Help Your Employees Get Public Service Loan Forgiveness

From the very beginning of her student loan repayment journey, Caroline was on auto pay because she never wanted to miss a payment. She previously applied for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) but didn’t qualify because her loan type was ineligible (e.g., Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program). Read More...

From the very beginning of her student loan repayment journey, Caroline was on auto pay because she never wanted to miss a payment. She previously applied for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) but didn’t qualify because her loan type was ineligible (e.g., Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program). With Ascendium’s help, Caroline recently reapplied under the temporary PSLF Waiver that expands accessibility to include previously ineligible loan types or repayment plans. She learned she met the 120 monthly payments forgiveness criteria back in 2017. She’s confident she’ll soon be hearing that her $18,000 balance will be forgiven. Through a few tears Caroline commented, “I’ve survived cancer, twice. My husband was laid off during the pandemic. We seriously tapped into our retirement savings, credit cards are maxed out and I don’t know how we’ve kept our house. I kept making my student loan payments, even throughout the repayment pause, because it’s a debt that I owe. This loan forgiveness will be a tremendous relief and make an enormous difference to my family.” ...Read Less

Although Scott’s parents were able to contribute to his undergraduate degree, his law and master’s degrees were totally funded with student loans. As the debt amounts rose, the stress of paying it back weighed heavily on his mind and led him to researching PSLF. Read More...

Although Scott’s parents were able to contribute to his undergraduate degree, his law and master’s degrees were totally funded with student loans. As the debt amounts rose, the stress of paying it back weighed heavily on his mind and led him to researching PSLF. Given Scott’s librarian career path, he was aware of his PSLF eligibility if he followed all the rules. But he had reservations about whether it would work out the way it was promised at the end of his 120 payments. Scott said, “I accumulated a lot of debt, but I acquired it in the most fiscally responsible way I could by attending state schools and living frugally. I did research on the PSLF program and applied. But I had reservations about whether or not things would actually work out in the end.” In December 2021, Scott submitted his annual program recertification and thought he had a few payments left to fulfill the program. On Jan.12, 2022, he received a letter telling him that a recalculation affirmed he had met the PSLF qualifications and his balance of $132,000 in loans was forgiven. Scott said, “It’s obviously a great thing! My life and net worth are undeniably better than if my debt had not been forgiven. I'm glad that my loans were forgiven, and part of me still can't believe it.” ...Read Less

Crystal has held various positions at Western Technical College since 2001. But it wasn’t until she became a Financial Aid Advisor in 2012 that she became aware of PSLF and applied for it. Since then, she has completed the annual renewal certification and her employer has verified her employment. Read More...

Crystal has held various positions at Western Technical College since 2001. But it wasn’t until she became a Financial Aid Advisor in 2012 that she became aware of PSLF and applied for it. Since then, she has completed the annual renewal certification and her employer has verified her employment. She’s kept track of how many payments she had made and how many were remaining. As part of the limited PSLF waiver, her program enrollment, employment eligibility and payment history were reviewed and traced back to 2007. Since Crystal exceeded the 120-payment requirement, she was granted $30,000 in loan forgiveness and received a $4,000 refund for overpayments. Crystal stated, “This forgiveness couldn’t have come at a better time for me and my family. We’ve experienced hardships related to my husband’s inability to work as much as he normally would and unexpected expenses due to our son’s medical condition. I’ll be framing the forgiveness letter and putting it on the wall alongside my diplomas because it’s so important to me.” ...Read Less