New Rules for Public Service Loan Forgiveness
Rachael Hirstein
October 7, 2021
The U.S. Department of Education announced a temporary change to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program rules on Oct. 6 due to COVID-19.
These new rules will affect student loan borrowers with Direct Loans, who have been placed into the Direct Loan Program (DLP) and will be placed into the DLP by Oct. 31, 2022.
Prior loan payments will now count as qualifying payments no matter the type of loan, payment plan or if the payment was made on time or in full.
Two requirements must be met before receiving any additional payments.
The first qualification is that student loan borrowers must have been employed with a qualified employer when previous payments have been made. These payments must have been made after Oct. 1, 2007.
The employers include U.S. federal, state, local, or tribal government or not-for-profit organizations, like ICC.
The second qualifier is that federal student loans that are not Direct Loans, like Federal Perkins Loans or Federal Family Education Loans, must be placed into the Direct Loan program by Oct. 31, 2022.
The previous additional requirements needed for the PSLF program included making payments under an Income-Driven Repayment plan and 120 payments must have been made.
The new PSLF program requirements will be of great help to many educators including ICC faculty that have struggled during the pandemic.
For more information visit the Federal Student Aid webpage here.