Employee eligibility.

(a) Subject to the conditions in 5 U.S.C. 5379 and this part, an authorized agency official may approve student loan repayment benefits to recruit a highly qualified job candidate or retain a highly qualified employee who, during the service period established under a service agreement (consistent with § 537.107), will be serving under— (1) An appointment other than a time-limited appointment; or (2) A time-limited appointment if— (i) The employee (or job candidate) will have at least 3 years remaining under the appointment after the beginning of the service period established under a service agreement; or (ii) The time-limited appointment authority leads to conversion to another appointment of sufficient duration so that his or her employment with the agency is projected to last for at least 3 additional years after the beginning of the service period established under a service agreement. (b) An employee occupying a position that is excepted from the competitive service because of its confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character is ineligible for student loan repayment benefits, except that an employee whose position is moved into Schedule Policy/Career may continue to receive student loan repayment benefits based on the terms of the existing applicable service agreement, unless eligibility is lost as described in § 537.108. (c) An employee becomes ineligible for student loan repayment benefits under the conditions described in § 537.108. [73 FR 64865, Oct. 31, 2008, as amended at 91 FR 5655, Feb. 6, 2026]