How to Apply for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program?

It is quite natural for the students to get curious about the whole program of Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). The program has been specially designed for the student loan holders to get out of their debt easily.

Your dream of working in the public service might actually get obstructed by your unpaid student loans. In this critical situation PSLF is the one and only program, which has the capacity of rescuing the students from student debt.

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program forgives the remaining balance on your Direct Loans after you have made 120 qualifying monthly payments under a qualifying repayment plan while working full-time for a qualifying employer. You can read more here at Federal Student Aid.

So, try to learn all the details about PSLF and then follow this simple and easy ways to applying for the above mentioned program.

What is Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program?

The whole PSLF program has specially been arranged for the students to deal with their student debts at the same time of pursuing their career in public service. In the year of 2007, public service loan forgiveness program came into existence for forgiving the remaining student debt of a particular student.

There are certain rules to follow before applying for the program. The eligibility condition of going for PSLF is, you have to pay at least 120 monthly payments on the loan you have taken.

Is it the Right Option for you?

This is one of the most important things for you to consider, that whether you need to go for the public service loan forgiveness program or not. After making 10 years of repayment, you really need to think about the necessity of applying for the program.

PSLF is appropriate for those people who are earning a livelihood quite less than their expectations. Thus, the responsibility of repaying the huge load of student load might provide them some sleepless nights. On the other hand, if you are earning a lot of money, then the chances of qualifying for the program is quite low.

Which loans are eligible for getting the forgiveness?

Parent PLUS loans along with the Federal Stafford and PLUS loans are exclusively come under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Although, defaulters in repaying the previous 120 payments will not be taken as an eligible candidate to apply for the loan forgiveness program.

There are a certain rules, which must be fulfilled by the students before applying for PSLF.

• Make sure you pay the student debt, according to your income.
• You can only go for this program, if you are working under an eligible employer.
• The program can only start working, if you have been repaying your loans constantly.

What are the types of employment qualified for public service loan forgiveness?

Applying for PSLF is not that easy without knowing all the details of the program. The employees, who are considered desirable for this program includes –

• The people who are working for Local, State or Federal Government organizations.
• Employee of a non-profit organization.
• School teachers.
• Social worker in a private or government sector.
• Full time faculty of a tribal college or university.

There is no need for you to get worried about your job role as long as your employer falls into any one of the above mentioned categories. But, introducing yourself as a full time worker of a particular organization is very much essential. As full time employees are only considered eligible for picking this opportunity.

How do I apply for the Forgiveness?

The first step to apply for the public service loan forgiveness program is to meet all the necessary criteria of becoming an eligible person applying for the loan forgiveness program.

To maximize forgiveness, borrowers should also use an Income Driven Repayment (IDBR) option, such as Income Based Repayment, ICR, and Pay As You Earn plans.

Here are the steps to apply for Public Service Loan Forgiveness:

The second step is, one has to submit all the important papers to the department of education to apply for the above mentioned program.
Complete the Employment Certification for Public Service Loan Forgiveness form annually or whenever you change jobs. You must ask your employer to fill in the employer portion.

It is up to you that whether you would like to submit all the paper-works annually or after repaying 120 payments of your student debt. But, according to the experts, you must send all the necessary papers annually. You can manage all these works by yourself or you can also think about taking the help of a third party. An experienced person might actually help you by checking whether your repayment plan is correct or not.

The employment certification will closely be verified by the officials of PSLF for considering you as a suitable applicant for the whole program. If you want to know more about this loan forgiving program, then there are a few websites where you can have all the details.

The PSLF Employment Certification form is available here.

But, don’t forget to make at least 120 payments before you think about applying for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Make sure you keep all the copies of the payment you have made in the last 10 years. This is essential as all these copies might actually be needed by the officials of PSLF at the time of verifying your paper works.