The Biden Administration completed the transition of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program from MOHELA to StudentAid.gov in 2024. The move streamlined the process for borrowers seeking PSLF, eliminating the need to transfer servicers and potentially deal with disruptions.
More than two years later, the transition continues to shape how borrowers navigate the PSLF program. First, some information about the transition. We will then explore how to navigate the current PSLF tracking system.
What is PSLF?
PSLF is a popular federal student loan forgiveness program that rewards public service work by wiping out a borrower’s eligible federal student loans after 120 “qualifying payments,” the equivalent of 10 years. To qualify, borrowers must:
- Work full time for certain nonprofit or public organizations
- Comply with other program eligibility rules, such as benefiting from an eligible repayment plan
The PSLF transition
During the three-month transition period in 2024, borrowers temporarily lost access to their PSLF data, including counts of eligible payments. Additionally, no PSLF employment certification forms could be processed during this period.
But on July 1, 2024, the transition to StudentAid.gov was complete. At the time, then-Education Secretary Miguel Cardona highlighted the program’s progress statement aboutstating, “The Biden-Harris Administration approved $68 billion in forgiveness for more than 942,000 borrowers through #PSLF. »
Today, borrowers can track their eligible payment counts, certify their employment, and track their progress toward PSLF forgiveness directly through their StudentAid.gov accounts.
How to Navigate the New PSLF Tracking System
Follow these six simple steps to check your student loan forgiveness progress in the new PSLF system.
1. Log in to your StudentAid.gov account
To view your PSLF status, log into your account at StudentAid.gov using your FSA ID. If you don’t remember your username or password, you can click the “I forgot my username” or “I forgot my password” links to recover or generate new credentials.
If you have never logged in to StudentAid.gov, you need to create an FSA ID. The online application process is quite quick and simple. However, because the Department of Education must verify your Social Security number with the Social Security Administration, it may take several days for your account to become active.
2. Track progress on student loan forgiveness under the PSLF program
Once logged in, you should be able to retrieve your PSLF tracking information. You should see a link in the “Quick Links” box that says “Track Your PSLF Progress.” Click on this link.
This will open a new page with a progress bar showing the number of eligible PSLF payments counted so far and the number of payments remaining before reaching the 120 payment threshold for student loan forgiveness.
You’ll see more detailed information about the number of your eligible payments if you click the “View payment summary” link below the progress bar. There is one caveat: You will only see eligible payments displayed if you have already certified your employment by submitting a PSLF employment certification form.
Keep in mind that the count of eligible payments will likely not be updated immediately after submitting an employment certification form. You can check for updates to your StudentAid.gov account while your form is processed.
3. Examine the month-by-month distribution of PSLF payments
In addition to the progress bar, you can also get a month-by-month breakdown of your PSLF progress. This can help you determine what is currently eligible for student loan forgiveness and what isn’t (and why).
Near the top of your screen, under “PSLF Payments,” you should see a link that says “Payment History.” Clicking on it should open a long list of months (possibly spread over several pages, which you will have to go through one by one).
Each month will have one of three possible designations:
- Open green circle: This says “Uncertified Employment”. This means the month may qualify for PSLF, but the Department of Education has not yet determined whether your employment qualifies. If you submitted a PSLF employment certification that has not been processed, the status should be updated once approved. Otherwise, you must submit the certification form for the upcoming month(s).
- Closed green circle: This indicates that the month was counted as an eligible PSLF payment.
- Closed red circle: This indicates that the month is not eligible for PSLF. This could be due to a number of reasons, such as missing a payment that month or being in an ineligible status (such as student status).
You can get more details about a particular month by clicking on the “view details” link to the right of the eligible payments table.
4. Review PSLF employment certifications
PSLF data on StudentAid.gov also provides information on employment periods certified by the Department of Education.
Near the top, under “PSLF Payments” and right next to “Payment History,” click the “Employment Certification” button. This provides detailed information about each PSLF employment certification you have submitted, including employer name, date submitted, and period of employment certified.
You can get even more information by clicking the “Show details” button on the right side of the table.
5. Certify employment to obtain PSLF credit
If, after reviewing your PSLF tracking information, you believe that certain periods of employment have not been counted, be sure to check the “Certification of Employment” section to confirm which periods of employment to have been counted.
You can also return to your main dashboard on StudentAid.gov and scroll down to the “My Activity” section to see which PSLF forms you have submitted and whether or not they are marked as “Completed.”
Ultimately, if you believe that certain periods of employment have not counted toward loan forgiveness under PSLF but believe you have met all other program criteria, you can submit a PSLF employment certification.
The Ministry of Education recommends doing this online using the PSLF Help Tool. The online system for completing your PSLF employment certification is generally a much smoother and faster experience than submitting a paper form.
Borrowers are encouraged to consider detailed guidelines from the Ministry of Education explaining how to use the PSLF Help Tool.
Dispute any PSLF issue
If you have carefully reviewed your PSLF tracking information on StudentAid.gov and believe the Department of Education made an error, you may need to take action. If they wrongly disallowed a period of qualifying employment or failed to properly account for your payments despite submitting your employment certificate through the PSLF Help Tool, you can submit a dispute through the Re-examination of the PSLF system.
This is an online system – again, requiring your FSA ID – where you can submit a request for a manual review and investigation.
When to submit a request for reconsideration
“You should only submit a reconsideration request if you disagree with the count of eligible payments you received in a letter from us or a former PSLF provider or if it is posted to your StudentAid.gov account,” the online instructions state.
“Before submitting a request for reconsideration, be sure to review the program requirements for eligible payments to confirm that your situation warrants reconsideration for PSLF.”
