How to Fill Out and Submit the Navient Deferment Form

If you’re looking for a Navient deferment form, the starting point has changed: Navient transferred its federal student loan servicing to other companies, so the form you need is the standard federal deferment request that matches your situation, downloaded from StudentAid.gov and submitted to whichever servicer now holds your account. The forms are free, they come in English and Spanish, and the servicer must help you complete them at no charge.

Find Out Who Services Your Loans Now

Before you touch a form, confirm who your current federal loan servicer is. Log in to your account at StudentAid.gov and look at the “My Loan Servicers” section on your dashboard, or call the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-433-3243.¹ Your completed deferment form goes to that company. If your loans are split across more than one servicer, you’ll submit a separate form to each.

Pick the Right Federal Deferment Form

There is no single deferment form. Each type of deferment has its own form with its own eligibility rules, and submitting the wrong one is a fast route to rejection. All of them live on the StudentAid.gov Forms Library page, and most servicers also host them and offer an online request option through their portal.²

In-School Deferment

You qualify if you’re enrolled at least half-time at an eligible postsecondary school. Many schools report enrollment automatically to the National Student Loan Data System, which can trigger the deferment without a form; when that doesn’t happen, an authorized school official certifies your enrollment on the form or in a separate letter. There’s no cumulative time cap.³

Unemployment Deferment

Two paths qualify you: receiving unemployment benefits, or actively seeking full-time work without success. Full-time here means 30 or more hours per week in a position expected to last at least three consecutive months. If you’re job-searching without benefits, you must document at least six employer contacts over the most recent six months. The cumulative cap for most borrowers is 36 months.⁴

Economic Hardship Deferment

You qualify if your monthly income is below 150% of the federal poverty guideline for your family size and state. For 2026, the guideline for a single person in the 48 contiguous states is $15,960 per year, making the 150% threshold $23,940.⁵ The form lets you report monthly income as either your gross taxable income from all sources or one-twelfth of the adjusted gross income on your most recent tax return, whichever is lower.⁶ You can also qualify without the income test if you receive TANF, SSI, SNAP, state general public assistance, or you’re serving as a Peace Corps volunteer. The cumulative cap is 36 months.

Parent PLUS Borrower Deferment

If you took a Direct or Federal PLUS Loan on or after July 1, 2008, you can defer while the student you borrowed for is enrolled at least half-time, plus a six-month grace period after the student drops below half-time or leaves school.⁷

Military Service and Post-Active Duty Deferment

You qualify while serving on active duty or performing qualifying National Guard duty during a war, contingency operation, or national emergency. An authorized military official certifies your service dates and the operation on the form. There’s no cumulative limit on the military service deferment; the post-active duty student deferment caps at 13 months per occurrence.⁸

Cancer Treatment Deferment

Borrowers receiving cancer treatment can defer for the duration of treatment plus six months afterward. An M.D. or D.O. certifies on the form that you are or were receiving treatment in their care. Approval runs up to 12 months per certification; if treatment continues, the physician submits a new one. To qualify, your loan must have been made on or after September 28, 2018, or must have been in repayment on or before that date; loans made before that date but still in in-school or grace status on that date do not qualify.⁹ Unlike most deferments, interest does not accrue on most federal loan types during this one.

How to Complete the Form

Every federal deferment form follows the same layout. Once you’ve filled one out, the rest feel familiar.

Section 1 — Borrower Information. Your name, Social Security Number, date of birth, mailing address, phone, and email. Double-check the SSN. A transposed digit is the fastest way to get a rejection.

Section 2 — Eligibility Determination. A series of yes/no questions that walks through whether you qualify. Unemployment forms ask whether you’re on benefits or job-searching. Economic hardship asks for monthly income and family size. Answer honestly; the form routes you to “not eligible” if you don’t meet the criteria, which saves everyone time.

Section 3 — Borrower Understandings and Certifications. A list of conditions covering interest accrual and what happens when the deferment ends. You sign and date to certify the information is accurate. Knowingly submitting false information carries penalties under federal law.

Section 4 — Authorized Official’s Certification. Some types need a third party to verify your situation: a school official for in-school and Parent PLUS deferments, a commanding officer or authorized military official for military deferment, and a licensed physician for cancer treatment. The form can’t be processed without this signature when it’s required.

What to Attach

Unemployment: proof of benefits (with name, address, SSN, and benefit dates), or a written record of at least six job-search contacts over the past six months.⁴
Economic hardship: recent pay stubs showing gross earnings, or your most recent federal tax return showing AGI. If qualifying through a public assistance program, attach documentation of those benefits.⁶
In-school: either Section 4 completed by a school official, a separate enrollment verification letter, or confirmation that your school reports enrollment to NSLDS.
Parent PLUS: school official certification of the student’s enrollment.
Military: authorized military official certification of service dates and qualifying operation.
Cancer treatment: physician certification with treatment dates from an M.D. or D.O. legally authorized to practice.

