Student Loan Forgiveness Public Service

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program is an important part of the federal student loan system. If you work for a qualifying employer and make 120 eligible payments on your student loans, you may be able to have any remaining balance forgiven. Eligible employers include government organizations, nonprofits and other tax-exempt organizations. To take advantage of this program, however, it’s important to understand exactly how it works and what requirements must be met in order to qualify for forgiveness.

Student Loan Forgiveness Public service

Public service is a type of employment that provides benefits to the public. Typically, public service jobs are government jobs, not-for-profit jobs and/or jobs that help people in need.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) is a federal program that forgives student loan debt for those who work in certain public service jobs.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness

PSLF is a federal program that forgives student loan debt for those who work in certain public service jobs. If you qualify, you may get up to 100% of your federal loans forgiven after 120 qualified monthly payments (10 years). You will only be eligible if you are employed by a government organization or 501(c)(3) non-profit organization when you make each of your 120 monthly payments.

To be considered for PSLF, submit the Employment Certification Form (ECF) annually to certify your employment with a qualifying employer and the amount of payment made each year toward any remaining balance on eligible loans.

When you make 120 qualifying payments on your loans, then you may be eligible to have any remaining balance forgiven.

If you make 120 qualifying payments on your loans, then you may be eligible to have any remaining balance forgiven. To qualify:

• You must be working full-time at a qualifying employer.
• The repayments must be made under a qualifying repayment plan.
• Direct Loans (which include Federal Family Education Loans (FFELs) and Stafford Loans) or FFEL loans only are eligible for forgiveness; Parent PLUS loans are not eligible for forgiveness at this time.

Qualifying payments are only those made while you’re working full-time at a qualifying employer and when you’re making payments under a qualifying repayment plan.

The first part of the test is that you must be working full-time at a qualifying employer. A qualifying employer is any government organization, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization or other type of public service organization with a wide range of public service jobs—including teachers and nurses.

If you’re making payments under a qualifying repayment plan, they must also be made while you are working full-time at your eligible employer.

Loans that qualify for forgiveness include Direct Loans and some Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL)

Loans that qualify for forgiveness include Direct Loans and some Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL). In addition, FFELB loans are eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness if you consolidate them into a Direct Consolidation Loan.

• Direct Loans: if your loan servicer is FedLoan Servicing or Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation, it may be eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. You can confirm whether your loan qualifies by logging in to the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) and checking the “status of application” box on your account summary page.
• FFEL Program loans: If you have any Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program loans, such as Stafford Loans made directly from the Department of Education or guaranteed by the Department of Education through private lenders like Sallie Mae, then they may be eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness after 10 years of qualifying payments while working in public service jobs. To learn more about these types of loans see our page on repaying federal student loans

You can find out if your loans qualify for PSLF by reporting to the Fedloan Servicing website. Your employer will have to certify their eligibility as well.

If your loans are eligible for PSLF, you will have to make 120 on-time loan payments before the government will forgive them. In order to calculate whether or not your payments count for this purpose, you can find out by reporting to the Fedloan Servicing website. Your employer must also certify their eligibility as well.

There are a lot of requirements for PSLF so it is important to keep paperwork and contact Fedloan right away if you think you may qualify to get the process started.

If you think you may be eligible for PSLF, keep the following in mind:

• Keep paperwork. It is important to keep documentation of your employment and loan payments over the course of several years. This will make it easier to prove that you qualify if you decide to apply for forgiveness.
• Contact Fedloan right away if eligible for PSLF. The sooner Fedloan can begin processing your request, the better chance there is that they will have time to certify your employer and loans before the deadline expires on December 31st 2020 (this does not mean though that all approvals will be processed by this date). If a borrower has any questions about their eligibility or application process, they should contact Fedloan directly at 1-800-848-0979 or go online here: https://www.studentaid .gov/repayment/public-service

It’s important to know if your job qualifies as public service and if your student loans qualify for forgiveness.

It’s important to know if your job qualifies as public service and if your student loans qualify for forgiveness. Public service is a broad term that includes any job with a government agency, 501(c)3 non-profit organization or AmeriCorps/Peacecorps position. If you’re not sure whether your job qualifies, it’s best to contact your loan servicer directly. If you discover that your employment qualifies, then the process will be easier to complete.

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program is a great way for borrowers to have their student loans forgiven. It requires a lot of work on the part of both the borrower and their employer, but if you qualify you may be able to save thousands off your total loan balance.