Who qualifies for public service loan forgiveness

If you have worked in public service (federal, state, local, tribal government, or a non-profit organization) for 10 years or more, you may be eligible to have all your student debt canceled.

How do you qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness?

• Be employed by a qualifying employer
• Work full-time for that employer
• Have Direct Loans (or consolidate other federal loans into a Direct loan)
• Repay your loans under an income-driven repayment plan (waived through October 31, 2022)
• Make 120 qualifying payments

What is a qualifying employer?

Qualifying employment for the PSLF Program isn’t about the specific job that you do for your employer. Instead, it’s about who your employer is. Employment with the following types of organizations qualifies for PSLF:

• Government organizations at any level (U.S. federal, state, local, or tribal) – this includes the U.S. military
• Not-for-profit organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code
• Serving full-time as an AmeriCorps or Peace Corps volunteer

Use the Department of Education’s online search tool to determine if your employer counts and UCF counts as a qualifying employer.

What is considered full-time employment?

• For PSLF, you are considered full-time if you meet your employer’s definition of full-time or work at least 30 hours per week, whichever is greater.

What loans are considered Direct loans?

• All federally held loans are considered for forgiveness. These are typically Direct Subsidized, Direct Unsubsidized, Direct Graduate PLUS, Direct Parent PLUS, and Direct Consolidated loans.
• If you have Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL) that are not federally held, you can consolidate those loans through the Direct Consolidation loan program. Based on the current limited-time waiver that expires on October 31, 2022, payments on FFEL loans that are then consolidated may count towards your 120 payments.

What repayment plan is required?

• Any income-driven repayment (IDR) plan and the standard repayment plan are considered qualifying plans.
• REPAYE
• PAYE
• Income-Based Repayment (IBR)
• Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR)
• The qualifying repayment plan rules have been temporarily suspended as a result of the limited PSLF waiver, expiring October 31, 2022. You may receive credit toward PSLF, provided you had qualifying employment if you made payments on any type of non-consolidation Direct Loan on any repayment plan prior to October 6, 2021. For consolidation loans, borrowers may get credit for payments made on the underlying loans after Oct. 1, 2007.

Temporary PSLF Waiver

Until October 31, 2022, federal student loan borrowers can get credit for payments that previously didn’t qualify for PSLF.
Under this temporary, limited waiver, borrowers can get credit for past payments even if they

• didn’t make the payment on time
• didn’t pay the full amount due
• weren’t on the right repayment plan

How to apply for Public Service Loan Forgiveness?

To apply for PSLF, borrowers should submit the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Certification and Application form. This form is used for the Employment Certification Form (ECF) and is also the application for forgiveness.

Borrowers can access the PSLF application and ECF online through the PSLF Help Tool. It is recommended that borrowers not wait 10 years before submitting their ECF. It is recommended to submit an ECF at least once per year or any time a borrower switches employer. After each ECF submission, borrowers will be notified of how many qualifying payments they’ve made towards their 120 payments.

The Employment Certification Form (ECF) must be certified by each qualifying employer a borrower has worked at.

UCF employees can send their ECF to [email protected] for certification.

Which PSLF Requirements Are Waived

Here’s what’s changed and what’s unchanged as of Oct. 6, 2021.