PSLF Forgiveness Calculator

How to use

1. 01

   Enter your current balance and interest rate, then the income-driven payment your servicer is actually billing you — not the standard payment, which is a different plan and a different count.

2. 02

   Enter how many qualifying payments you have already been credited with. Take the number from your account rather than counting months of employment, because a month only counts if the employment, the plan and the payment all lined up.

3. 03

   Open the advanced field and set how fast you expect the payment to rise each year. An income-driven payment tracks income, so the page steps it up annually; set it to zero to hold the payment flat.

4. 04

   Read the forgiven figure against what you pay before then, and both against the 10-year standard plan the tool prices alongside. The PSLF advantage is the difference between the two totals.

5. 05

   Check the schedule for the balance at each twelfth payment. If it reaches zero before payment 120, the tool says so — on this route, clearing the balance early means there is nothing left to forgive.

Formula

Public Service Loan Forgiveness writes off what is left of an eligible Direct Loan after 120 qualifying monthly payments. This page counts the payments you have left, runs the balance forward to payment 120, and reports what would be forgiven there. Payments remaining = 120 - qualifying payments already made, floored at zero. Monthly rate r = interest rate / 100 / 12. The balance is then walked forward one month at a time, and the order matters. Federal loans are simple-interest: the rate is charged on the unpaid PRINCIPAL, and interest a payment cannot cover sits in its own bucket instead of joining the principal. Each month the engine does this: unpaid interest = unpaid interest + principal x r the payment goes first to unpaid interest, then to principal, and never more than is owed balance = principal + unpaid interest Every twelfth month the payment is stepped up by the growth rate you set. Forgiven at payment 120 = whatever the balance is when the count runs out. You pay before forgiveness = every payment applied along the way. Against that the tool prices the alternative. The 10-year standard plan payment is the level payment that amortizes your current balance over 120 months at the same rate, and the 10-year standard total is that payment times 120. The PSLF advantage is the standard total minus what you pay before forgiveness. If the balance reaches zero before payment 120, the tool stops and reports that there is nothing left to forgive.

Example

Inputs: balance $68,000, interest rate 6.0%, income-driven payment $350 a month, 24 qualifying payments already made, and the annual payment growth set to 0% so every figure below is reproducible by hand. Step 1 - The count. 120 - 24 = 96 payments remaining, about eight years of continuous qualifying employment. Step 2 - The monthly interest. 6.0% / 12 = 0.5% a month. On $68,000 that is $340.00 in month one. Step 3 - Where the payment goes. The $350 payment covers the $340.00 of interest first, leaving $10.00 for principal. The balance ends month one at $67,990.00. Month two's interest is $339.95, so $10.05 goes to principal. The slice grows by a few cents a month and nothing else happens. Step 4 - Ninety-six months of that. You pay 96 x $350 = $33,600. The balance falls from $68,000 to $66,772 — $1,228 of principal retired by $33,600 of payments. The tool reports $66,772 forgiven at payment 120, and notes that all of it is principal: at this payment no interest goes uncovered, so the unpaid-interest bucket stays at $0. Step 5 - What the alternative costs. The level payment that clears $68,000 over 120 months at 6.0% is $754.94, so the 10-year standard plan would cost $90,593. Against the $33,600 you pay on this route, the PSLF advantage is $56,993. Now turn the growth field back on. At the default 3% a year the payment steps up every twelfth month, so you pay $37,348 rather than $33,600 across the same 96 payments, more principal comes off, and $62,417 is forgiven instead of $66,772. The advantage falls to $53,245. Nothing is wrong with either run; they are different assumptions about your income, and the field is there because an income-driven payment does not stand still. One more, because it is the case most public-service borrowers are actually in. Drop the payment to $250 with growth at 0%. Now the $340 of monthly interest is more than the payment, so $90 a month goes uncovered. After 96 payments you have paid $24,000, principal is still the full $68,000, and $8,640 of unpaid interest has piled up beside it: $76,640 forgiven, a balance that grew every single month, and a PSLF advantage of $66,593. A growing balance is not a failure on this route. It is what forgiveness is for.

Definitions

Qualifying payment

A monthly payment that counts toward the 120. Under 34 CFR 685.219(c)(2) it means paying at least the full scheduled amount due on a qualifying repayment plan while employed full time by a qualifying employer at some point in that month — and certain deferments and forbearances count in place of a payment.

Qualifying employer

Defined at 34 CFR 685.219(b)(27): a US federal, state, local or tribal government organization, a public child or family service agency, a 501(c)(3) organization, a tribal college or university, or a nonprofit providing a listed public service. Not a business organized for profit, a labor union or a partisan political organization.

Full time

34 CFR 685.219(b)(11) sets it at a minimum average of 30 hours a week across the period certified, counting more than one job together. Contractual teaching roles of at least eight months in a twelve-month period are deemed full time.

Qualifying repayment plan

Listed at 34 CFR 685.219(b)(28): any income-driven plan under 685.209, the 10-year standard plan, the consolidation standard plan with a 10-year term, the Repayment Assistance Plan, any other plan whose payment is at least the 10-year standard amount, and income-contingent repayment only for a payment received on or before June 30, 2028.

Eligible Direct Loan

34 CFR 685.219(b)(7): a Direct Subsidized, Direct Unsubsidized, Direct PLUS or Direct Consolidation Loan. Loans from the old FFEL and Perkins programs are not eligible until they are consolidated into the Direct program.

Unpaid interest

Interest a payment did not cover. It is charged on the principal and does not itself earn interest, so it accumulates in its own bucket rather than compounding — unless a capitalizing event under 34 CFR 685.202(b) folds it into principal.

PSLF advantage

The tool's comparison figure: what the 10-year standard plan would cost on the same balance, less what you pay before forgiveness. It measures the route rather than the write-off, which is why it is smaller than the forgiven amount when payments are high and larger when they are low.

Frequently asked questions