Public Service Loan Forgiveness: What You Need to Know

To qualify for the limited PSLF waiver, you need at least one Direct Loan and at least one approved PSLF form. If this doesn't apply to you, see if the options under Step 2 below fits your situation. 

You can start by going to Visit Aid Summary (you’ll need to log in to your account in order to view the page). Scroll down to the Loan Breakdown section. In the Loan Breakdown section, you'll see a list of the loans you took out, even those you paid off or consolidated into a new loan. 

If you expand “View Loans,” and then select the “View Loan Details” arrow next to a loan, you’ll see a more detailed name for that loan. Direct Loans begin with the word “Direct.” Federal Family Education Loan Program loans start with “FFEL.” Perkins Loans include the word “Perkins” in the name. Parent PLUS loans are not eligible under the limited PSLF waiver.

The action you need to take will depend on the types of loans you have outstanding.

You are part of this group if you have outstanding FFEL Program loans and/or Perkins Loans, even if you also have outstanding Direct Loans.

How to Qualify

• Find out if your employer is eligible by checking our PSLF employer search. If your employer is eligible or is “likely ineligible” (which means their eligibility is undetermined), but you believe the employer qualifies, your next step is to consolidate your loans.

• Consolidate. Consolidate your FFEL Program loans and Perkins Loans into a Direct Consolidation Loan by Oct. 31, 2022. You can’t receive credit for time in repayment if you don’t consolidate and submit your PSLF form by that date.

• Submit a PSLF form. After consolidation, use the PSLF Help Tool to generate a PSLF form to submit to MOHELA (our new PSLF servicer) by Oct. 31, 2022. Instructions in the PSLF form tell you how to submit the form to MOHELA.

You are a part of this group if you have only Direct Loans but are not assigned to MOHELA, or if you are assigned to MOHELA and have never submitted a form for the PSLF Program.

How to Qualify
If you have not yet taken steps to pursue PSLF, apply now.

• Find out if your employer is eligible by checking our PSLF employer search. If your employer is “likely ineligible” (which means their eligibility is undetermined), but you believe the employer qualifies, fill out the PSLF Help Tool anyway—and make sure you do so before Oct. 31, 2022. We’ll review your employer’s eligibility and will notify you when the review is complete.

• Submit a PSLF form. To benefit from the limited waiver, use the PSLF Help Tool to generate a PSLF form to submit to MOHELA by Oct. 31, 2022. Note: If we’re reviewing your employer’s eligibility, our review may go beyond Oct. 31. If we determine that your employer is eligible, you’ll then be able to submit your PSLF form.

You are a part of this group if you have only Direct Loans and all of them are assigned to the PSLF loan servicer (MOHELA or FedLoan).

How to Qualify
If you’re in this group,

1. you need to submit a PSLF form if

• you have had some but not all of your employment certified or if
• you previously submitted an ECF or PSLF form and were denied

1. you do not need to submit a PSLF form and just need to wait for automatic credit for prior periods of repayment if the criteria in paragraph B. below apply to you.

A. Submit a PSLF form. Use the PSLF Help Tool to generate a PSLF form to submit to MOHELA (even if FedLoan is currently your servicer). By Oct. 31, 2022, you must submit at least one PSLF form that is later approved.

B. Wait. If you took out only Direct Loans or previously consolidated other federal loans into a Direct Loan, and you’ve already submitted an ECF or PSLF form, you may automatically receive credit for prior periods of repayment. Automatic credit will be granted only if the employer listed on your form was determined to be a qualifying employer, but you originally did not receive credit because you (1) didn’t have the right kind of loan, (2) weren’t in the right repayment plan, (3) made the payment late, or (4) did not pay the full amount due.

Under the new time-limited rules, any prior period of repayment will count as a qualifying payment, regardless of loan program, repayment plan, or whether you made the payment in full or on time. But you do continue to need qualifying employment.

This change will apply to borrowers with Direct Loans, those who have already consolidated into the Direct Loan Program, and those who consolidate into the Direct Loan Program by Oct. 31, 2022.

Periods of repayment on parent PLUS loans are not eligible under the limited PSLF waiver. See below for more information about how this might (or might not) affect you.

Full-time Employment

You must have worked full-time for a qualifying employer during the calendar month you were also in repayment on your loan. You can receive credit only for periods of repayment after Oct. 1, 2007, when the PSLF Program began. If you haven’t done so already, you must file a Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) & Temporary Expanded PSLF (TEPSLF) Certification & Application (PSLF form) for any period where you are seeking additional credit toward PSLF.

