What Loans Are Eligible for PSLF – Public Student Loan Forgiveness?
The following loans are eligible for forgiveness:
- Federal Direct Stafford/Ford Loans (Direct Subsidized Loans)
- Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford/Ford Loans (Direct Unsubsidized Loans)
- Federal Direct PLUS Loans (Direct PLUS Loans)—for parents and graduate or professional students
- Federal Direct Consolidation Loans (Direct Consolidation Loans)
- Parent Direct PLUS Loan – If the parent (not the student) is employed by a public service organization.
The PSLF program promises to pay the remaining balance on your direct loans after you have made 120 qualifying monthly payments under a qualifying repayment plan. You must also be working full-time for a qualifying employer.
What Types of Jobs Qualify for the PSLF Program?
In order to qualify for PSLF, you must be employed full-time at an eligible employer. The eligible PSLF employer may include:
Government organization: (federal, state, local, tribal organization, agency, or entity, a public child or family service agency or tribal college or university).
- A not-for-profit, tax-exempt organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
- A private, not-for-profit organization (that is not a labor union or a partisan political organization) that provides one or more of the following public services:
- Emergency management
- Military service
- Public safety
- Law enforcement
- Public interest law services
- Early childhood education (including licensed or regulated health care, Head Start, and state-funded pre-kindergarten)
- Public service for individuals with disabilities and the elderly
- Public health (including nurses, nurse practitioners, nurses in a clinical setting, and full-time professionals engaged in health care practitioner occupations and health care support occupations)
- Public education
- Public library services
- School library or other school-based services
The following types of employers do not qualify for PSLF:
- Labor unions
- Partisan political organizations
- For-profit organizations (this includes for-profit government contractors)
- Not-for-profit organizations that are not tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and that do not provide a qualifying public service as their primary function
What are Qualified Payments under PSLF?
Qualified Payments under the PSLF program must come from a Direct Loan repayment option. The following Direct Loan repayment options qualify for the public service loan forgiveness program:
- Income-Based Repayment (IBR) Plan
- Pay As You Earn Plan
- Income Contingent Repayment
- 10-Year Standard Repayment Plan
- Any other Direct Loan Program repayment plan; but only payments that are at least equal to the monthly payment amount that would have been required under the 10-Year Standard Repayment Plan may be counted toward the required 120 payments
Check out this article for more information on the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.