Public Service Loan Forgiveness wipes out whatever is left on your federal Direct Loans after 120 qualifying monthly payments, and you don’t pay federal income tax on the amount forgiven.
The catch is that every one of those 120 payments has to count. Wrong plan, wrong employer, a late payment on the wrong plan, and the month doesn’t count. People have lost years that way.
Here’s how PSLF works now, what counts and what doesn’t, and what it can be worth on a real teacher’s salary.
The short answer
- You need four things at once: a government or qualifying nonprofit employer, full-time work (30 hours a week on average), Direct Loans, and a qualifying repayment plan.
- After 120 qualifying payments, the rest of your Direct Loan balance is forgiven. The payments don’t have to be in a row.
- RAP, IBR, ICR, PAYE and the 10-year Standard plan count. Tiered Standard, Graduated and Extended don’t.
- On RAP, a month only counts if you pay on time and in full.
- PSLF forgiveness isn’t federally taxable. Applying is free through the PSLF Help Tool.
Who qualifies for PSLF
PSLF cares about who signs your paycheck. Your job title doesn’t matter, so a janitor at a public school can qualify while a nurse at a for-profit hospital can’t.
- Employer
- A U.S. federal, state, local or tribal government (the military counts), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, or another nonprofit that spends most of its staff time on certain public services. Full-time AmeriCorps and Peace Corps service counts too.
- Full time
- At least 30 hours a week on average. Teachers on a contract of at least 8 months a year count as full time for the whole year. Paid vacation and FMLA leave count toward your hours.
- Loans
- Direct Loans only. FFEL and Perkins loans don’t count unless you consolidate them into a Direct Consolidation Loan. Private loans never count.
- Plan
- An income-driven plan (RAP, IBR, ICR or PAYE) or the 10-year Standard plan.
- Payments
- 120 qualifying monthly payments, full and on time, made while you work for a qualifying employer.
Employers that don’t count
For-profit companies are out, and that includes for-profit contractors that work for the government. Labor unions and partisan political groups are out too. If you’re a contractor placed at a government agency, check who actually employs you. That’s usually the company, not the agency.
The fastest way to check is the PSLF Employer Search. If your employer isn’t listed, the PSLF Help Tool lets you ask for a review.
Good to know
You may have heard about a rule that would have let the Education Department drop employers it decided had a “substantial illegal purpose.” Federal courts threw that rule out before it ever took effect, so it doesn’t change which employers qualify. If you work somewhere that’s been in the news, keep certifying your employment as usual and keep an eye on the official PSLF page.
Which repayment plans count
This is where most people get burned. You can work in public service for ten years and get zero credit if you’re on a plan that doesn’t qualify.
| Plan | Counts for PSLF? | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) | Yes | Only months you pay on time and in full. A payment made to catch up after you fall behind doesn’t count as on time. |
| Income-Based Repayment (IBR) | Yes | Open only for loans made before July 1, 2026, and only if you haven’t taken a new loan since. |
| PAYE and ICR | Yes | Both close no later than July 1, 2028. You’ll have to move to another plan before then. |
| 10-year Standard | Yes | It counts, but your loan is usually paid off by payment 120, so there’s nothing left to forgive. |
| Tiered Standard | No | Never counts, not even for Temporary Expanded PSLF. |
| Graduated, Extended, consolidation Standard | No | May count under Temporary Expanded PSLF (see below). |
If you have a loan from July 1, 2026 or later
Take even one new Direct Loan or consolidation first disbursed on or after July 1, 2026, and all your Direct Loans have to go on RAP or Tiered Standard. For PSLF, that means RAP, and only on-time, full payments count.
Parent PLUS loans, and consolidation loans that include them, can’t use RAP. A parent who takes any new Direct Loan on or after July 1, 2026 loses PSLF eligibility on those loans, even if they were on IBR or ICR before. The Parent PLUS forgiveness guide covers what’s left for parents.
Not sure which plan fits? Our guide to every federal repayment plan compares them side by side. If you were on SAVE, read what happens to SAVE borrowers first, because SAVE is over and you have to pick a new plan.
How the 120 payments are counted
A qualifying payment is the full amount on your bill, paid by the due date, while you’re on a qualifying plan and working full time for a qualifying employer. Only payments made after October 1, 2007 count.
They don’t have to be back to back. Leave public service for a few years and come back, and you keep the payments you already earned.
Some months count even when you’re not paying. Cancer treatment deferment, economic hardship deferment (this one counts even on RAP), military service and post-active duty deferments, and AmeriCorps, National Guard and Department of Defense forbearances all count. Outside RAP, certain administrative forbearances do too.
Some months never count. Your grace period after school doesn’t. Neither does time in the SAVE forbearance, though you may be able to buy those months back later.
Your count only updates when you send in a new PSLF form. That’s why you should certify every year and every time you change jobs. Then you’ll know you’re on track in year two, not in year ten. Autopay helps too, since on-time payments are the whole game on RAP.
What PSLF is worth: a teacher on RAP
Numbers make this real. Here’s a single public school teacher with no kids, run through the RAP formula.
Example: a teacher, single, $52,000 AGI
- Federal loans
- $45,000 in Direct Loans
- Interest rate
- 6% average (assumed)
- RAP payment
- $216.67/mo
- Paid over 120 months
- $26,000.40
- Balance forgiven at 120
- $39,000, tax-free
How we got it: RAP charges 5% of AGI for incomes from $50,001 to $60,000. $52,000 times 5% is $2,600 a year, or $216.67 a month.
Month one’s interest is $225 ($45,000 times 6%, divided by 12). The payment is a bit less than that, so RAP waives the unpaid $8.33 of interest. And because the payment doesn’t cut principal by $50, the Education Department adds a matching payment so the principal drops $50 anyway. That happens every month, so after 120 payments the balance is $45,000 minus $6,000, or $39,000. That’s what PSLF forgives.
