FFEL stands for Federal Family Education Loans. This is an older federal loan program under which loans were guaranteed by the Department of Education, rather than issued directly from it. FFEL loans are no longer issued after June 30, 2010.
FFEL loans are only eligible for one income-driven repayment (IDR) plan: Income-Based Repayment. They are not eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF).
FFEL loans can be consolidated into Direct loans to make them eligible for PSLF and other IDR plans.
If you’re not sure what type of federal student loans you have, you can log in to your servicer’s website or Federal Student Aid’s National Student Loan Data System. If you have an account with Summer, you can also sync your loan information directly from Federal Student Aid.