Do SAVE Payments Count Toward PSLF in Forbearance?

Payments made under the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan do count toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness in principle, because SAVE is an income-driven repayment plan and any IDR plan qualifies for PSLF. In practice, though, no one is currently earning PSLF credit through SAVE. A federal court injunction has blocked the plan since 2024, and every SAVE borrower was moved into an administrative forbearance that does not count toward the 120 payments PSLF requires.¹ If you’re chasing forgiveness, the months you’re sitting in that forbearance are lost time unless you act.

Why SAVE Months Aren’t Counting Right Now

SAVE calculates your monthly payment based on your income and family size, and federal regulations identify it as an alternative name for the Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE) plan.² After a federal appeals court blocked the plan in 2024, loan servicers moved SAVE borrowers into a general forbearance. During this forbearance you owe no monthly payments, but interest keeps accruing and the months do not count toward PSLF or toward IDR forgiveness.¹

In December 2025, the Department of Education proposed a settlement agreement with the state of Missouri that would end the SAVE plan entirely. Under the proposal, the Department would stop enrolling new borrowers, deny pending SAVE applications, and move all current SAVE borrowers into other available repayment plans. As of early 2026, the settlement is still pending court approval.¹ Waiting for the situation to resolve itself is a costly bet if you’re pursuing PSLF.

Switch to Another IDR Plan to Restart the Count

You can move to a different income-driven repayment plan and start earning qualifying payments again. Income-Based Repayment (IBR) and Pay As You Equity (PAYE) both qualify for PSLF, and so does the standard 10-year repayment plan.³ The application runs through StudentAid.gov/idr and takes about 10 minutes.⁴ Your monthly payment amount will likely change because each plan uses a slightly different formula, but any qualifying IDR plan restarts the PSLF clock.

A $0 monthly payment on an IDR plan still counts as a qualifying payment. The federal regulation is explicit: you earn a month of credit by either making a payment under an IDR plan or having a monthly payment obligation of $0.² For lower-income borrowers, switching off SAVE forbearance and onto another IDR plan can mean earning PSLF credit at zero cost each month.

The PSLF Buyback Option for Forbearance Months

If your certified qualifying employment already covers at least 120 months and buying back the forbearance period would push you across the finish line, you may be eligible for the PSLF Buyback program. It lets you pay a calculated amount covering months you spent in forbearance or deferment, and those months then count toward the 120-payment total.⁵

The buyback amount is based on what your payment likely would have been during those months. If you were on an IDR plan immediately before or after the forbearance, the lower of those two monthly amounts is used. If the calculation produces $0, forgiveness proceeds with no payment required. You submit the request through PSLF Reconsideration, selecting “PSLF Buyback” as your reconsideration type. If approved, you receive a buyback agreement by email and have 90 days to pay the full amount.⁵

The eligibility rules are strict. You must have a Direct Loan with a positive outstanding balance, your 120 months of qualifying employment must already be certified, and the forbearance months you want to buy back must overlap with that certified employment. Months when your loan was in default, in a grace period, or in school status cannot be bought back.⁵ Buyback is powerful when it fits your situation and unavailable when it doesn’t; for most SAVE borrowers who aren’t already at 120 months of certified employment, switching plans is the immediate move.

What Any Payment Still Has to Look Like to Count

Switching plans only helps if the underlying payments qualify. Every payment counting toward your 120 needs to check each of these boxes:

Made after October 1, 2007, when PSLF began.⁶
Under a qualifying repayment plan (any IDR plan, or the standard 10-year plan).
For the full amount shown on your bill. Partial payments don’t count, even if they’re close.
No later than 15 days after the due date.⁷
Made while you were working full-time for a qualifying employer, with employment and payment covering the same month.

Your loans also have to be the right type. Only loans made under the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program qualify for PSLF: Direct Subsidized, Direct Unsubsidized, Direct PLUS, and Direct Consolidation Loans.⁸ Older Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL) and Perkins Loans don’t qualify on their own, though you can bring them in by consolidating into a Direct Consolidation Loan.⁹ One warning: consolidation resets your qualifying payment count to zero, so consolidating a Direct Loan you’ve already been paying on will wipe out the credit you built.

Your employer has to qualify too. Eligible employers include government organizations at any level (federal, state, local, or tribal), nonprofits with 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, and certain other nonprofits that provide qualifying public services such as emergency management or public health. Full-time volunteer service in AmeriCorps or Peace Corps also counts.¹⁰ Full-time means meeting your employer’s own definition or working at least 30 hours per week, whichever is greater. If you hold multiple part-time qualifying positions, you can combine them to reach a 30-hour weekly average, as long as each employer independently meets the eligibility requirements.⁷

The 120 payments also don’t need to be consecutive. If you leave qualifying employment and return later, every qualifying payment you already earned stays on your record.¹¹

The Practical Answer for a SAVE Borrower Today

If you’re on SAVE and pursuing PSLF, the months you are in forbearance right now are not counting. Any payments you made on SAVE before the forbearance started were qualifying IDR payments and remain on your record. To keep earning credit going forward, apply for another IDR plan through StudentAid.gov/idr; IBR and PAYE are the usual replacements, and both qualify for PSLF.³ If you’re already at 120 months of certified qualifying employment, look at Buyback instead. And if the proposed Missouri settlement is approved, the Department of Education will move you off SAVE anyway, so making the switch on your own timeline is the difference between choosing your plan and being placed on one.¹

1
Federal Student Aid. IDR Court Actions
2
eCFR. 34 CFR 685.209 – Income-Driven Repayment Plans
3
Federal Student Aid. SAVE Forbearance
4
Federal Student Aid. Apply for the SAVE Repayment Plan
5
Federal Student Aid. Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Buyback
6
Federal Student Aid. Public Service Loan Forgiveness Application for Forgiveness
7
Federal Student Aid. PSLF Infographic
8
eCFR. 34 CFR 685.219 – Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program
9
Federal Student Aid. Which Types of Federal Student Loans Qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness
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Federal Student Aid. What Is Qualifying Employment for Public Service Loan Forgiveness
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Federal Student Aid. 4 Beginner Tips for Public Service Loan Forgiveness Success