How To Get Approved For Student Loan Forgiveness (2024)

Despite a 98% rejection rate, here’s how you can get approved for student loan forgiveness.

Here’s what you need to know.

Student Loans

In what appears to be an ongoing theme, another 4,500 educators were rejected for student loan forgiveness — even though they apparently believed they met all the requirements. According to Politico:

• More than 4,500 educators were rejected from the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program;
• This occurred at 2,700 schools; and
• in all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C.

This wide-scale rejection raises a simple question: Should teachers who teach for 10 years get automatic student loan forgiveness? These statistics suggest that the denial for student loan forgiveness was not a local issue in a single school district, but a national problem. According to the latest student loan debt statistics, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program has a 98% rejection rate. Based on estimates from Student Borrower Protection Center, a leading non-profit advocacy group, 80% of student loan borrowers will continue to be rejected for student loan forgiveness through 2026. Student loan cancellation has become an hot issue, even if there’s been no wide-scale student loan forgiveness. President Joe Biden is focused on improving student loan forgiveness and student loan repayment so that more student loan borrowers can get financial relief.

Student loan cancellation: what happened

According to Politico, the reasons for rejections ranged from incomplete or inaccurate paperwork to the wrong types of student loans. This is despite working as a teacher for at least 10 years, which some believe should be sufficient to qualify for complete student loan forgiveness. The high rejection rate — particularly when it impacts public servants such as teachers — has called into question whether the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program can be saved. Congress created the Public Service Loan Forgiveness in 2007 and President George W. Bush signed the bill into law. The program grants total federal student loan cancellation to student loan borrowers who work full-time (at least 30 hours a week) for a qualified public service or non-profit employer and meet other requirements. This includes teachers, police officers, firefighters, first responders, nurses, doctors, member of the military, attorneys and many other public servants who serve the public interest. For its part, the U.S. Department of Education, which is led by Secretary Miguel Cardona, says it’s committed to fixing student loan forgiveness. Biden campaigned on reforming student loan forgiveness to make it less bureaucratic, more widely available, and easier to obtain over a 5-year period (rather than the current 10-year timeframe, or 120 monthly student loan payments). The Education Department has held public hearings and solicited public comments on how best to fix student loan forgiveness. (Here are 17 ways for Biden to fix student loan forgiveness). The implementation of any prospective changes will take time, but the Biden administration’s goal is to align the intentions of public service loan forgiveness with the outcomes. This includes cancelling student loans for studen loan borrowers who duly qualify for student loan forgiveness. (Here’s where Democrats stand on student loan forgiveness).

Student loan forgivness: how to get approved

Despite the high denial rate for student loan forgiveness, there are multiple common mistakes that student loan borrowers make when seeking Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Here are some common mistakes that you can avoid:

1. Incomplete paperwork

This is painfully obvious, but incomplete or inaccurate paperwork is enough for you to be rejected for student loan forgiveness. Examples include submitting partial paperwork, material typos, missing paperwork and missing dates.

How To Get Approved: Your employer must sign your Employment Certification Form, so make sure whoever signs that document is an authorized signatory (not simply your co-worker).

2. Wrong student loan

There are multiple stories of student loan borrowers who believe they meet all the requirements and diligently work for a public service employer only to find out their student loan don’t qualify. This may be due to not realizing the acual requirements or receiving incorrect information from their student loan servicer. For example, only Direct Loans qualify for student loan forgiveness. This means that private loans, Perkins Loans, and FFELP Loans do not qualify for student loan forgiveness.

How To Get Approved: If you have FFELP Loans, for example, consolidate your FFELP Loans into a Direct Consolidation Loan. This process will make your student loans eligible for student loan forgiveness, and this process can be completed through the U.S. Department of Education.

3. Wrong student loan repayment

To be eligible for student loan forgiveness, you must be enrolled in an income-driven repayment plan. Many student loan borrowers miss this important requirement, and instead choose any student loan repayment plan. Income-driven repayment plans include Income-Based Repayment (IBR) or Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE), for example. Contact your student loan servicer to ensure that you are enrolled before you pursue public service loan forgiveness.

How To Get Approved: It’s not enough to be enrolled in an income-driven repayment plan. You must make at least a majority of your federal student loan payments while enrolled in an income-driven repayment plan. Make sure you meet this requirement and plan accordingly.

4. Wrong employer

Never forget this golden rule about public service loan forgiveness: it’s your employer, not your role, that qualifies you for public service loan forgiveness. There’s a difference. If you work full-time as a teacher in a public school, you would qualify because you work for a qualified public service employer. However, if you work for a private company that counts a state government as its client, that likely wouldn’t count.

How To Get Approved: Before you begin your journey for student loan forgiveness, make sure you work for a qualified public service or non-profit employer. Don’t guess that your employer qualifies. You can use the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Help Tool to determine if you employer is eligible.

If you’re uncertain that you’ll qualify for student loan forgiveness, or simply don’t expect student loan cancellation, then you’re not alone. That’s why it’s essential to undertand all your options for student loan repayment. Here are some popular ways to save money with your student loans:

• Student loan refinancing(get a lower interest rate + lower monthly payment)
• Income-driven repayment plans(get a lower monthly payment)
• Public service loan forgiveness(get student loan forgiveness)

Student Loans: Related Reading

If Biden doesn’t cancel your student loans, do these 3 things

How to get student loan forgiveness

5 reasons why Biden hasn’t cancelled student loans

Biden cancelled $1.5 billion of student loans, but you can still apply now

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