Hi Heather,

I have a situation that I haven’t been able to find an answer for. I apologize if this information is elsewhere.

Since we have several married-filing-jointly tax breaks I’m going to assume that jointly is in our best interest.

My question is, if I will be working in a PSLF qualifying job, while my wife who has student loans does not, will we be forced to combine our loans if we file our taxes jointly? If so, how does PSLF work in this situation, will only my portion be forgiven in 10 years, will all of it, or are we ineligible?

Thanks,
Roy

Any answer to this?

A individual can earn PSLF for his or her loans only, not for a spouse’s loans.  Married borrowers may only have their payments based on their separate income if they file a separate tax return, not joint.  So a borrower who files a joint return may still earn some forgiveness, but will be making payments based on his or her combined joint income.  No one is forced to combine their loans, in fact, there is (no longer) any opportunity to combine married people’s federal student loans (and that’s a good thing).