $300 a year for summer enrichment (SC Department of Education). Fellows owe one year of teaching in a South Carolina public school for every year they receive funds, and anyone who doesn't teach repays the award with interest at the Stafford loan rate over up to seven years (CERRA). Families comparing it with a standard loan can run the numbers in our student loan calculator.

South Carolina is one of three states that start from federal taxable income and conform to the Internal Revenue Code as of a specific date rather than automatically (The College Investor). PSLF, Teacher Loan Forgiveness, and death and disability discharges are excluded from federal income, and Mississippi is the only state that taxes PSLF.

Forgiveness under income-driven plans became federally taxable again on January 1, 2026, when the American Rescue Plan exclusion expired (Taxes And Student Loan Forgiveness). We didn't find a South Carolina exclusion that separates IDR forgiveness from federal taxable income, so confirm with the SC Department of Revenue and estimate the bill with our student loan tax bomb calculator.

Ask the administering agency whether your South Carolina award will be reported as income, since SC AHEC's incentive programs pay the provider directly rather than a loan servicer (SC AHEC). Read our explainer on the 1099-C and student loan forgiveness before filing.

Does South Carolina Have A Student Loan Forgiveness Program?

South Carolina offers student loan repayment assistance programs rather than broad loan forgiveness. It runs six service-based programs for rural doctors, dentists, mental health providers, nursing faculty, and teachers. Borrowers outside those fields rely on federal programs like PSLF and income-driven plan forgiveness.

Can South Carolina Teachers Get Their Student Loans Forgiven?

The state helps teachers before they graduate, and the SC Teachers Loan cancels 20% to 33 1/3% a year for teaching in a critical area (South Carolina Student Loan). Teaching Fellows owe nothing back if they teach one year in an SC public school for each year of funding (CERRA). Teachers with existing loans rely on federal Teacher Loan Forgiveness and PSLF, covered in our teacher forgiveness breakdown.

Can South Carolina Nurses And Doctors Get Help Repaying Student Loans?

Rural primary care physicians can receive up to $100,000 through SC AHEC's Rural Provider Incentive Program, and APRNs and PAs up to $50,000 (SC AHEC). Nursing faculty can have up to $90,000 forgiven through BOLD, and bedside nurses can turn to federal Nurse Corps, covered in our nursing forgiveness roundup.

Does The USC Law School Loan Forgiveness Fund Still Exist?

The University of South Carolina School of Law still runs its Public Interest Law Loan Forgiveness Fund for its own graduates in public interest jobs, with awards based on available funds and a June 30 deadline (USC School of Law). It's a school program rather than a state program, so we left it off the table, and other attorneys should look at PSLF.

Is Student Loan Forgiveness Taxable In South Carolina?

PSLF and Teacher Loan Forgiveness are tax-free, and South Carolina bases its income tax on federal taxable income as of a specific conformity date (The College Investor). Income-driven plan forgiveness became federally taxable again in 2026, so use our tax bomb calculator and confirm the state treatment with SCDOR.