Is TEPSLF Still Available? Eligibility, Deadlines, and Taxes

Yes, TEPSLF is still available as of early 2026, but it is living on borrowed time. Congress funded the Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness program with a single $350 million appropriation in 2018, and forgiveness is granted on a first-come, first-served basis until that money runs out.¹ The Department of Education has not announced that the fund is exhausted, and applications are still being processed through the standard PSLF servicer. When the balance hits zero, the program ends permanently.

Why TEPSLF Could End at Any Time

Standard PSLF is permanently authorized and has no spending cap. TEPSLF is different. It was created in March 2018 through the Consolidated Appropriations Act to catch borrowers who met every PSLF requirement except being on a qualifying repayment plan, and Congress gave it a fixed pot of money rather than an open-ended authorization.²

There is no public dashboard showing how much of the $350 million remains. The Department has not signaled that funds are close to running out, but it has also not committed to any warning period before closure. If you think you qualify, the safest assumption is that the window closes without notice.

Who Can Still Use It

TEPSLF is narrow by design. It exists for one situation: you did everything PSLF asked, but your repayment plan disqualified your payments. Under TEPSLF, payments made under these plans can count toward the 120-payment requirement, in addition to the income-driven plans that already qualify for standard PSLF:¹

Graduated Repayment Plan
Extended Repayment Plan
Consolidation Standard Repayment Plan
Consolidation Graduated Repayment Plan

Everything else about PSLF still applies. You need 120 qualifying monthly payments (they don’t have to be consecutive), each made for the full billed amount while you were working full-time for a qualifying public service employer, on Direct Loans that are not in default.³⁴ Only payments made after October 1, 2007, count. FFEL and Perkins loans have to be consolidated into a Direct Consolidation Loan first, and only payments made after that consolidation count.²

The TEPSLF-specific requirement is the one to focus on: you must have been denied PSLF specifically because some or all of your payments were on a plan that doesn’t qualify for standard PSLF. A denial for any other reason is not fixed by TEPSLF.²

The Payment Amount Rule That Trips People Up

TEPSLF adds a financial test on top of everything else. Two specific payments have to clear a bar: the payment you made 12 months before you reached 120 qualifying payments, and the 120th payment itself. Each of those must have been at least as much as you would have owed under the lowest available income-driven plan at that time.²

This is not a test on every payment you ever made. It is a check on two payments only. The purpose is to confirm that, at the finish line, you were paying at least what an IDR plan would have required.

How to Apply Before Funds Run Out

There is no separate TEPSLF application. You use the combined PSLF & TEPSLF Certification & Application form. If you’re denied for standard PSLF but qualify for TEPSLF, the Department can consider you under TEPSLF from the same submission.²

The cleanest way to submit is through the PSLF Help Tool on StudentAid.gov, which walks you through the form and lets your employer sign electronically through DocuSign. You can also download the PDF and submit it by mail or fax, but on the manual form only hand-drawn signatures are accepted. A typed cursive-style signature will be rejected.

Before you start, have your employer’s official name, address, and Federal Employer Identification Number ready, along with the start and end dates for every qualifying employment period. MOHELA is the servicer that processes PSLF and TEPSLF applications on behalf of the Department of Education.⁵ If your loans aren’t already with MOHELA, they’ll typically transfer once you submit. Review can take several weeks to a few months, so keep copies of everything.

TEPSLF Is Not the Limited PSLF Waiver

These two programs get confused constantly, and the distinction matters because one is over and the other isn’t. The Limited PSLF Waiver expired on October 31, 2022. It was much broader than TEPSLF: it counted payments made under any repayment plan, on any federal loan type rather than only Direct Loans, and even late or partial payments qualified. It drove the majority of PSLF forgiveness approvals.

TEPSLF is narrower, has its funding cap, and is still open. If you missed the Limited PSLF Waiver, TEPSLF may still help you, but only if the repayment plan was the sole reason your PSLF application didn’t go through.

Taxes on TEPSLF Forgiveness

Forgiveness under TEPSLF is not treated as taxable income for federal tax purposes. The exclusion comes from a longstanding provision in the tax code that covers loan discharges tied to public service employment.⁶

This is worth flagging because the tax picture for other forgiveness programs changed on January 1, 2026. The American Rescue Plan Act had temporarily made all student loan forgiveness federally tax-free through the end of 2025, and IDR forgiveness is now taxable again at the federal level. PSLF and TEPSLF were never dependent on the temporary provision, so nothing changed for TEPSLF recipients in 2026. State treatment can vary, so check how your state handles forgiven federal student debt if you receive TEPSLF forgiveness.

1
Federal Student Aid. Temporary Public Service Loan Forgiveness
2
Federal Student Aid. Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) and Temporary Expanded PSLF (TEPSLF) Certification and Application
3
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. What Is Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)?
4
Federal Student Aid. Qualifying Payments
5
Federal Student Aid. MOHELA – Federal Student Aid
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 108 – Income From Discharge of Indebtedness