Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) is a federal loan program that will forgive your remaining federal student loan balance after working in public service and making qualifying payments for ten years.
How to Qualify
It sounds simple at a high level, but there are a handful of requirements for receiving forgiveness. The Department of Education and the loan servicer will count 120 qualifying monthly payments on each loan that meet the following conditions:
- Timeline. Qualifying payments can only be made after October 1, 2007.
- Employment. You worked full-time (over 30 hours a week) in public service at the time you made the payment. Qualifying employers include government organizations (like public schools and hospitals), 501(c)(3) not-for-profits, and some types of private not-for-profits. You’ll also need to be working in public service when you receive forgiveness, so if you plan to retire or change industries, that should be a factor in deciding whether you want to pursue PSLF. **
- Payment Type. The payment was made on time and in full (early payments, late payments over 15 days, or payments not for the exact amount on the bill don’t count). Some early payments can count under specific circumstances that you can read more about below.
- Loan Type. The payment was made on a qualifying loan - only Direct and Direct Consolidation loans qualify. (Other loan types, like FFEL and Parent PLUS, can be converted into a Direct loan to qualify. You can find out more information here.)
- Repayment Plan. The payment was made on a qualifying repayment plan. Only income-driven repayment plans (IDR) and the 10-year Standard plan qualify. Income-driven repayment plans are preferable - if you make payments on the 10-year Standard plan for ten years, you won’t have a loan balance left to forgive at the end of the timeline. (It’s also important to note that payments on a “Standard” plan for consolidation loans with a longer repayment timeline won’t qualify either.)
- Loan Status. The loan’s status was “in repayment” when the payment was made. Payments made while your loans are in grace period, deferment, forbearance, or default won’t qualify. Some forbearance and deferment types are eligible, you can read more about them below.
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**Please refer to the PSLF Buyback Program if you have already retired.
How to Get Forgiveness
- The first step to working toward PSLF is to ensure that your employment, loan type, and repayment plan all qualify. We can help you figure out if that’s the case. And if it’s not, we can help you consolidate your loan or switch to a new repayment plan.
- Once you meet the requirements, you’ll submit a form called the Employment Certification form. This is a form that is completed by both you and your employer which confirms that you work at an eligible public service organization and the dates you’ve been working there. This form is submitted to FSA for processing.
- Once processed, FSA will give you an updated count of the qualifying payments you’ve made based on the form. If their count doesn’t look right (unfortunately, mistakes can occur), you can request a review through the FSA reconsideration tool. This process can take a while to complete, but it’s better to spend the time now instead of when you’re close to forgiveness.
- If your form is not accepted, don’t give up! Sometimes borrowers are rejected because they don’t meet the requirements, but sometimes they’re also rejected for something as simple as the date format they used on the form. Find out exactly why and work on the next steps.
- PSLF isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it program - make sure you’re keeping up to date! You’ll need to submit a new form and updated income information once a year to remain in an income-driven repayment plan. Your servicer will let you know when the deadline is - it’s different for everyone. We also recommend submitting a new Employment Certification form once a year or whenever you change jobs. The more times you submit the form, the less likely it is that your payment count will be off.
- Once you’ve gotten to 120 months (10 years) of qualifying payments, you’ll submit a final Employment Certification form, and both you and your employer will sign it. You can choose to defer your payments while your application is processed or continue to make them. Your loan servicer should refund any payments you make over the 120 required.
A few things that are important to know as you navigate this process:
- Because the payments are counted per loan and not per borrower, different loans may be on different timelines for forgiveness. For example, if you worked and made payments for undergrad loans for three years before going to grad school, your undergrad loans would be forgiven three years before your loans for grad school.
- Saving documents as backup is important in case there’s a discrepancy in your payment count. Download the repayment history from your servicer, and save communication from them as well. You may need it later on.
- If something doesn’t look right, tell your servicer, and don’t stop until you’ve gotten a satisfactory answer. Keep pushing, keep asking, and don’t give up hope! They do correct mistakes, but it sometimes takes being a squeaky wheel.
- Depending on which income-driven repayment plan (IDR) you are enrolled in, the payments may not cover the interest that’s building on your loan. This means that the total balance of your loans will go up even though you’re making payments. Keep in mind that the total remaining principal and interest can all be forgiven under PSLF.
- You can make lump-sum payments or prepay on your loans. These payments would first apply to any months where a payment was missed and then they would apply to future months up to the next income-driven repayment plan certification date or 12 months. You would still need to fulfill the employment requirements for those months for them to count toward PSLF.
- If you receive one of the following deferments or forbearances during a month occurring after October 2007, that month will count as an eligible payment provided you fulfill the employment requirement:
- Cancer treatment deferment
- Economic hardship deferment
- Military service deferment
- Post-active-duty student deferment
- AmeriCorps forbearance
- U.S. Department of Defense Student Loan Repayment Program forbearance
- Administrative forbearance
- Mandatory administrative forbearance
The Education Department (ED) announced a "Limited PSLF Waiver" and One-Time IDR Adjustment which temporarily expanded eligibility for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) for borrowers who have already been making payments. The deadline for these programs passed in 2022 and 2024 respectively. You must submit a new PSLF form to see any updates reflected in your account.