These actions made today's milestone possible: as of October 2024, over 1 million public service workers have had their debt discharged via PSLF and Temporary Extended PSLF (Figure 1).
Applications are approved at roughly the same rate. 2.3% of processed applications for PSLF had been approved since the program's inception. In the program's first year, 0.32% of applications were approved.
A lot of people apply for PSLF, but the odds of actually having your loans forgiven through this program are extremely low. Between September 2020 and June 2023, almost 4 million PSLF applications were processed, and only 19,218 of them resulted in forgiveness—that's only 0.5%.
The later-adopted Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness program also has a strikingly high ninety-four percent plus denial rate for the over 29,000 applications for debt relief filed and processed as of that date.
Contrary to some perceptions, that's not because the Department of Education is capriciously denying borrowers relief to which they are legally entitled; most PSLF applications were rejected because borrowers have not met program requirements.
To get PSLF, you have to get a total count of 120 qualifying payments. So you'll want to make sure that you're getting closer to your goal with each payment you make. Keep in mind, your payments don't have to be consecutive.
PSLF has erased $74 billion worth of student loans for more than one million public servants as of Oct. 17, 2024, according to the Education Department, which boils down to an average of $74,000 in debt forgiveness per borrower.
Required Commitment and Lengthy Duration
One of the notable drawbacks of PSLF for doctors is the required commitment. To be eligible for forgiveness, you must make 120 qualifying payments, which essentially means 10 years of service in a qualifying organization.
Typically it takes at least 2 months to process PSLF Forms. During the busiest PSLF Waiver periods, estimates were between four and six months. If you're still within those time periods, continue waiting. You can always go to the My Activity page on studentaid.gov to check the status.
Don't forget to submit the PSLF form with your employment certification every year. If your PSLF form is approved for forgiveness, then you'll be notified that the entire remaining balance of your eligible Direct Loans will be forgiven, including all outstanding interest and principal.
To maximize your PSLF benefit, repay your loans on the Income-Based Repayment (IBR) Plan, the Pay As You Earn Repayment Plan, or the Income Contingent Repayment (ICR) Plan, which are three repayment plans that qualify for PSLF. PSLF is best under IBR, Pay As You Earn, or ICR.
The Qualtrics/Intuit Credit Karma report found 20 percent of borrowers hadn't made any payments on their loans. The percentage was even higher, at 27 percent, for borrowers who made less than $50,000 a year.
11% of all PSLF and TEPSLF applications have been approved, according to June 2023 data from the Department of Education (673,077 approved for discharge among 6,147,812 total applications). Total discharges processed included: 19,218 for PSLF and 6,520 for Temporary Expanded PSLF.
As of mid-July 2023, approximately 662,000 borrowers have qualified for forgiveness under the limited PSLF waiver.
There is no income requirement to qualify for PSLF.
Important: If your employer is a for-profit organization, a labor union, or a partisan political organization, it isn't an eligible PSLF employer regardless of the kinds of public services it might provide.
25% of rejected PSLF applications were rejected on grounds that the applicant had not entered all necessary information in their application.
Do the months on the COVID-19 payment pause count toward my PSLF payment count? Paused payments count toward PSLF and TEPSLF as long as you meet all other qualifications. You will get credit as though you made monthly payments.
The Department of Education denied 98% of PSLF applications between November 2020 and October 2021. Some borrowers discovered they weren't eligible for forgiveness after making years of payments working in what they thought were qualifying positions.
One of the primary requirements of the program is that a borrower make 10 years' worth of payments (120 on-time payments). But according to the Department's data, 80% of Direct Loan borrowers who were rejected for PSLF didn't have a loan that entered repayment 10 years ago.
If you have a large amount of student loan debt, then Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) could potentially save you thousands of dollars. It also might knock years off your student loan repayment timeline. You must meet all of the criteria to be eligible for college loan forgiveness, but the payoff can be worth it.
Is there a limit on the dollar amount that can be forgiven? There is no limit to how much can be forgiven by PSLF.
After this request is made, a final review of your account will be performed to process forgiveness, which will take about 60 business days. If you meet the requirements for forgiveness, you'll first receive a notification from the U.S. Department of Education indicating you have been approved for PSLF.
Because you have to make 120 qualifying monthly payments, it will take at least 10 years before you can qualify for PSLF. Important: You must still be working for a qualifying employer at the time you submit your form for forgiveness.