CHARLESTON - A number of programs are available to college graduates to forgive part of the amount they owe on students loans if they meet criteria, such as working in some public service fields.

Certain federal programs are in place that allow percentages of loans to be forgiven if they are employed in field such as educators in low-income communities, said Charlie Fulton, assistant attorney general in the Consumer Protection Division of the West Virginia Attorney General's Office.

''There are also various employers who have their own programs in helping employees pay off their student loans,'' she said.

Certain programs allow a borrower who is employed full-time in a public service field to pay a certain amount, under their initial payment guidelines, for 10 years. If they make those payments regularly on time, at the end of the 10-years, the remaining loan will be dismissed, Fulton said.

The federal College Cost Reduction Act of 2007 provides student loan forgiveness to borrowers who serve full-time in areas of national need such as early childhood educators in low-income communities; nurses; critical foreign language specialists who teach in elementary or secondary schools or use such knowledge as federal employees; librarians; highly qualified teachers who teach bilingual education or who teach in schools that enroll a high proportion of disadvantaged students; child welfare workers; speech language pathologists in elementary or secondary schools; National Service participants; school counselors in elementary and secondary schools that enroll a high proportion of disadvantaged students; and public sector employees.