Think you may qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)? A new tool from the Department of Education can help you determine your eligibility.

The PSLF program was established in 2007 with the intent to reward public service employees who meet certain requirement by forgiving their student loan debt. In order to qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, student loan borrowers must work full-time at a qualifying government or nonprofit organization and make 120 qualifying payments.

According to its webpage, the new tool will:

• help you understand more about the PSLF Program and what you need to do to participate and possibly have your loans forgiven.
• help you assess whether your employer qualifies for PSLF.
• help you assess whether your loans qualify for PSLF.
• help you decide which PSLF form to submit.
• generate a partially completed form for you to take to your employer to sign and then submit to FedLoan Servicing.
• explain other actions you should or must take if you want to receive PSLF.

A recent report from the United States Government Accountability Office found that less than 1 percent of borrowers who submitted an application for PSLF were granted forgiveness as of April 2018. Borrowers first became eligible to apply for the program in September 2017.

NACAC is a member of the Coalition to Preserve PSLF. Learn more about the coalition and about NACAC’s policy priorities.

Julie Kirk is NACAC’s government relations manager. You can reach her at jkirk@nacacnet.org.