Yes, Nelnet loans can be forgiven, but only the federal ones, and only through the Department of Education’s forgiveness programs. Nelnet is your servicer. It processes payments, handles paperwork, and forwards discharge requests, but the Department of Education makes the final call.1Federal Student Aid. Meet Nelnet, Your Student Loan Servicer Whether you qualify depends on the type of federal loan you hold, your job, and how long you have been repaying.
Private student loans, even when serviced by Nelnet, do not qualify for any federal forgiveness program.
Public Service Loan Forgiveness
PSLF wipes out the entire remaining balance on your Direct Loans after 120 qualifying monthly payments while you work full-time for a qualifying employer. That is roughly ten years, and the 120 months do not need to be consecutive.2eCFR. 34 CFR 685.219 – Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program There is no dollar cap on the amount forgiven.
Qualifying employers include federal, state, local, and tribal government agencies, plus 501(c)(3) nonprofits. Full-time AmeriCorps and Peace Corps positions also count.2eCFR. 34 CFR 685.219 – Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program
Payments have to be made under an income-driven repayment plan or the standard 10-year plan, cover the full amount due, and arrive no later than 15 days after the due date, all while you are employed full-time by a qualifying employer. Submit an employment certification form at least once a year. Waiting until you hit 120 payments to certify everything at once is how borrowers discover problems too late to fix them.
The PSLF Help Tool at StudentAid.gov lets you search for your employer using the Federal Employer Identification Number from Box b of your W-2. An “Eligible” result auto-fills the form; “Undetermined” or “Ineligible” sends the submission to a slower manual review.3Federal Student Aid. Become a Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Help Tool Ninja
Income-Driven Repayment Forgiveness
If public service is not the path, income-driven repayment plans forgive whatever balance remains after 20 or 25 years of qualifying payments:
- Income-Based Repayment: 20 years if you first borrowed after July 1, 2014; 25 years if you borrowed earlier.
- Pay As You Earn: 20 years.
- Income-Contingent Repayment: 25 years.
Those clocks run against your total repayment period, not just the time you have spent on the plan.4Federal Student Aid. Income-Driven Repayment Plans
The plan menu is changing. The SAVE plan is being phased out following a legal settlement between state attorneys general and the Department of Education, and borrowers on SAVE are being transitioned to other plans. PAYE and ICR are also closing to new enrollees, with a new Repayment Assistance Plan expected to replace them. Before you enroll or switch, confirm the current options at studentaid.gov.
Teacher Loan Forgiveness
Teach full-time for five complete and consecutive academic years at a qualifying low-income school or educational service agency, and you can get up to $17,500 forgiven on your Direct or Stafford Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans. The $17,500 ceiling is for highly qualified special education teachers and secondary math or science teachers. Everyone else eligible tops out at $5,000.5Federal Student Aid. 4 Loan Forgiveness Programs for Teachers
You cannot double-dip. Teaching time counted toward AmeriCorps benefits or PSLF does not count here. If you plan to pursue PSLF anyway, the strategic move is usually to skip Teacher Loan Forgiveness and start banking PSLF-qualifying payments from day one, because PSLF has no cap.
Check the Teacher Cancellation Low Income (TCLI) Directory for every year you plan to claim, since schools move on and off the list.6Federal Student Aid. Teacher Cancellation Low Income (TCLI) Directory Direct PLUS Loans and Perkins Loans are not eligible.
Total and Permanent Disability Discharge
TPD discharge eliminates your federal student loans if you cannot work because of a physical or mental condition expected to last continuously. Three routes qualify: a disability determination from the VA, a Social Security Administration notice of award for SSDI or SSI stating your next review is five to seven years out, or a physician’s certification that you meet the standard.7Federal Student Aid. Total and Permanent Disability Discharge
Borrowers who qualify through the VA skip the monitoring period. Everyone else goes through a three-year post-discharge monitoring window. Take out a new federal student loan or receive a new TEACH Grant during those three years and the discharge reverses. For tax purposes, the discharge is treated as received at the end of the monitoring period, not the original discharge date.