Loan Consolidation

If you have FFEL Program loans, Federal Perkins Loans, or other types of federal student loans that are not Direct Loans (for example, those from older loan programs, such as Federally Insured Student Loans [FISL] or National Defense Student Loans [NDSL]), you must consolidate them into the Direct Loan Program by Oct. 31, 2022. Pro tip: You can log in to Aid Summary to find out how many and what types of loans you have.

• Making 120 qualifying payments or the equivalent

• Being employed by the government, 501(c)(3) not-for-profit, or other not-for-profit organization that provides a qualifying service. Employment at a for-profit organization does not qualify

• Working full time (for PSLF, you’re generally considered to work full time if you meet your employer’s definition of full time or work at least 30 hours per week, whichever is greater)

• Having Direct Loans or consolidating into Direct Consolidation Loans

• Certifying qualifying employment for the periods you seek credit toward PSLF

The Department of Education is using data matches for federal employees and military service members to give these borrowers credit toward PSLF without an application. This automatic service is not available yet. Federal employees and military service members should fill out a PSLF waiver application. 

ED has determined that it can use flexibilities provided by the HEROES Act of 2003, which allows the secretary of education to waive certain federal student aid program rules in periods of national emergency.

This opportunity can be offered only for a limited time, as it is tied to special flexibilities based on the COVID-19 emergency.

To update your PSLF payment counts, you may receive multiple auto-generated communications indicating the action taken on your account. Be sure to check mohela.com as adjustments continue to be made to your account. We appreciate your patience.

ED will review a borrower’s account when it contains two pieces of information: at least one Direct Loan and at least one approved Employment Certification. When both conditions are met, ED will review the borrower’s account. ED will identify all new payments to be added and instruct MOHELA to update the account. If any conditions of the account change, ED will re-review the account.

Borrowers at or over 120 payments will get priority reviews regardless of when their PSLF forms were approved.

To update your PSLF payment counts, you may receive multiple auto-generated communications indicating the action taken on your account. Be sure to check mohela.com as adjustments continue to be made to your account. 

If you recently consolidated your loans, your count of eligible and qualifying payments may temporarily reset to zero. It will be further adjusted as we continue to process account updates.

Borrowers can expect to see an adjusted payment count after their consolidation loan is disbursed and a PSLF form with employment certification is approved. View your payments on MOHELA’s borrower portal to determine if payments were added.

If you made more than 120 payments on an existing Direct Loan, you will get a refund for extra qualifying payments you made. You’ll be notified when your loans are forgiven if your employment was certified for those 120 qualifying payments. If you have not had your employment certified, you should submit a PSLF form for each employer. To get credit for time in repayment on FFEL Program or Perkins Loans, you must consolidate them into a Direct Consolidation Loan by Oct. 31, 2022.

Some borrowers will have loans forgiven before repayment begins, but not all will be processed. If you reach 120 payments under the limited PSLF waiver but continue making payments after the pause ends, they will be refunded. You may also enter a forbearance until your payment count is updated, but if you enter a forbearance and do not reach 120 payments, you will not get credit for the period of forbearance and may be responsible for accrued interest when the forbearance ends.

Payments are returned as they were received (e.g., electronic payment or check). They are typically processed by the PSLF servicer in one to two weeks. It may take longer to get your refund, depending on processing times in other parts of the government. Payments made to a prior servicer may take more time to process.

No. Refunds only apply for payments (in excess of 120 payments) that were paid on a consolidation loan. This is true for both FFEL Program loans and Direct Loans that are consolidated into a Direct Consolidation Loan.

Previously, you could consolidate your loans into the Direct Loan Program, but you could only get PSLF credit for payments made after you consolidated. However, the time-limited PSLF rule changes allow you to get credit for periods of repayment before you consolidated those loans.

Now you will get credit toward PSLF if you were on “In Repayment” status after Oct. 1, 2007, for the loans you consolidate, and your employer qualified under PSLF Program rules.

If you were ruled ineligible because you had an incorrect loan program (e.g., an FFEL Program loan), you should file a new PSLF form after you consolidate. When in doubt, you should complete and submit a new form.

Like loan forgiveness itself, refunds resulting from forgiveness through the PSLF Program are not taxable. However, if you owe the federal government another debt such as unpaid child support or unpaid taxes, your refund may be offset. For more information, check with the Internal Revenue Service or a tax advisor.

If a third-party such as an employer made payments on your behalf, you are responsible for coordinating any portion of the refund that would be due to the third party.

