Which federal student loan forgiveness programs could apply to you?

Summary

It depends on why the balance would be forgiven. Public service work can qualify you for Public Service Loan Forgiveness after 120 qualifying payments, teaching in a low-income school for Teacher Loan Forgiveness of up to $17,500, and long repayment on an income-driven plan for a discharge after 20, 25, or 30 years. Other discharges cover specific situations, such as a school that closed or misled you, disability, or death, and none of these federal programs apply to private loans.

Work-based forgiveness

PSLF forgives the remaining balance on your Direct Loans after the equivalent of 120 qualifying monthly payments made while you work full-time for a government agency or a qualifying not-for-profit. Full-time means an average of at least 30 hours a week, and the payments don't have to be consecutive. Other federal loans can become eligible if you consolidate them into a Direct Loan. Parent PLUS loans, and consolidation loans that include one, are ineligible for RAP and can't continue to qualify for PSLF, even if they qualified before through IBR or ICR.

Teacher Loan Forgiveness requires five complete and consecutive academic years of full-time teaching at a low-income school or educational service agency. Highly qualified secondary math and science teachers and special education teachers can get up to $17,500, and other highly qualified elementary and secondary teachers up to $5,000. The same years can't count toward both programs, and once you receive Teacher Loan Forgiveness those five years are lost for PSLF, which is why StudentAid.gov suggests deciding about PSLF first.

Forgiveness after long repayment

Any balance left after the required number of payments on an income-driven plan may be discharged. How long that takes depends on the plan:

Loans in default can't be repaid under any income-driven plan.

Discharge for specific situations

StudentAid.gov lists these separately from the work and repayment programs: a school that closed, a school that misled you (borrower defense), total and permanent disability, death, discharges for parent borrowers, victims of fraud, and bankruptcy. If none of them fits, you still have to repay even if you didn't finish school, didn't find a job in your field, aren't happy with the education, or were under 18 when you signed.

Taxes on forgiveness from 2026

The temporary rule that kept student loan discharges out of federal gross income applied only to discharges from 2021 through 2025. Two permanent rules in section 108(f) of the Internal Revenue Code remain. One excludes discharges under loan terms that require working for a certain period in certain professions for a broad class of employers. The other, rewritten in 2025, excludes discharges on account of death or total and permanent disability for both federal loans and private education loans, as long as your Social Security number is on the return. StudentAid.gov warns that an amount discharged under an income-driven plan may be taxable income.

Private loans

Private student loans are on PSLF's list of ineligible loans. No law makes a private lender forgive the debt after a death or disability, per the CFPB, so any such relief comes from the lender's own contract. Refinancing a federal loan with a private lender takes that balance out of all the federal programs above.

Sources

Written by Kaz (pen name). Figures are copied from the sources' published pages on the dates shown. We have not used these products. Corrections: contact form.