What the Student Loan Forgiveness Program actually requires

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program forgives remaining federal student loan balances after you make 120 may have access to monthly payments while working for a government agency or nonprofit organization. You do not submit a single application to "get" forgiveness — instead, you submit a form to the Department of Education certifying your employer and your payment history, and the department counts your payments against the 120-payment requirement.

The process works like this: you enroll in an income-driven repayment plan (which lowers your monthly payment based on your income), make payments for ten years, then submit Form PSLF-1 (Employment Certification for Public Service Loan Forgiveness) to verify you worked for a may have access to employer during that time. If your count reaches 120, the remaining balance is forgiven. If you have not reached 120, you keep making payments until you do.

This is not the same as the one-time debt relief announced in 2022, which had different income limits and application requirements. That program has faced legal challenges and its status changes by state. The PSLF program, by contrast, has been running since 2007 and has clear, stable rules.

Key Takeaways

  • You must work for a government agency or a 501(c)(3) nonprofit to have payments count toward forgiveness; private employers do not may have access to.
  • You need 120 on-time monthly payments on federal loans while in an income-driven repayment plan, which usually takes ten years of full-time work.
  • You submit your employment history to the Department of Education using Form PSLF-1, not to a separate forgiveness program office.
  • The Department of Education counts your payments and tells you how many you have; you do not have to track them yourself or reapply each year.
  • If you worked for a may have access to employer before you knew about PSLF, you can request that earlier payments be counted retroactively.

Choosing the right repayment plan

Before you can count payments toward the 120 required, you must be enrolled in an income-driven repayment plan. There are four: Income-Based Repayment (IBR), Pay As You Earn (PAYE), Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE), and Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR). All four calculate your monthly payment as a percentage of your discretionary income (your gross income minus 150 percent of the federal poverty line for your family size).

PAYE and REPAYE are the most common for PSLF because they cap your payment at 10 percent of discretionary income. IBR caps payments at 10 or 15 percent depending on when you took out your loans. ICR caps payments at 20 percent and is rarely the best choice. You enroll through your loan servicer's website — the servicer is the company that collects your payments, usually Fedloan Servicing, Navient, Mohela, or Great Lakes.

Once you are in an income-driven plan, you must recertify your income every year. If you do not recertify, your plan ends and you move back to the standard ten-year repayment plan, which means your payments no longer count toward PSLF. Recertification is free and takes about ten minutes online.

What counts as a may have access to employer

Your employer must be a U.S. government agency (federal, state, local, or tribal) or a nonprofit organization with 501(c)(3) status from the IRS. Government agencies include public schools, public universities, the military, the VA, city and county offices, and public libraries. Nonprofits include hospitals, universities, charities, and advocacy organizations — but only if they hold 501(c)(3) status.

Private companies, for-profit colleges, and nonprofits with other tax statuses (like 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations) do not count. If you are unsure whether your employer qualifies, you can search the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool online, or ask your employer's human resources department for their tax status.

You do not need to stay at the same employer for all 120 payments. You can work for multiple may have access to employers over the ten years, and all the payments count as long as you were working full-time (at least 30 hours per week) for a may have access to employer when you made each payment.

Submitting your employment history

After you have made 120 payments, you submit Form PSLF-1 to the Department of Education's PSLF servicer. The form asks for your employment history, your employer's name and address, and your employer's certification that you worked there and that they are a may have access to employer. Your employer signs the form to confirm these facts.

You can submit the form online through the Federal Student Aid website, by mail, or by fax. The Department of Education reviews your form, counts your payments from your loan servicer's records, and sends you a letter saying whether you have reached 120 payments. If you have, your remaining balance is forgiven within a few months. If you have not, the letter tells you how many more payments you need.

You do not have to wait until you think you have exactly 120 payments to submit the form. Many borrowers submit it after 100 or 110 payments to get an official count from the Department of Education. This is called a "payment count verification" and it is free.

What happens if you have not made 120 payments yet

If you submit Form PSLF-1 and the Department of Education counts fewer than 120 payments, you keep making payments in your income-driven plan until you reach 120. The department will send you a letter telling you exactly how many more payments you need. You do not have to resubmit the form — the department tracks your payments automatically after that.

Some payments may not count if you were not in an income-driven plan when you made them, or if you were not working for a may have access to employer, or if you missed a payment. The department's letter will explain which payments did not count and why. If you think the count is wrong, you can contact the PSLF servicer to dispute it.

If you worked for a may have access to employer before you enrolled in PSLF, you can request that those earlier payments be counted retroactively. This is called "limited PSLF waiver" may be able to access, though the waiver itself ended in 2022. You submit a request to the PSLF servicer with proof of your employment during that time.

Common reasons payments do not count

Payments do not count if you were not in an income-driven repayment plan when you made them. If you were on the standard ten-year plan, graduated repayment, or extended repayment, those payments do not count, even if you were working for a may have access to employer. You must switch to an income-driven plan before the payments count.

Payments also do not count if you were not working full-time (at least 30 hours per week) for a may have access to employer. If you worked part-time, or for a private company, or for a nonprofit that is not 501(c)(3), those payments do not count. The Department of Education uses your employer's certification on Form PSLF-1 to verify this.

If you made a late payment or missed a payment, that month does not count. You must make on-time payments every month. If you are struggling to make a payment, contact your loan servicer about a deferment or forbearance, which pauses your payments without counting against you — but those months also do not count toward the 120.

What forgiveness means for your taxes

When your remaining balance is forgiven under PSLF, the forgiven amount is not counted as taxable income. This is different from other forgiveness programs, where the forgiven amount may be taxed as income. With PSLF, you owe no federal income tax on the forgiven balance.

Some states tax forgiven student loan debt as income, even though the federal government does not. Check your state's tax rules or ask a tax professional whether your state taxes PSLF forgiveness. If it does, you may owe state income tax on the forgiven amount.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I count payments I made before I knew about PSLF?

Yes, if you were working for a may have access to employer and in an income-driven repayment plan when you made those payments. You can request that earlier payments be counted retroactively by submitting Form PSLF-1 with proof of your employment during that time. The Department of Education will review your request and add those payments to your count if they meet the requirements.

What if I change jobs or leave my may have access to employer?

Payments only count while you are working for a may have access to employer. If you leave, your payments stop counting. If you move to another may have access to employer, your payments count again. You can work for multiple employers over the ten years, and all the payments count as long as each one was for a may have access to employer.

Do I have to stay in an income-driven plan for all 120 payments?

Yes. If you switch out of an income-driven plan, your payments stop counting. If you switch back later, only the payments made while you were in the plan count. You must be in an income-driven plan for all 120 payments for them to count toward forgiveness.

What if my loan servicer changes?

The Department of Education tracks your payments across servicer changes. You do not have to do anything. When you submit Form PSLF-1, the department pulls your payment history from all the servicers you have used and counts all may have access to payments together.

How long does it take to get forgiveness after I submit the form?

The Department of Education usually reviews Form PSLF-1 within 30 to 60 days. If you have reached 120 payments, your remaining balance is forgiven within a few months after that. If you have not reached 120, you receive a letter telling you how many more payments you need.