(Adapted from the WA Office of Financial Management)

The U.S. Dept. of Education has approved a temporary waiver to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program that might help city employees count more of their past loan payments toward their 10-year loan forgiveness plan. The waiver expands eligibility of payments that employees have already made to retroactively count towards the 120 payments needed to qualify for public service loan forgiveness for their federal student loans. The waiver expires October 31.

The WA Office of Financial Management sent the following information to state workers and has made it available to local government workers as well:

What’s the PSLF program?
If you’re a full-time government employee with student loan debt, you can enroll in a federal program (PSLF) that will forgive your remaining student loans once you make 120 qualifying payments and work at least 10 years for the state or other public employer.

What is the temporary change?
You might be able to get credit for your past payments that didn’t qualify. Under this temporary waiver, your payments on non-Direct loans (e.g., Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL), Perkins, other non-Direct federal loans) may count towards the 10 years of loan payments that you need for loan forgiveness. It could count even if your payment was late, was less than the amount due, or if you were in the wrong payment plan at the time. You can get credit for these payments until Oct. 31, 2022.

What should I do to get credit for past payments that didn’t qualify?

1. Make sure you have federal Direct loans. If you don’t have Direct loans, you will need to consolidate your loans into a Direct Consolidation loan. If you are not sure what type of loans you have, visit the Federal Student Aid site, and log in with your Federal Student Aid ID.
2. Visit the PSLF Help Tool to fill out Sections 1 and 2 on an updated PSLF form so that your loan servicer double checks for any missed payments that could count.
3. Send the form to your employer to complete Sections 3 and 4.
4. Once back from the employer, you need to submit the form to the address listed in Section 7.

What if I haven’t consolidated my loans before?
If you have FFEL, Perkins, or other non-Direct federal loans, you first need to consolidate them to take advantage of this waiver before Oct. 31. You can apply on the Student Aid site to do this or consolidate them by calling your student loan servicer. Then, follow the steps listed above.

It could take a few months to get your loans consolidated once you’ve applied so we recommend you start the process as soon as possible.

Questions?

• Use the PSLF Help Tool to search for a qualifying employer and learn what actions you need to take to be eligible for loan forgiveness.
• Contact your student loan servicer or visit the U.S. Department of Education’s website.
• Visit the Washington State Student Loan Advocate’s website to ask a question or submit a complaint about your student loans.