Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness (TEPSLF) is a forgiveness program for federal student loans that is designed for borrowers who were rejected from PSLF for making payments in the wrong repayment plan.
It’s called “temporary” because Congress allocated a set amount of funds for the program. Forgiveness is granted on a first-come, first-served basis, and once the funding is out, the program will be over. This program may be a good option for borrowers who are close to forgiveness, but borrowers at the beginning of the process shouldn’t count on this program being around in another ten years.
It’s called “expanded” because it broadens the repayment plans that qualify. In addition to income-driven repayment and the 10-year Standard plan, payments made on Graduated, Extended, Extended Graduated, and longer term Standard plans also qualify.
The other requirements of PSLF are the same, which means that only Direct loans qualify.
There’s also one more requirement that can be confusing to meet: for your last year of payments, the first and last payment have to be equal to or greater than what they would under an income-driven repayment plan (IDR).
For example, say you were making payments in the Extended plan, and your monthly payment was $100 a month. If you were in an income-driven repayment plan, your payments would be $125. To receive TEPSLF, you’ll need to make payments of at least $125 for the first and last payment of your last year of payments. You could also enroll in an income-driven repayment plan for the last year of payments to meet this requirement.
The process for pursuing TEPSLF is:
- Submit a Public Service Loan Forgiveness employment certification form.
- FSA will process the form and provide you with your qualifying payment count for PSLF and TEPSLF.
- If you haven’t been on an IDR plan, you’ll need to submit income and family size information so your TEPSLF eligibility can be determined.
- If you’ve reached 120 qualifying payments, they’ll let you know. If not, they’ll send you a letter explaining why you’ve been rejected.