On Oct. 6, 2021, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced a change to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program rules for a limited time as a result of the COVID-19 national emergency. Millions of non-profit and government employees have federal student loans and may now be eligible for loan forgiveness or additional credit through the Limited PSLF Waiver. Under normal PSLF rules, borrowers must make 120 payments on a Direct Loan while on a qualifying repayment plan and be employed by a qualifying public service employer. Now, for a limited period of time, federal student loan borrowers may receive credit for past periods of repayment that would otherwise not qualify for PSLF. You can learn more about the waiver here.

The waiver will allow borrowers to gain additional PSLF credit, even if they had been told previously that they had the wrong loan type or the wrong repayment plan. The waiver ends October 31, 2022.

After that, normal PSLF rules will apply. This means that many borrowers need to submit a PSLF form and/or consolidate their non-Direct federal student loans by October 31, 2022, to get the benefit.