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Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)

You may be eligible to receive loan forgiveness of the remaining balance of your Direct Loans* under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program if you:

  • Are employed by:
    • a federal, state, or local tribal government organization—this includes the U.S. military;
    • a nonprofit organization that is tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; or
    • a nonprofit organization that is not tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code if it provides certain types of qualifying public services.
    Please note that if you are a contractor, your employment doesn't count toward PSLF unless you are directly employed by a qualifying employer.

    Wondering if your employer meets the criteria above? Use the StudentAid.gov PSLF employer search Offsite to help determine if your employer may qualify you for PSLF. If you apply, make sure your employment certification history reflects all periods of public service employment.

  • Work full-time according to your qualifying employer's definition of full-time or at least 30 hours per week, whichever is greater. If you are employed in more than one qualifying part-time job at the same time, you will be considered full-time if you work a combined average of at least 30 hours per week with your employers.
  • Make 120 qualifying payments or the equivalent (or receive credit for payments, such as during the COVID-19 payment pause).
  • Have Direct Loans or consolidate other federal student loans into a Direct Loan.*
  • Are employed full time by a qualifying employer at the time you apply for forgiveness and at the time the remaining balance on your eligible loan(s) is forgiven.

Learn more by using the PSLF Help Tool Offsite to search for a qualifying employer, determine what actions you may need to take to become eligible for PSLF or TEPSLF, and generate a PSLF form.

* Any loan received under the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program qualifies for PSLF.

Loans from these federal student loan programs don't qualify for PSLF: the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program and the Federal Perkins Loan (Perkins Loan) Program. However, they may become eligible if you consolidate them into a Direct Consolidation Loan. Please note: under normal PSLF Program rules, if you consolidate your loans, only qualifying payments that you make on the new Direct Consolidation Loan can be counted toward the 120 payments required for PSLF. However, under the IDR account adjustment, if you apply to consolidate your FFEL Program loans into a Direct Loan by May 1, 2023, you will get PSLF credit for qualifying payments made on your FFEL Program loans.

If you applied to consolidate your FFEL Program loans and/or Perkins Loans into a Direct Consolidation Loan by 11:59 p.m. Eastern on October 31, 2022, and timely submitted your PSLF form to MOHELA, be assured your PSLF form will be evaluated under the limited PSLF waiver rules. These time-limited changes to PSLF Program rules allow borrowers to receive credit for past periods of repayment that would otherwise not qualify for PSLF. This opportunity ended on October 31, 2022.

Student loans from private lenders do not qualify for PSLF.

PSLF Servicer

Servicing for the PSLF Program is managed by another federal student loan servicer (MOHELA Offsite ). If you enroll in PSLF, your eligible loans will be transferred from Great Lakes to MOHELA. If your loans have already been transferred to MOHELA, you can log in to their borrower portal to track your PSLF status and payment counts.

Limited PSLF Waiver: What Happens After the End of the Waiver October 31, 2022

The "limited PSLF waiver" refers to the time-limited changes to Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program rules that allowed borrowers to receive credit for past periods of repayment that would otherwise not qualify for PSLF. This opportunity ended on October 31, 2022. Beginning November 1, 2022, the U.S. Department of Education went back to the normal program requirements for both PSLF Offsite and TEPSLF Offsite . If you submitted your PSLF form to the PSLF servicer MOHELA Offsite by 11:59 p.m. Eastern on October 31, 2022, be assured your PSLF form will be evaluated under the limited PSLF waiver rules.

You may be eligible to submit a PSLF form to MOHELA after October 31, 2022, and continue to qualify for the benefits of the waiver if you met certain criteria. For more information, see StudentAid.gov Offsite .

StudentAid.gov/pslfwaiver Offsite provides information on the steps borrowers had to take to benefit from the limited PSLF waiver, based on their loan type.

Income-Driven Repayment and Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program Account Adjustment

The U.S. Department of Education recently announced Offsite that they began conducting a one-time revision of payment counts for borrowers in Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) Plans. These changes may also have an impact on borrowers in PSLF by increasing your payment counts.

  • If you have 12 or more months of consecutive forbearance or 36 or more months of cumulative forbearance, you will receive PSLF credit for those periods of time if you certify qualifying employment.
  • These changes will be applied automatically. If you believe you might benefit, you should update your employment certification history to reflect all periods of public service employment.
  • FFEL borrowers who apply for a Direct Consolidation Loan Offsite by May 1, 2023, will also get PSLF credit.

Download this informative fact sheet PDF on the applicability of this one-time adjustment to borrowers seeking PSLF.