If you have moved or changed banks, make sure to update your contact and payment information with your servicer.

If you consolidate into the Direct Loan Program by Oct. 31, 2022, you can get credit for any months spent in repayment on these federal student loans:

• Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program loans, including subsidized and unsubsidized loans, graduate PLUS loans, and prior consolidation loans

• Federal Perkins Loans

• Direct Loan Program loans, including subsidized and unsubsidized loans, graduate PLUS loans, and prior consolidation loans

FFEL Program spousal consolidation loans are not eligible to be consolidated into the Direct Loan Program.

Time in repayment on parent PLUS loans is not eligible for credit under the time-limited PSLF rule changes, even if you consolidate them into a new Direct Consolidation Loan by Oct. 31, 2022. But if you consolidate (or previously consolidated) a parent PLUS loan, the time in repayment on the consolidation loan may be eligible for credit toward PSLF.

The following example illustrates how parent PLUS loans are addressed under the time-limited rule changes:

• A borrower was in repayment on:
  • a FFEL Program parent PLUS Loan from January 2012 through December 2015 and
  • a FFEL Program Subsidized Federal Stafford Loan from January 2010 through December 2015.


• The borrower consolidated the two loans in December 2015. While the repayment status history on the FFEL Program parent PLUS Loan will not be considered, the repayment status on the FFEL Program Subsidized Federal Stafford Loan will be considered, and the entire Direct Consolidation Loan made in December 2015 would receive credit for the period of January 2010 through December 2015.


• However, if the same borrower had only the FFEL Program parent PLUS Loan and consolidated it, the borrower would get no credit for the FFEL Program parent PLUS Loan under the limited PSLF waiver.

A new consolidation loan can receive credits for payments made to underlying loans that were not Parent PLUS loans. However, the new consolidation loan will still be credited with any payments you made to other non-parent PLUS FFEL, Perkins, or Direct Loans. (Note: no credits are awarded for payments made to defaulted student loans.)

When the new consolidation loan reaches 120 qualifying payments, then the consolidation loan can be forgiven under PSLF even if some of the loans consolidated into the new loan were Parent PLUS loans. However, if you consolidate only Parent PLUS loans, whether they are FFEL or Direct Parent Plus loans, then the new consolidation loan would not be credited with any payments made to the underlying loans.

FSA will begin implementing these changes, but borrowers won’t see them reflected in their accounts until fall 2022.

ED’s regulations and servicer contracts have safeguards, including a 12-month limit for any single use of forbearance, a 36-month cumulative limit on discretionary forbearance, and 60-day limits on certain administrative forbearances.

FSA will count months spent in deferment toward PSLF (except for in-school deferment) for borrowers who had periods of deferment before 2013. Additionally, we will include months in Economic Hardship Deferment on or after January 1, 2013.

You do not need to take any action to have eligible periods of deferment or forbearance count towards PSLF. FSA will assess these periods and adjust your account in fall 2022.

FSA is working with the PSLF servicer to make updates to borrower accounts, but these adjustments will not be applied until late fall 2022. Continue to monitor your account on the PSLF servicer borrower portal for any adjustments.

Generally, time in forbearance does not count as time in repayment but under the rule changes, time in forbearance does apply under specific conditions:

• Borrowers with 12 or more consecutive months in forbearance will have those consecutive months treated as time in repayment if the loan is eligible for consideration.

• Borrowers with 36 or more cumulative months in forbearance will have all of their time in forbearance treated as time in repayment if the loan is eligible for consideration.

Forbearance that includes the COVID-19 payment pause will not count toward a borrower’s 12-month, 36-month, or less- than- 12-month exceptions.

Generally, time in deferment does not count as time in repayment but under the time-limited PSLF rule changes, deferment periods will count under limited circumstances:

• Time spent in specific military-related deferments will count as time in repayment.

• Time spent in any deferment, except in-school deferment, prior to 2013 will count as time in repayment.

• Time in an Economic Hardship Deferment will count as time in repayment.

Grace periods are a borrower benefit that is not considered a deferment or a forbearance, so grace periods do not contribute to the deferment or forbearance exceptions. In some instances, prior servicers have reported grace periods that are unreasonably long. In these instances, ED will treat any time in a grace period that is unreasonable as time in repayment.

No, time spent in an in-school status or an in-school deferment does not count as time in repayment.

No, time spent in a bankruptcy status does not count as time in repayment nor does it count towards the various forbearance exceptions.

