Yes. Every month of the COVID-19 student loan payment pause counts toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness, as long as you held a qualifying loan and worked full-time for a qualifying employer during those months. The pause ran from March 13, 2020, through September 2023 — roughly 42 months, or more than a third of the 120 payments PSLF requires.1Federal Student Aid. Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) You did not need to make an actual payment. Each month is credited as a $0 qualifying payment, as if you had paid your bill on time.
Your repayment plan did not matter during the pause either. All federal Direct Loan borrowers received the automatic $0 credit regardless of which plan they were on.
You Still Need To Certify Your Employment
The $0 payment credit is automatic. The employment side is not. Until you file a PSLF form confirming you worked for a qualifying employer during those months, the Department of Education has no way to verify you met the second half of the requirement, and your qualifying payment count will not reflect the credit.
If you worked full-time for a qualifying employer across the entire pause, certifying that employment can add up to about 42 payments to your count without a dollar out of pocket.1Federal Student Aid. Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)
What Counts As Qualifying During Those Months
The Right Loan Type
Only federal Direct Loans qualify for PSLF. Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL) and Perkins Loans do not count unless you consolidate them into a Direct Consolidation Loan.2Federal Student Aid. Which Types of Federal Student Loans Qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)? If you consolidated after the pause began, only months after your consolidation date receive the COVID forbearance credit on the consolidated loan. Months before consolidation may still be reachable through the one-time account adjustment described below.
The Right Employer
You had to be working for a qualifying employer during each month you want credited. Qualifying employers include:3Federal Student Aid. PSLF Infographic
- Federal, state, local, or tribal government organizations
- All branches of the U.S. military
- 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofits
- Other nonprofits whose primary purpose is providing qualifying public services, such as AmeriCorps or Peace Corps
Private for-profit employers do not qualify, no matter what services they provide.
Full-Time Work
Full-time means averaging at least 30 hours per week during the period being certified. Combined hours across multiple part-time jobs at qualifying employers can satisfy the requirement. Contractual employees who work at least 30 hours per week for an employment period of eight or more months in a 12-month span — common among teachers and professors — count as full-time for the whole year.4eCFR. 34 CFR 685.219 – Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF) Paid vacation, paid leave, and leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act all count toward your hours.
If You Made Payments During the Pause
Borrowers who kept paying voluntarily during the forbearance may be able to request refunds for those payments from their loan servicer, while still receiving PSLF credit for the months. Contact your servicer to ask what refund options apply to you.
How To Certify the COVID Forbearance Months
Submit a PSLF form covering your employment between March 2020 and September 2023. You’ll need:
- Your employer’s Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN), which appears on your W-2 or can be obtained from HR5Federal Student Aid. Tackling the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Form: Employer Tips
- The exact start and end dates for every qualifying position you held during that window
The PSLF Help Tool at StudentAid.gov/pslf generates your form, searches the qualifying-employer database by EIN, and flags issues before you submit.6Federal Student Aid. The Employer’s Role in Public Service Loan Forgiveness Since May 2024, PSLF processing has been handled directly by the Department of Education through StudentAid.gov rather than by MOHELA or another servicer.7MOHELA. PSLF Information
The fastest route is digital. Your employer (or an authorized official) receives a DocuSign email from Federal Student Aid and signs electronically. If digital signing isn’t possible, download the PDF, get a manual signature, and upload the signed form through the Help Tool. Manual submissions take longer to process.8Federal Student Aid. How to Manage Your Public Service Loan Forgiveness Track status under “My Activity” in your StudentAid.gov dashboard.
Historical processing times have run 60 to 90 days, though recent volume and administrative changes have caused delays. Check your account regularly for updates. Submitting a PSLF form every year, even before you reach 120 payments, keeps your count current.
Other Forbearance Months That May Count
Separate from the COVID credit, a one-time account adjustment credited borrowers for certain earlier periods that previously didn’t qualify, provided they had certified employment:9Federal Student Aid. Payment Count Adjustments Toward Income-Driven Repayment and Public Service Loan Forgiveness Programs
- Any month within a stretch of 12 or more consecutive months of forbearance before July 1, 2024. COVID months don’t count toward hitting the 12-month threshold since they already receive credit on their own.
- All months of forbearance if you had 36 or more cumulative months before July 1, 2024.
- Economic hardship and military-related deferments from 2013 or later, and most deferment types before 2013 (except in-school deferment).
These adjustments applied automatically to Direct Loans. FFEL and Perkins borrowers who consolidated into a Direct Consolidation Loan before the April 30, 2024, deadline may also have received credit.
Buying Back Months That Still Don’t Count
If you have forbearance or deferment months that don’t qualify after the adjustment — for example, forbearance that didn’t meet the 12-consecutive or 36-cumulative threshold — the PSLF Buyback program lets you make a lump-sum payment to convert those months into qualifying payments, provided you had qualifying employment at the time.10Federal Student Aid. Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Buyback
Buyback is only available if you already have at least 120 months of certified qualifying employment and buying the additional months would result in forgiveness. Request it through PSLF Reconsideration on StudentAid.gov and select “PSLF Buyback” as the reconsideration type. If approved, you’ll receive a buyback agreement showing the amount owed, with 90 days to pay in full.10Federal Student Aid. Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Buyback