Federal Student Loan Forgiveness

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In some situations, you can have your federal student loans forgiven. This means you don’t have to pay some or all of your loans.

You can learn about federal forgiveness and repayment programs run by the U.S. Department of Education.

Important: The federal student loan repayment pause ended on August 30, 2023 because of legislation passed by Congress. Interest resumed on September 1, 2023, and payments restarted on October 1, 2023.

If you need help managing student loan debt, you can get free financial counseling at an NYC Financial Empowerment Center. Visit the Financial Counseling page to schedule an appointment.

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program forgives the remaining balance on your Direct Loan.

To qualify, you must:

Work for a qualifying employer, such as a U.S. federal, state, local, or tribal government or non-profit
Work full-time
Make 120 qualifying monthly payments under a qualifying repayment plan while working for a qualifying employer

Learn more about PSLF.

Use the PSLF Help Tool.

Get answers to FAQs about PSLF.

The U.S. Department of Education (U.S. ED) made a one-time payment count adjustment for borrowers in income-driven repayment (IDR) plans and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. This adjustment gives credit toward loan forgiveness.

You may get credit for:

Any months in a repayment status
Time spent in forbearance:
- 12 or more months of consecutive forbearance or
- 36 or more months of cumulative forbearance
Most deferments before 2013 and economic hardship deferments after 2013
Months before loan consolidation

You will not get credit for time spent in:

In-school deferment
Grace period
Default

The U.S. ED started notifying eligible borrowers in July 2023.

If you have these loans, you must consolidate them by December 31, 2023 to take advantage of the adjustment:

Commercially held Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL)
Federal Perkins Loans
Federal Health Education Assistance Loans (HEAL)

Learn more about the count adjustment.

The U.S. Department of Education (U.S. ED) runs the new Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan.

The SAVE Plan is an income-driven repayment (IDR) plan. If you have undergraduate or graduate loans, the SAVE Plan will allow you to lower your monthly payments and the number of total payments before forgiveness.

Learn more about the SAVE Plan.

The Supreme Court blocked the Biden-Harris Administration’s One-Time Student Loan Debt Relief Plan. This plan would have canceled up to $20,000 in student debt on federal student loans for low- and middle-income borrowers.

Even if you got confirmation or acceptance of a submitted application, your student loans are not eligible for student loan cancellation under this program.

You can get email updates from the U.S. Department of Education about federal student loans.

Subscribe for email updates.

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Knowledge Article

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Federal Student Loan Forgiveness

Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)

One-Time Payment Count Adjustment

SAVE Repayment Plan

Student Debt Relief Plan

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