Assumptions: her income stays flat for ten years (raises would raise the payment and shrink what’s forgiven), she’s on RAP from day one, and every payment is on time and in full. Each dependent would cut the payment by $50 a month.
Compare that to the 10-year Standard plan. The same $45,000 at 6% costs $499.59 a month, about $59,951 in total, and there’s nothing left for PSLF to forgive. So the teacher on RAP keeps roughly $34,000 in her pocket over the decade.
So is it worth chasing? Bottom line: PSLF pays off most for people with big balances compared to their income. If your income is high and your balance is small, you might pay the loan off before 120 anyway.
Next stepPlug in your own income and balance with our RAP calculator.
Buyback, TEPSLF and consolidation
PSLF buyback
Buyback lets you pay for past months that didn’t count because you were in a deferment or forbearance that doesn’t qualify, like the SAVE forbearance. It’s only open once you already have 120 months of qualifying employment. Months on RAP or Tiered Standard can’t be bought back. You ask through a PSLF reconsideration request and pay within 90 days of the agreement. Details are on the buyback page.
Temporary Expanded PSLF (TEPSLF)
If you spent time on Graduated, Extended or the consolidation Standard plan, TEPSLF can still count those months. The test: your most recent payment and the one 12 months before it were each at least what you’d have paid on an income-driven plan. RAP doesn’t count as the income-driven plan for that test, and Tiered Standard months never count.
Consolidation
Consolidating FFEL or Perkins loans into a Direct Consolidation Loan is how they become eligible. If you consolidate Direct Loans you already have credit on, your count carries over as a weighted average. Say you have 60 payments on $30,000 and 0 on another $30,000. Your new loan gets credit for 30.
Certify all your employment before you consolidate so the average comes out right. And remember that any consolidation on or after July 1, 2026 puts all your Direct Loans on RAP or Tiered Standard. Our consolidation guide walks through it.
Mistakes that cost people years
Most denied PSLF requests come down to a handful of avoidable mistakes. These are the ones to watch:
- Sitting on a plan that doesn’t qualify. Tiered Standard, Graduated and Extended months don’t count for PSLF.
- Paying late on RAP. A late payment, or one that catches you up after you fall behind, doesn’t count. Set up autopay.
- Waiting ten years to certify. If an old employer closed or won’t sign, proving those years gets hard.
- Quitting before the final form is processed. You must still work for a qualifying employer when you submit for forgiveness.
- Keeping FFEL or Perkins loans unconsolidated and assuming they count.
- Taking a new loan or consolidation as a Parent PLUS borrower after June 30, 2026.
- Paying a company to file for you. The form is free, and nobody can speed it up.
Your PSLF checklist
- Log in to studentaid.gov. Check that your loans are Direct Loans and see which plan you’re on.
- Check your employer. Search the PSLF Employer Search.
- Get on a qualifying plan, usually RAP or IBR. Your servicer can switch you for free.
- Consolidate if you need to. Only if you have FFEL or Perkins loans, and certify your past employment first.
- Turn on autopay. It keeps RAP payments on time and in full.
- Submit a PSLF form every year through the PSLF Help Tool, and every time you change employers.
- Check your count under My Loans on your studentaid.gov dashboard after each form is processed.
- At 120, file your final form while you’re still employed. Your servicer then forgives the remaining balance.
From studentaid.gov
You only need to submit a PSLF form to be considered. You can sign it and get your employer’s signature electronically in the PSLF Help Tool, or print and mail a paper form.
PSLF is just one path. If you don’t work in public service, our map of every federal forgiveness program covers the rest, and is student loan forgiveness real? explains how to tell a real program from a scam.
PSLF questions
Yes. PSLF is in federal law and the Education Department is still taking PSLF forms. The 2025 law added the Repayment Assistance Plan as a qualifying plan, and a rule that would have let the department drop some employers was thrown out by federal courts before it took effect.
No. Forgiveness under PSLF is not federal taxable income. That is different from forgiveness at the end of an income-driven plan, which is generally federally taxable for discharges from 2026 on.
No. The payments do not need to be consecutive. If you leave public service and come back later, you keep the qualifying payments you already made.
No. Payments under the Tiered Standard plan never count for PSLF, and they do not count for Temporary Expanded PSLF either. Use RAP or another income-driven plan if you are going for PSLF.
Only in a narrow case. A parent who consolidated before July 1, 2026 and repays on ICR or IBR can still earn credit. Parent PLUS loans cannot use RAP, and a parent who takes any new Direct Loan or consolidation on or after July 1, 2026 loses PSLF eligibility on those loans.
Use the PSLF Help Tool on studentaid.gov to fill out the PSLF form and send it to your employer to sign electronically. Submit one every year and whenever you change jobs. It is free.
Sources (8)
We use primary sources: Federal Student Aid, the U.S. Department of Education, the IRS, the Supreme Court and the Federal Register.
- Federal Student Aid. Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). studentaid.gov. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Federal Student Aid. Big updates to federal student loans. studentaid.gov. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Federal Student Aid. Definitions: RAP, Tiered Standard and new limits. studentaid.gov. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Federal Student Aid. PSLF Buyback. studentaid.gov. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Federal Student Aid. SAVE plan: what borrowers need to do. studentaid.gov. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Federal Register. Federal Student Loan Program Final Regulations (RISE). federalregister.gov. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Office of the California Attorney General. Court fully vacates PSLF employer rule. oag.ca.gov. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Taxpayer Advocate Service, IRS. What to know about student loan forgiveness and your taxes. taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov. Accessed October 22, 2026.
