How Long Are Student Loans In Forbearance

Are you currently in forbearance on your student loans? If so, you might be wondering how long that’s going to last.

Forbearance is a type of temporary loan payment relief that allows borrowers to have their payments postponed for up to 12 months. This option can be useful if you’re having trouble making your monthly payments due to an unexpected event—like losing your job or being unable to work for an extended period of time.

If you’ve been approved for forbearance, it’s important to understand the terms and conditions of this type of loan payment relief. As with all types of loan repayment options, forbearance has its pros and cons. Here are some things to consider:

Pros:

It gives you more time to find another solution before defaulting on your student loans.
It can help prevent a delinquency on your credit report if you make all payments on time during this period of time. This can improve your ability to borrow money in the future if necessary (such as refinancing mortgages).

What Is Student Loan Forbearance and Should You Consider It?

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With forbearance, you won’t have to make a payment, or you can temporarily make a smaller payment. However, you probably won’t be making any progress toward forgiveness or paying back your loan. As an alternative, consider income-driven repayment.

Student Loan Payment Pause Extended Through Aug. 31, 2022

On April 6, 2022, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) extended COVID-19 emergency relief for student loans through Aug. 31, 2022. The emergency relief includes the following measures for eligible loans:

a suspension of loan payments

a 0% interest rate

stopped collections on defaulted loans

Have questions? Find out what loans qualify and get additional information about the COVID-19 emergency relief for student loans.

Get Relief With Lower Payments on an Income-Driven Repayment Plan
If you’re having trouble repaying your loans due to circumstances that may continue for an extended period, or if you’re unsure when you’ll be able to afford to make your monthly loan payments again, a better option might be to change to an income-driven repayment plan. Income-driven repayment plans base your monthly payments on your income and family size. In some cases, your payment could be as low as $0 per month. They can also provide loan forgiveness if your loan is not paid in full after 20 or 25 years.

Always contact your student loan servicer immediately if you’re having trouble making your student loan payments.

If you’re seeking Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) or income-driven repayment forgiveness, forbearance will not allow you to make progress toward forgiveness.

Be Aware That Interest Might Accrue During a Forbearance
If you are granted a forbearance, you are still responsible for paying the interest that accrues during the forbearance period.

How It Works
During a forbearance, you can either pay the interest as it accrues, or you can allow it to accrue and be capitalized (added to your loan principal balance) at the end of the forbearance period. If you don’t pay the interest on your loan and allow it to be capitalized, the total amount you repay over the life of your loan may be higher. Unpaid interest is capitalized only on Direct Loans and Federal Family Education Loan FFEL Program loans. Unpaid interest is never capitalized on Federal Perkins Loans.

Request a Forbearance
Most types of forbearance are not automatic—you need to submit a request to your student loan servicer, often using a form. Also, for some types of forbearance, you must provide your student loan servicer with documentation to show that you meet the eligibility requirements for the forbearance you are requesting. Learn more about requirements and how to access request forms.

Understand Eligibility for a Forbearance
There are two main types of forbearance: general and mandatory.

General Forbearance
Your loan servicer decides whether to grant a request for a general forbearance. For this reason, a general forbearance is sometimes called a “discretionary forbearance.”

You can request a general forbearance if you are temporarily unable to make your scheduled monthly loan payments for the following reasons:

Financial difficulties

Medical expenses

Change in employment

Other reasons acceptable to your loan servicer

Loan Programs Eligible for General Forbearance
General forbearances are available for Direct Loans, Federal Family Education (FFEL) Program loans, and Perkins Loans.

Duration of a General Forbearance
For loans made under all three programs, a general forbearance may be granted for no more than 12 months at a time. If you’re still experiencing a hardship when your current forbearance expires, you may request another general forbearance. However, there is a cumulative limit on general forbearances of three years.

For more information, review the General Forbearance Request.

Mandatory Forbearance
If you meet the eligibility requirements for a mandatory forbearance, your loan servicer is required to grant the forbearance. You may be eligible for a mandatory forbearance in the following circumstances.

