Public Service Loan Forgiveness Temporary Waiver Expires Oct. 31. Apply Now!

Attention NOVA employees! Under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, the remaining balance on any federal student loans you still owe may be forgiven after 120 payments that are made while you are working full-time for a federal, state, tribal or local government; military or a qualifying non-profit. NOVA is a qualified employer under this program. However, the temporary changes that enable borrowers to receive credit for payments that previously did not qualify for PSLF will expire on October 31, 2022. This makes it easier to receive forgiveness or get credit toward forgiveness. 

Even if you have not yet worked ten years in public service, you should consider applying before October 31, 2022 at https://studentaid.gov/pslf/ to receive the maximum amount of credit toward federal student loan forgiveness for public employees.  

Under the temporary PSLF waiver, you may receive credit for past payments even if you:

• did not make the payment on time,
• did not pay the full amount due,
• were not on the right repayment plan, or
• had or have a Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) or Perkins loan (if you consolidate those loans into the Direct Loan Program prior to October 31, 2022).

Also, please note the following about the PSLF program:

• Forbearance periods of 12 consecutive months or greater, or 36 cumulative months or greater will count under the changes. In fall 2022, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) will begin making account adjustments to include these periods. Forbearance periods provided by the COVID-19 Emergency Relief Flexibilities are not included toward these months.
• Months spent in deferment before 2013 will count under the waiver. Additionally, ED will include Economic Hardship Deferment on or after January 1, 2013. These periods of deferment will also be applied to borrower accounts in fall 2022.
• Periods of default and in-school deferment, still do not qualify.

Click here for more on the time-limited changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness may be obtained in addition to the new, one-time student debt cancellation program offered to borrowers with undergraduate, graduate and Parent PLUS loans held by the U.S. Department of Education that were fully disbursed by June 30, 2022. Under the new student debt cancellation program, borrowers with an annual income under $125,000 (for individuals) or under $250,000 (for married couples or heads of household) who received a Pell Grant in college will be eligible for up to $20,000 in debt cancellation. Borrowers who met those income requirements, but did not receive a Pell Grant, will be eligible for up to $10,000 in student debt relief. 

An announcement is expected from the Department of Education within the coming weeks with more details on targeted, one-time student debt relief. The application for this program is now expected to be available in October 2022 for borrowers who need to provide their income information to the Department of Education.  To be notified when the debt cancellation application is open, borrowers may sign up at the Department of Education subscription page. For more information, visit https://studentaid.gov/debt-relief-announcement/.

Clint Young, Financial Aid, JCYoung@nvcc.edu