New! Public Service Loan Forgiveness FAQs, Videos, and Resources—Getting You To The Finish Line.

The Temporary PSLF Waiver ended as of October 31, 2022. We will provide updated guidance about PSLF shortly, stay tuned.

An estimated 9 million public service employees across the U.S. and 524,000 in New York may be eligible for student loan forgiveness! Last year, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced a temporary opportunity for expanded loan forgiveness for borrowers who work in public service. The goal was to remedy past administrative and program implementation failures. Millions of borrowers across the U.S. may have their federal loans forgiven or get closer to forgiveness through what is known as the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Temporary Waiver Opportunity.

Action may be required by October 31, 2022, to benefit from this relief. Check out our FAQs, videos, and resources below to help you obtain PSLF.

Until the PSLF Waiver Opportunity Ends

Frequently Asked Questions & Resources

We have created a series of short videos to inform borrowers of the action steps they must take to benefit from the Public Service Loan Forgiveness temporary waiver opportunity. This is not legal advice and every situation is different. When in doubt, seek additional help. But we hope that through these videos you will know what to do and take the action steps needed by the deadline—October 31, 2022—to benefit from the temporary waiver opportunity.

You can also watch a recorded PSLF webinar that guides you through the whole process.

About PSLF and the Waiver

  • The Temporary Waiver relaxes key requirements of the PSLF program, such as loan types, repayment plans, and the way payments are counted through October 31, 2022.
  • Things to keep in mind:
    • Suspended payments during COVID will count towards PSLF, if your loans benefited from the payment pause.
    • You will get qualifying payments if you can show you were working full-time for a qualifying employer and your loans were in an “In-Repayment” status.
  • Under the original program and after October 31, 2022, you must make 120 qualifying monthly payments (10-Years) towards your loans to have your remaining federal student loan balance forgiven:
    • Only payments since October 1, 2007, are considered. This is when the program started.
    • You must have Direct Loans.
    • You must be enrolled in an Income-Driven-Repayment (IDR) Plan.
    • You must make your payments on time and in-full.
    • And be employed full time by a qualifying employer.
  • Keep in mind:
    • You cannot make “extra” payments to expedite forgiveness.
    • Payments are cumulative, not consecutive.
    • Forgiven balances in this program are not taxable at the federal level or in most states at the state level.
  • You can continue to accumulate qualifying payments after the deadline—October 31, 2022. Once you reach 120, you can submit the PSLF form a final time to get forgiveness. However, for payments to count after October 31, 2022, you must meet the original PSLF program requirements:
    • Have Direct Loans
      • CAUTION: If you consolidate after the Waiver is over, you will not get credit for payments made before the consolidation. Your payment count will start from the date of the consolidation.
    • Make payments on time and in full while enrolled in an Income Driven Repayment Plan—PAYE, REPAYE, IBR or ICR.
    • While working full-time for a qualifying employer.
  • If you have Direct Loans, continue working full-time for a qualifying employer and make payments under an Income Driven Repayment plan, on time and in full.
  • Submit your PSLF Employer Certification form annually to get an updated PSLF qualifying payment count update.

Loan Consolidation

  • Only “Direct” loans qualify for r the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and that is true under the original program rules or the temporary waiver.
  • Direct loans are loans issued by the U.S. Department of Education to the borrower.
  • Non-Direct loans such as FFEL or Perkins do not qualify, but may be made eligible through consolidation.
  • If you have non-direct loans (FFEL/Perkins), you must consolidate them to make them eligible for PSLF.
  • If you have a mix of Direct and non-Direct loans, you should only consolidate your non-Direct loans, especially if you want to be considered for the Biden cancellation announcement.
  • CAUTION: If you consolidate Direct loans with FFEL/Perkins, you may not be eligible for cancellation, assuming you meet the income eligibility requirements.
  • Follow our step-by-step guide to determine if you need to consolidate your loans for PSLF.
  • Use our step-by-step guide to complete the student loan consolidation application for PSLF.
  • For PSLF purposes, you just need to make sure you consolidate your FFEL and Perkins loans into Direct loans through studentaid.gov.
  • CAUTION: If you want to take advantage of the Biden cancellation opportunity, you should not consolidate both Direct with FFEL/Perkins.
  • Seek additional guidance if you have a mix of Direct and Non-Direct (FFEL/Perkins) before consolidating.

Resources:

Employment Certification Forms

  • You must submit a form for every employer you’ve had since October 1, 2007, which is when the program started.
  • These forms verify you’ve met the employment requirements of the program. No PSLF qualifying payment will be credited without filing these forms.
  • An authorized individual at your current or former employer who has access to your employment records.
  • For teachers or professors, this can be someone at your school or campus, like your school principal or HR.
  • Consult your organization.
  • You will meet the submission deadline for the PSLF Waiver if you do one of the following:
    • You generate the forms using the PSLF Help Tool on or before October 31,2022.
      • Note: You still have to have the forms signed and sent to MOHELA eventually.
    • You employer signs and dates the form by October 31, 2022.
  • You must submit the PSLF Employment Certification Forms to MOHELA.
  • If you have an account at MOHELA, you should upload the forms online.
  • If your loans are not with MOHELA, we recommend that you mail and fax a copy of the form(s):
    • Mail to U.S. Department of Education, MOHELA, 633 Spirit Drive, Chesterfield, MO 63005-1243.
    • Fax to 866-222-7060.
    • Keep mailing and fax receipts and copies of the forms with the employer signatures and dates for your records
  • It will likely take weeks or months for MOHELA to process the employment certification forms.
  • Your main objective is to submit the forms to them by the October 31, 2022, deadline.
  • Eventually you will get a PSLF payment count.
  • For current employment, we recommend you file the form once a year to get an updated payment count.
  • For prior employment, you only need to submit the form once. It will have your start and end employment dates.

Resources:

MOHELA

  • Generally, borrowers can’t choose who manages their federal student loans.
  • To have your loans transferred to MOHELA, you would need to (1) submit at least one PSLF Form or (2) select MOHELA as your servicer if you are consolidating your loans. Only consolidate if you must.

Parent Plus Loans

  • Parent Plus loans must be consolidated into a Direct consolidation loan to be eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.
  • Parent Plus loans, however, were not part of the PSLF Temporary Waiver. This means that:
    • Consolidated Parent Plus loans won’t be eligible for retroactive payment credit for PSLF.
    • Your PSLF payment count would start from the date of consolidation.
    • You must work full-time for a qualifying employer and make 120 payments under the Income Contingent Repayment, the only plan based on your income that this kind of loan is eligible for plan to qualify for PSLF.
    • Once you reach the 120 qualifying payments, your remaining balance would be forgiven.
  • If you have at least one outstanding loan you took out for your own education and Parent Plus loan(s), you can consolidate them together up until October 31, 2022, and get retroactive payment credit on the entire balance.
  • However, after October 31st, to continue accumulating qualifying payments, you must enroll in the Income Contingent Repayment plan.
  • CAUTION: Get advice before consolidating Parent Plus loans with your own loans. Once you consolidate, your only Income Driven Repayment plan option will be the Income Contingent Repayment, which may not be affordable.

Cancellation and PSLF

  • Yes. Cancellation and PSLF are two separate programs.
  • You must meet the eligibility requirements under each program.