September 23, 2017

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Public Service Loan Forgiveness

Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) – this program is available to individuals employed full time1 in a public service job for ten years.   Your employer will need to complete an employment certification form.  Qualifying public service jobs include such things as:

  • emergency management
  • government employees (but not government contractors)
  • military service
  • public health (nursing, nurse practitioners, heath care support)
  • public education
  • early childhood education
  • social work in a government agency
  • public interest legal services (i.e. public defenders, legal aid offices)
  • librarians
  • employees of 501(c)(3) organizations

PSLF only applies to direct loans held by the U.S. Department of Education.

  • FFEL loans must be consolidated into a Direct Loan to qualify
  • Perkins loans must be consolidated into a Direct Loan to qualify2
  • Grad PLUS loans must be consolidated into a Direct Loan to qualify
  • Parent PLUS loans do qualify for PSLF but there may be less financial benefit because consolidation loans including Parent PLUS loans do not currently qualify for income based repayment

Borrowers seeking forgiveness under PSLF must use either standard repayment terms, income based repayment terms, or income contingent repayment terms.  There are no “debt forgiveness” income tax repurcussions arising from PSLF.

If you think that you may qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, please contact my office at 770-393-4985 or use the form on the right side of this page to email me.

  1. “Full time” means 30 hours per week. ↩
  2. If you consolidate a Perkins Loan into a Direct Loan, you will lose subsidized interest, and unique loan forgiveness programs. ↩
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Jonathan Ginsberg

Jonathan Ginsberg has served the Atlanta area community as a personal bankruptcy and student loan debt management lawyer for over 25 years. Contact Jonathan for straight answers to difficult debt problems.