Note: The mandatory forbearances discussed below apply only to Direct Loans and FFEL Program loans unless otherwise noted.

AmeriCorps
You are serving in an AmeriCorps position for which you received a national service award

student loan forgiveness

If you are employed by a U.S. federal, state, local, or tribal government or not-for-profit organization, you might be eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. Keep reading to see whether you might qualify.

To ensure you’re on the right track, you should submit a Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) & Temporary Expanded PSLF (TEPSLF) Certification & Application (PSLF Form) annually or when you change employers. We’ll use the information you provide on the form to let you know if you are making qualifying PSLF payments. This will help you determine if you’re on the right track as early as possible.

*This provision will be waived through October 31, 2022 as part of the limited PSLF waiver. Learn more.

Suspended Payments Count Toward PSLF and TEPSLF During the COVID-19 Administrative Forbearance

If you have a Direct Loan and work full-time for a qualifying employer during the payment suspension (administrative forbearance), then you will receive credit toward PSLF or TEPSLF for the period of suspension as though you made on-time monthly payments in the correct amount while on a qualifying repayment plan.

To see these qualifying payments reflected in your account, you must submit a PSLF form certifying your employment for the same period of time as the suspension. Your count of qualifying payments toward PSLF is officially updated only when you update your employment certifications.

Digital signatures from you or your employer must be hand-drawn (from a signature pad, mouse, finger, or by taking a picture of a signature drawn on a piece of paper that you then scan and embed on the signature line of the PSLF form) to be accepted. Typed signatures, even if made to mimic a hand-drawn signature, or security certificate-based signatures are not accepted.

Note: In-grace, in-school, and certain deferment, forbearance, and bankruptcy statuses are not eligible for credit toward PSLF.

Have questions? Find out what loans qualify and get additional information about student loan flexibilities due to the COVID-19 emergency.

Qualifying Employer

Qualifying employment for the PSLF Program isn’t about the specific job that you do for your employer. Instead, it’s about who your employer is. Employment with the following types of organizations qualifies for PSLF:

Government organizations at any level (U.S. federal, state, local, or tribal) – this includes the U.S. military
Not-for-profit organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code

Serving as a full-time AmeriCorps or Peace Corps volunteer also counts as qualifying employment for the PSLF Program.

The following types of employers don’t qualify for PSLF:

Labor unions
Partisan political organizations
For-profit organizations, including for-profit government contractors

Contractors: You must be directly employed by a qualifying employer for your employment to count toward PSLF. If you’re employed by an organization that is doing work under a contract with a qualifying employer, it is your employer’s status—not the status of the organization that your employer has a contract with—that determines whether your employment qualifies for PSLF. For example, if you’re employed by a for-profit contractor that is doing work for a qualifying employer, your employment does not count toward PSLF.

Other types of not-for-profit organizations: If you work for a not-for-profit organization that is not tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, it can still be considered a qualifying employer if it provides certain types of qualifying public services.

Full-time Employment

For PSLF, you’re generally considered to work full-time if you meet your employer’s definition of full-time or work at least 30 hours per week, whichever is greater.

If you are employed in more than one qualifying part-time job at the same time, you will be considered full-time if you work a combined average of at least 30 hours per week with your employers.

If you are employed by a not-for-profit organization, time spent on religious instruction, worship services, or any form of proselytizing as a part of your job responsibilities may be counted toward meeting the full-time employment requirement.

Eligible Loans

Any loan received under the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program qualifies for PSLF.

Loans from these federal student loan programs don’t qualify for PSLF: the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program and the Federal Perkins Loan (Perkins Loan) Program. However, they may become eligible if you consolidate them into a Direct Consolidation Loan.

Student loans from private lenders do not qualify for PSLF.

