Hi Heather,

I was recently at a financial aid seminar and it was advised that we submit “forms annually” to the Dept. of Education to prove our employment in a 501(c)(3) for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. (Please note that all my federal loans are consolidated through DirectLoans AND I have been on the IBR plan since 2010).

I spoke with two DirectLoan representatives today and both said that we do NOT need to submit forms annually to confirm our employment, nor did they know of any formal system of “applying” for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness. One representative said: “Since all your loans are consolidated through us, and you are on auto-pay, and you are on the IBR plan, you are on the right track. Once you make 10 years of payments, and prove your employment in a 501(c)(3) for the past ten years, you are eligible.” He then added that, “these forms aren’t finalized yet, since the first forgiveness won’t happen til 2017.” Another agent said, that “those forms aren’t online for customers yet because of logistics of the new website.”

It this true? Everything I have heard from their representatives says I am qualifying right now, but I want to make sure all my bases are covered.

Thanks in advance!

The Department of Education recently release the Employment Certification Forms.  Although you are not technically required to submit these annually, it makes good sense to do so.  More about that here: http://askheatherjarvis.com/blog/3-new-documents-everyone-in-government-and-nonprofit-services-needs-right-n

Also, you’ll need to certify income and family size every year in IBR, and ultimately file an application for forgiveness.  That’s not even drafted yet.