Keep copies of everything you submit. If a document is lost in transit or your servicer says it never arrived, your copies are your proof.

Submitting the Form

Most servicers accept deferment forms through a secure upload tool on their website, by fax, or by mail. Online upload is usually fastest. If you mail the form, use a method with tracking. Confirm fax is still accepted before relying on it; some servicers have phased it out.

Keep making your scheduled payments until the servicer confirms in writing that the deferment is in place. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau specifically advises borrowers to keep paying until they receive that written approval.¹⁰ If you stop paying and the request is denied, those missed payments count as delinquent. Some servicers apply a temporary forbearance while they review a deferment request, but don’t assume that unless the servicer tells you so in writing.

An approval notice will spell out the deferment’s start and end dates and your interest accrual status. A denial should include the reason, so you can fix what was missing (an unsigned form, insufficient documentation, an eligibility question answered incorrectly) and resubmit.

What Happens to Interest

Whether interest keeps accruing during deferment depends on the loan type. This is the part borrowers miss most often, because a balance can grow while payments are paused.

On Direct Subsidized Loans, the government pays the interest during deferment and your balance stays flat.¹¹ On Direct Unsubsidized Loans and PLUS Loans, interest accrues and you’re responsible for it. When the deferment ends, any unpaid interest is capitalized (added to your principal), so future interest is calculated on a larger balance.¹² On a $10,000 Direct Unsubsidized Loan skipping interest payments for six months, roughly $340 in interest could be added to principal, leaving you owing about $10,340 with future interest accruing on that higher number.

The cancer treatment deferment is the exception: no interest is charged on most federal loan types during it, including subsidized and unsubsidized Direct Loans and PLUS Loans made to students or parents.⁹

If you can afford to pay accruing interest month by month on unsubsidized loans during deferment, doing so prevents capitalization entirely. Your servicer can quote the exact monthly interest amount.

How Long Deferment Lasts

In-school: no cumulative cap while enrolled at least half-time.
Unemployment: 36 months cumulative for most borrowers (24 months if your first loan predates July 1, 1993).⁴
Economic hardship: 36 months cumulative.
Military service: no cumulative cap. Post-active duty student deferment: 13 months per occurrence.
Cancer treatment: 12-month increments with physician recertification, plus six months post-treatment.

When a deferment ends, you’ll either resume payments, apply for another deferment if you still qualify and haven’t hit the cap, or move to a different repayment option such as an income-driven plan. Submit the renewal or new application before the current deferment expires so payments don’t come due in a gap.

Deferment and Forgiveness

Months spent in deferment generally do not count toward the 120 qualifying payments for Public Service Loan Forgiveness or the 240 or 300 months needed for income-driven repayment forgiveness. The PSLF Buyback program lets you purchase credit for deferment or forbearance months if you had qualifying employment during them, at a cost equal to what your monthly IDR payment would have been.¹³ If forgiveness is your goal, an income-driven plan with a $0 payment (when your income qualifies) often works better than deferment, because $0 payment months count toward forgiveness.

If Your Loans Are Private

If any of your loans are private rather than federal, none of the federal forms above apply to them. Private lenders set their own rules, offer no standardized forms, and are not required by federal law to offer deferment at all. Whether you can pause payments depends on your promissory note and the lender’s policies. Call the lender directly, ask what options exist, and get any approved terms in writing before you stop paying.

If You’re Already in Default

Federal loans in default are not eligible for deferment. You have to get out of default first, through loan rehabilitation (nine agreed-upon payments over ten months) or a Direct Consolidation Loan. Applying for deferment or an income-driven plan before you miss payments is far easier than working out of default afterward.

1
Federal Student Aid. Who Is My Student Loan Servicer?
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Federal Student Aid. Forms Library
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Federal Student Aid. In-School Deferment Request
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Federal Student Aid. Unemployment Deferment Request
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HHS ASPE. 2026 Poverty Guidelines
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Federal Student Aid. Economic Hardship Deferment Request
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Federal Student Aid. Parent PLUS Borrower Deferment Request
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Federal Student Aid. Military Service and Post-Active Duty Student Deferment Request
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Federal Student Aid. Cancer Treatment Deferment Request
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Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. What Is Student Loan Forbearance
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Federal Student Aid. Loan Deferment
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Federal Student Aid. Interest Capitalization
13
Federal Student Aid. Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Buyback