My husband is a public school teacher and has a couple of years’ worth of PSLF qualifying payments (toward undergrad loans) under his belt. He is now looking at starting a Master’s program to increase income potential as a teacher, but we are curious how this will affect the forgiveness of his loans.

First, loans for Master’s degrees are eligible for PSLF just the same as undergrad loans, correct?

Second, assuming an affirmative answer to question 1, I know you’ve advised that we consolidate the new loans separately to avoid losing the qualifying payments we’ve already made. Do we still do that through Direct Loans, and is there a certain way to go about keeping them separate?

Lastly - this seems silly but trying to wrap my mind around it - are we correct to assume he will then have to make 120 qualifying payments on the new loans (essentially “start over” on those) before they are forgiven?

Thank you for your website!