Borrower Defense and Closed School Discharge
If your school lied to you about job placement rates, program costs, or the transferability of credits, and that misrepresentation influenced your decision to enroll or borrow, you may qualify for Borrower Defense to Repayment. Approved claims can produce a full or partial discharge on Direct Loans, plus a refund of payments already made.8eCFR. 34 CFR 685.222 – Borrower Defenses and Procedures FFEL and Perkins borrowers need to consolidate into Direct Loans first.
Closed school discharge is separate. It covers Direct, FFEL, and Perkins Loans if your school shut down while you were enrolled, on an approved leave of absence, or within 180 days after you withdrew. When the Department has enough information to confirm eligibility, the discharge is generally automatic about a year after closure, though you can apply sooner.9Federal Student Aid. Closed School Discharge
If You Have FFEL or Perkins Loans
PSLF and Borrower Defense both require Direct Loans. Older FFEL and Perkins Loans have to be consolidated into a Direct Consolidation Loan before they count.10Federal Student Aid. Consolidating Student Loans Consolidation is free through studentaid.gov.
Consolidation also resets the qualifying payment count. Payments made on FFEL loans before consolidation generally do not carry over to PSLF, though weighted prior payments on Direct Loans being consolidated may count.2eCFR. 34 CFR 685.219 – Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program If you are already deep into an income-driven repayment timeline, think carefully before consolidating.
The Tax Bill in 2026
This is where borrowers get blindsided. The American Rescue Plan Act’s exclusion of forgiven student debt from federal income tax expired on January 1, 2026. IDR forgiveness received in 2026 or later is generally treated as taxable income by the IRS.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 108 – Income From Discharge of Indebtedness
PSLF is the major exception. Under IRC Section 108(f)(1), discharges tied to qualifying public service employment are permanently excluded from gross income. That exclusion did not expire.12Federal Student Aid. Public Service Loan Forgiveness FAQs
If your forgiveness is taxable and your total debts exceed your total assets at the time of discharge, the insolvency exclusion under IRC Section 108(a) can reduce or eliminate the taxable amount. You claim it on IRS Form 982.13IRS. What if I Am Insolvent? State tax rules vary; some states follow federal treatment automatically, others have their own exemptions. Talk to a tax professional well before a large discharge hits.
How to Apply Through Nelnet
You will need an active StudentAid.gov account to verify your loans and access most forgiveness tools.14Federal Student Aid. Creating and Using the FSA ID The right form depends on the program:
- PSLF: Use the PSLF Help Tool at StudentAid.gov to generate the employment certification form. Have your employer’s EIN from Box b of your W-2 ready.
- Teacher Loan Forgiveness: Complete the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Application, which needs your chief administrative officer’s signature.
- Income-driven repayment: Submit an IDR plan request through StudentAid.gov. It can pull your income directly from IRS records, or you can attach recent tax returns or pay stubs.
- Disability discharge: Apply at DisabilityDischarge.com, the Department of Education’s designated processor.
Documents can be uploaded through Nelnet’s secure online document upload tool. If you mail paperwork, forgiveness and discharge claims go to a specific address:
Nelnet
Attn: Claims
P.O. Box 82505
Lincoln, NE 68501-2505
General correspondence goes to a different P.O. Box, and sending forgiveness paperwork to the wrong one delays processing.15Federal Student Aid. Contact Us Use tracking either way.
Once Nelnet has your application, your account may be placed in administrative forbearance while the review is pending, which keeps it from going delinquent. Expect at least 30 to 90 days for processing, and longer for Borrower Defense claims.16Federal Student Aid. Student Loan Forgiveness
If You Are Denied
A denial does not have to be the end. For PSLF, the Department of Education offers an online reconsideration request if you disagree with your qualifying payment count. Identify the specific payments you think should have counted and explain why. Documentation helps but is not required to submit. File one request covering all disputed periods rather than multiple requests, which slows things down.17Federal Student Aid. PSLF Reconsideration Request
For other programs, or after reconsideration, contact the Federal Student Aid Ombudsman. It is designed as a last resort after you have tried to resolve the issue through your servicer. Gather your documentation and be ready to describe the steps you have already taken. Open a case through the online assistance request form at StudentAid.gov, call 800-433-3243, or write to the FSA Ombudsman Group at P.O. Box 1854, Monticello, KY 42633.18FSA Partner Connect. Office of the Ombudsman FSA