The U.S. Department of Education’s temporary but significant waiver to PSLF program rules expires on Oct. 31, 2022. The Limited PSLF Waiver waiver allows borrowers to receive credit for past periods of repayment that would otherwise not qualify for PSLF. The waiver is available to borrowers until Oct. 31, 2022. You can learn more about the waiver and if it applies to you here. We encourage you to try again if you previously applied for PSLF and were denied because of your loan type.
Here are some of the critical improvements available under the Limited PSLF Waiver:
| • | Under standard PSLF program rules, if you consolidate your loans, only qualifying payments that you make on the new Direct Consolidation Loan count toward the 120 payments required for PSLF. Any payments you made on the loans before you consolidated them would not count. However, if you consolidate these loans into a Direct Loan before Oct. 31, you may be able to receive qualifying credit for payments made previously on those loans through the waiver. |
| • | If you have Federal Family Education Program loans, Perkins, or other federal student loans, you’ll need to consolidate your loans into a Direct Consolidation Loan to qualify for PSLF. |
| • | Past repayment periods will now count whether or not you made a payment on time, for the total amount due, on a qualifying repayment plan. |
To take advantage of the waiver:
| 1. | If you don’t have one, register for a Federal Student Aid ID at StudentAid.gov/fsa-id/create-account. |
| 2. | Have or get Direct Loans. You can consolidate your loans at StudentAid.gov/consolidation. |
| 3. | Submit a PSLF form to certify employment for PSLF that you want credit for through the waiver. You can generate a PSLF form for ACU to sign at StudentAid.gov/pslf. In the PSLF Help Tool, it’s essential to use the appropriate Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN). For our employees, when searching for Abilene Christian University, our EIN is 750851900. After the PSLF Help Tool gives you a PDF, please sign and date it and submit it to Human Resources for signature. |
There’s no specific application for the waiver. Once borrowers have submitted PSLF forms and/or consolidated into the Direct Loan program, they will automatically opt in and receive forgiveness if they qualify or an increased qualifying payment count.
This opportunity is time sensitive. Borrowers must consolidate their loans and/or submit a PSLF form before Oct. 31. Learn more at StudentAid.gov/PSLFWaiver.