1) I don’t think you are dreaming. Based on the info you shared in your comment, I think you are an excellent candidate to take advantage of the one-time account adjustment and potentially get your loans forgiven.

I’d suggest completing an employer certificaiton as soon as possible and get that submitted.

2) If you are still at your employer, and you get credit for the previous 10+ years you have already worked, you wouldn’t need to be on an IDR plan. That said, I’d suggest you look into the IDR issue a little more closely. I’ve heard from many borrowers who had issues with the IDR paperwork they submitted with their consolidation applicaiton. You can do a quick estimate of a SAVE payment here, if that is lower than your current plan, I’d suggest reaching out to your servicer to disuss your opitons.

Thank you for your many years of public service!!

There are a couple of issues here based on your comment.

The first problem is that Parent PLUS loans are not eligible for PSLF. Parent PLUS Loans need to be consolidated into a federal direct loan in order to gain PSLF eligibility.

The second problem is that you are not on an eligible repayment plan. While TEPSLF does address that specific issue, it wouldn’t fix your loan eligilbity issue.

You might also want to revisit the question of whether or not you can benefit from an IDR plan. I’ve seen many borrowers who wrongly assumed income-driven repayment wouldn’t help. For Parent PLUS loans, federal direct consolidation would open the door up to ICR eligibility.

It’s unlikely. Part of the requirement for PSLF is that you make payments during your time working in Public Service. You couldn’t have made payments on loans that didn’t exist yet.

I worked for a nonprofit for 7 years before attending grad school. I graduated in 2010 with my masters and began repayment. I unfortunately only received 3 1/2 years credit for PSLF with my grad loans because of my part time status (I’ve been working a total of 12 years). Essentially, is it possible to go back in time and apply my years of service prior to grad school towards my PSLF?

That sounds accurate Maggie. The one thing I will add for anyone else reading this is that this page is on the limited waiver on PSLF. The limited waiver expired on 10/31/22.

Do you know if the counts will be done separately (one count for the subsidized consolidation and one for the unsubsidized)? Or will the highest count overall be applied to both loans which are part of the same consolidation?

It seems that the highest count will be applied to all loans if my understanding is accurate.

Thanks for the kind words!

And good job on reading through all of the documents… I can see why it seems so confusing. The general rule is that when you consolidate, it creates a new loan and erases your progress towards PSLF. However, under the Limited Waiver on PSLF, this rule temporarily does not apply. As long as you consolidate and document your PSLF before October 31, you should be good. That said, a quick call to your servicer to verify everything is always a good idea.

While applying to see if I was eligible for the PSFL program a few weeks ago, I was informed that because of my loan type (Unsubsidized FFEL Consolidation Loan; payments made over 7yrs at a listed non-profit), I am not currently qualified unless I consolidate.

It only makes sense for me to consolidate if previous payments ‘count’, otherwise there will be no impact on my repayment schedule (final payment est. late 2025; no longer at a non-profit), thus no forgiveness or relief. Like so many Gen X’s, I have paid the original loan off two times over by now and have spent most of my career in non-profits.

Anyway! At the bottom of the application there was a very clear note declaring that ‘payments made on loans before you consolidate them do not count as qualifying PSLF payments.’

So, now I am confused. This waiver seems to point to pre-consolidation payments being included, but the application for the program itself is very clear that they do not count.

Halp! And thank you!