Time in default does not count as time in repayment.

Loans that have been forgiven cannot be included in a consolidation loan with other outstanding loans. You can consolidate your remaining outstanding loans but the time in repayment from your forgiven loans will not be credited to your new consolidation loan.

Assuming your repayment history overlaps for each loan, the consolidation loan will be credited with the largest number of payments of the loans that were consolidated. For example, if you had 50 qualifying payments on one Subsidized Stafford Loan and 100 qualifying payments on another Subsidized Stafford Loan and you consolidate those loans, you will receive 100 qualifying payments on the new Direct Consolidation Loan.

If your repayment history does not overlap for each loan, the consolidation loan may be credited with more total payments than the loan with the largest number of payments.

Under the time-limited PSLF rule changes, your consolidation loan will receive credit for time in repayment on your loans with different counts. Your consolidation loan will be credited with at least the largest number of payments on the loans that were consolidated.

If you recently consolidated your loans, your count of eligible and qualifying payments may temporarily reset to zero, but it will be further adjusted as we continue to process updates to your account under the limited PSLF waiver.

You will receive credit on your consolidation loan for a time in repayment from your existing loans.

This differs from the prior approach under the normal PSLF rules, where consolidating your Direct Loans in PSLF would have reset your payment count to zero.

Yes, but for the fastest processing time, we recommend checking the box for PSLF when you complete your consolidation application.

If you check the “PSLF” box on your consolidation application, the form will be directed to the PSLF Servicer.

FedLoan Servicing will continue to service PSLF borrowers until all borrowers are transferred to their new loan servicer. We will ensure that all PSLF borrowers experience a smooth transition. For more details, read about the FedLoan Servicing transition.

No. Under normal PSLF Program rules, you must be employed at a qualifying employer when you receive forgiveness. However, that requirement is temporarily waived until Oct. 31, 2022.

You may automatically receive more qualifying payments if you have previously filed an ECF or PSLF form. However, you should submit a new PSLF form if you haven’t had all your prior employment certified or if you were determined to be ineligible but were unsure why. Any prior payments that are counted under the limited PSLF waiver will count toward your TEPSLF payment count.

You may get credit for any month after October 2007 that you had qualifying employment and were in an “In Repayment” status. You may also get credit for time in specific military-related deferments and forbearance, as well as credit for time in coronavirus-related deferments and forbearances.

If you previously filed a PSLF form, you may be able to see what payments are eligible under this limited PSLF waiver by logging into your account with MOHELA in the coming months.

If you have never filed a PSLF form, you must do so by Oct. 31, 2022, to see what payments are eligible under the rule changes.

If you have already received forgiveness or paid off your loans, you are not eligible for a refund of prior payments.

Yes, you may complete Sections 1 and 2 (page 1) of the PSLF form and include a copy of your U.S. Department of Defense Form DD 214 Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty (DD Form 214) in place of Sections 3 and 4 (page 2) when you submit the PSLF form to the PSLF servicer. If you have previously submitted a DD Form 214 for other purposes, re-submit it to the PSLF servicer along with your PSLF form to certify employment.

If you do not have a copy of your DD 214, find out how to request a copy.

You can use Step 1 of the PSLF Help Tool to access the employer database, which provides information on which employers meet PSLF Program requirements.

Please note that if an employer is shown in a “likely ineligible” status, that just means we have not yet determined whether they are a qualifying employer. In addition, regardless of the service performed or essential worker status, borrowers who are employed by for-profit corporations cannot get credit toward PSLF.

No. However, if you generate a form with a qualifying employer using the PSLF Help Tool, your form will be processed more quickly than if you don’t use the Help Tool.

If you are assigned to MOHELA, you can log in to your account to see your progress toward PSLF so far, though your qualifying payment count may not yet reflect the limited PSLF waiver. If you have a loan servicer other than MOHELA, then you have not yet submitted an approved ECF or PSLF form.

ED and MOHELA are updating payment counts in the next few months. MOHELA will contact you when your payment count has been updated. Once your payment count is updated, if you think there is an error, contact MOHELA to ask about it. You can also submit a request through the Feedback Center or contact the Federal Student Aid Ombudsman Group.

You are not obliged to make payments at this time because of the student loan payment pause. However, we recommend that you estimate your payments and decide if you want to apply for an income-driven repayment plan so you'll be on a more affordable plan when repayment resumes.

Payments identified under the limited PSLF waiver become part of your ongoing payment count. They do not expire or disappear simply because the limited PSLF waiver period ends.