Under normal PSLF Program rules, if you consolidate your loans, only qualifying payments that you make on the new Direct Consolidation Loan can be counted toward the 120 payments required for PSLF. Any payments you made on the loans before you consolidated them don’t count. However, if you consolidate these loans into a Direct Loan before October 31, 2022, you may be able to receive qualifying credit for payments made on those loans through the limited PSLF waiver.

student loan forgiveness program

In certain situations, you can have your federal student loans forgiven, canceled, or discharged. Learn more about the types of forgiveness and whether you qualify due to your job or other circumstances.

Types of Forgiveness, Cancellation, and Discharge

The summaries below offer a quick view of the types of forgiveness, cancellation, and discharge available for the different types of federal student loans.

The PSLF Program forgives the remaining balance on your Direct Loans after you have made 120 qualifying monthly payments under a qualifying repayment plan while working full-time for a qualifying employer.

PSLF Resources

Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Help Tool
Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) & Temporary Expanded PSLF (TEPSLF) Certification & Application
Limited PSLF Waiver Information
Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program FAQ
Submit a Public Service Loan Forgiveness Reconsideration Request

Qualifying for PSLF

To qualify for PSLF, you must

be employed by a U.S. federal, state, local, or tribal government or not-for-profit organization (federal service includes U.S. military service);
work full-time for that agency or organization;
have Direct Loans (or consolidate other federal student loans into a Direct Loan);
repay your loans under an income-driven repayment plan*; and
make 120 qualifying payments.

To ensure you’re on the right track, you should submit a Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) & Temporary Expanded PSLF (TEPSLF) Certification & Application (PSLF Form) annually or when you change employers. We’ll use the information you provide on the form to let you know if you are making qualifying PSLF payments. This will help you determine if you’re on the right track as early as possible.

*This provision will be waived through October 31, 2022 as part of the limited PSLF waiver.

Suspended Payments Count Toward PSLF and TEPSLF During the COVID-19 Administrative Forbearance

Note: In-grace, in-school, and certain deferment, forbearance, and bankruptcy statuses are not eligible for credit toward PSLF.

Have questions? Find out what loans qualify and get additional information about student loan flexibilities due to the COVID-19 emergency.

Qualifying Employer

Government organizations at any level (U.S. federal, state, local, or tribal) – this includes the U.S. military
Not-for-profit organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code

Serving as a full-time AmeriCorps or Peace Corps volunteer also counts as qualifying employment for the PSLF Program.

The following types of employers don’t qualify for PSLF:

Labor unions
Partisan political organizations
For-profit organizations, including for-profit government contractors

Full-time Employment

For PSLF, you’re generally considered to work full-time if you meet your employer’s definition of full-time or work at least 30 hours per week, whichever is greater.

If you are employed in more than one qualifying part-time job at the same time, you will be considered full-time if you work a combined average of at least 30 hours per week with your employers.

Eligible Loans

Any loan received under the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program qualifies for PSLF.

Student loans from private lenders do not qualify for PSLF.

Qualifying Payments

A qualifying monthly payment is a payment that you make

after Oct. 1, 2007;
under a qualifying repayment plan;
for the full amount due as shown on your bill;
no later than 15 days after your due date; and
while you are employed full-time by a qualifying employer.

Most of the PSLF qualifying payment rules have been suspended through October 31, 2022. Under this temporary waiver, you may get credit for payments you’ve made on loans that would not normally qualify for PSLF. These payments will count even if you didn’t pay the full amount or on-time. However, only payments made after Oct. 1, 2007 can count as qualifying payments. For more information, visit the limited PSLF waiver page.

You can make qualifying monthly payments only during periods when you’re required to make a payment. Therefore, you can’t make a qualifying monthly payment while your loans are in

an in-school status,
the grace period,
a deferment, or
a forbearance.

If you want to make qualifying payments, but you’re in a deferment or forbearance, contact your federal student loan servicer to waive the deferment or forbearance. However, you can still receive credit toward PSLF during the COVID-19 payment pause.

Your 120 qualifying monthly payments don’t need to be consecutive. For example, if you have a period of employment with a nonqualifying employer, you will not lose credit for prior qualifying payments you made.

The best way to ensure that you are making on-time, complete payments is to sign up for automatic debit with your loan servicer.