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.
According to the latest data from June 2023, 71% of PSLF applications that have been denied since November 2020 (when they switched to a new reporting system) were because the applicant did not have a direct loan with 120 months of repayment or the applicant did not have 120 months of qualifying employment.
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. Prior to 2021, 3.3 million student loan borrowers were eligible to apply for PSLF (though only 6.9% applied).
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.
“Errors, even as minor as spelling mistakes, can cause rejections. For PSLF for example, borrowers must thoroughly fill out an Employer Certification Form (ECF) with all of their previous employers, their Federal Employer Identification Numbers, tax status, and other details.
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%.
Generally, no. You must be a direct employee of a qualifying employer for your employment to qualify. This means that employees of contracted organizations, that are not themselves a qualifying employer, won't qualify for PSLF including government contractors and for-profit organizations.
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.
As of mid-July 2023, approximately 662,000 borrowers have qualified for forgiveness under the limited PSLF waiver.
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.
Does my income level determine my eligibility for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)? There is no income requirement to qualify for PSLF.
Yes. However, you must submit a PSLF Form showing that you were employed full-time by a qualifying employer at the time you made each of the required 120 payments.
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.
The number of qualifying payments you have made will be updated only when you submit another PSLF form that documents a new period of qualifying employment. Once your cumulative total of qualifying payments reaches 120, we will confirm your eligibility and work with your servicer to forgive your remaining balance.
It may initially lower your credit score as the forgiven debt could be reported as “income,” which may increase your overall income-to-debt ratio. However, over time, having fewer loans and lower debt could improve your credit score.
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.
Please allow at least 90 business days for your form to be processed. Loans NOT serviced by MOHELA? Your demographic information will not be on file until the PSLF form is processed which is currently taking at least 90 business days. Once processed your loans will be transferred from your current servicer to MOHELA.
According to StudentAid.gov, PSLF processing times depend on: Whether you previously submitted employment documentation for review versus submitting documentation all at once when you apply for loan forgiveness. The number of qualifying employers you've had. If you have gaps in your employment or payment history.
What will happen if my Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) application is denied? If we determine that you're not eligible for loan forgiveness at this time, you'll be notified and will be provided with the reason(s) we determined you were ineligible. You'll then be required to resume making payments on your loans.
Track Your PSLF form status and history
Once you've submitted a PSLF form, you can track its progress by logging in to StudentAid.gov using your account username and password and selecting “My Activity” in the dropdown menu under your name in the upper right-hand corner.
Typically, months in forbearance and deferment do not count towards PSLF. However, months during the COVID-19 payment pause (March 2020-September 2023), months that qualify under the IDR Adjustment, and months where loans are being placed on administrative forbearance after the repayment restart will count toward PSLF.
PSLF applications that were submitted were incomplete or didn't have all of the required information necessary to process the application. As newer reports were released, “missing information” continued to be the reason why 23% to 26% of PSLF applications were rejected through November 2020.
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.
There are no income limits for the PSLF program. However, if your income is high relative to the balance of your student loans, you might not qualify for an income-driven repayment (IDR) plan.