PSLF program is a government program that can offer debt relief to qualified borrowers working in public service jobs such as educators and other public employees. The PSLF Program forgives some or all of the remaining balance on a borrower’s Direct Loans after they have made 120 qualifying monthly payments under a qualifying repayment plan while working full-time for a qualifying employer.

• Employment: Borrower must work full time in Public Service which is non- profit 501(c)(3), military, public schools, non-profit hospitals, or government.
• Loan type: Borrower must have qualifying federal direct loans.
  • Private student loans aren’t eligible.
  • Other types of federal student loans - Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) loans or Perkins loans — can be consolidated to make them PSLF-eligible; however, consolidating your direct loans into a new direct consolidation loan will restart the payment counter so you may lose that progress if you have already made payments that count towards the 120.
• Payment plan: Loan repayment plan type must be one of the four Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plans (Revised Pay as You Earn Repayment Plan (REPAYE), Pay As You Earn Repayment Plan (PAYE), Income-Based Repayment Plan (IBR), and Income-Contingent Repayment Plan (ICR)) or the 10-year standard repayment. Graduated and extended repayment plans do not qualify.
• Payments: 120 on-time payments under qualifying payment plans (not necessarily consecutive)

There is no requirement to have a 403(b) or 457 to qualify but enrolling in 403(b) / 457 and/or increasing contribution amounts to a retirement plan may lower your Adjusted Gross Income which can increase total amount forgiven. Saving for retirement is a great way to supplement your pension and prepare for retirement while potentially lowering monthly student loan payments.

Forgiveness varies from borrower to borrower but there is no limit on the forgiveness amount, and it is forgiven tax free.

No, Parent PLUS loans are not eligible for PSLF; however, once your loans are consolidated, you can apply for the program. To obtain forgiveness you must:

1. Consolidate the Parent PLUS loans into a Direct Consolidation Loan
2. Switch to ICR plan and make payments on that new Consolidation Loan for 10 years
3. Work full-time at a qualifying 501c3 or government employer

• You will first need to log in or create an account at studentaid.gov to obtain your FSA ID. Then login and go to the “My Aid” page to see the list of your loans. It should contain current loans and any others that you have repaid or consolidated into new loans.
• Any FFEL loans should begin with those initials. You might have Perkins Loans which are also eligible for forgiveness. Lastly, you may see loans that begin with the word “Direct.” Direct loans are already eligible for PSLF.

Borrowers can apply for Income Driven Repayment with their current servicer but to fully enroll in PSLF you will need to go to studentaid.gov and follow the enrollment steps.

Tax filing status can have an impact on forgiveness amount.

No, borrowers must complete the full 120 payments while employed with a qualifying employer.

Yes - the TLF program has a maximum forgiveness amount of $17,500 and is only available to borrowers that have been employed full-time as a teacher for at least 5 consecutive years in elementary or secondary school or agency that serves low-income. You cannot receive credit toward Teacher Loan Forgiveness and Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) for the same period.

• Explore other federal loan forgiveness program such as Teacher Loan Forgiveness.
• Stay on income-driven repayment which, depending on the plan, will forgive your remaining balance after 20 or 25 years.
• Consider refinancing your student loan to lower your interest rate. Please note that once you refinance your federal loans, they are no longer eligible for forgiveness programs or income-driven repayment.

• Dept. of Education announced a limited waiver opportunity from October 6th 2021 to October 1st 2022.
• For a limited time, borrowers may receive credit for past periods of repayment on loans that would otherwise not qualify for PSLF.
• Payments made under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program or Perkins will potentially be counted towards forgiveness as long as the loan is consolidated into the Direct Loan program (via studentaid.gov) and a PSLF form has been submitted prior to 10/31/2022.
• This does not apply to previous payments made on Parent PLUS loans, but those loans can still be consolidated into Direct loans to qualify going forward. Private loans remain ineligible for PSLF.
• Past periods of repayment will now count towards forgiveness regardless of whether they made a payment, made that payment on time, for the full amount due, or on a qualifying repayment plan. Partial payments, and those that you made in an extended repayment plan, will get retroactive credit.

Important: The COVID-19 moratorium on student loan payments and interest has come to an end. The accrual of interest resumed on Sept. 1, 2023, while the first student loan payments since the pandemic were due on Oct. 1, 2023.

Typically, it takes three to five minutes to complete the application

1. Consolidate loans: Confirm you have direct loans or consolidate your other loans (FFEL or Perkins) into direct loans.
2. Enroll in Income Driven Repayment (IDR) plan: Enroll in a qualifying IDR plan such as ICR, IBR, PAYE, or REPAYE. You should recertify your income and family size yearly.
3. Complete the Employer Certification form: This form must be submitted at least once a year or when you start a job in public service or switch employers.

• Public Service Loan Forgiveness Help Tool is available to help you search for a qualifying employer, learn what actions you may need to take to become eligible for PSLF , and generate the form you need.
• Federal Student Aid Chat Tool, Aidan, is a responsive virtual assistant available on both StudentAid.gov and the myStudentAid mobile app.

It is important for you to check your email frequently and recertify both income and employment status annually.

• Retirement readiness questions should be directed to your local Equitable advisor.
• For information on our estimator tool, visit Equitable’s student loan forgiveness website.
• To enroll in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and for any specific questions regarding loans, visit the Studentaid.gov website and utilize the chat function.
• Loan servicing questions should be directed to the loan servicing company (Nelnet, Navient, FedLoan Servicing, etc.)