Yes, COVID forbearance months count toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Every month of the federal student loan payment pause, which ran from March 13, 2020, through September 2023, is credited as a qualifying $0 payment toward the 120 payments PSLF requires — roughly 42 months, or more than a third of the way to forgiveness — as long as you were working full-time for a qualifying employer during those months and certify that employment.1Federal Student Aid. Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)
How the Pause Months Are Credited
During the COVID-19 national emergency, the Department of Education suspended federal student loan payments and set interest to 0%. Under the CARES Act, each of those suspended months counts as a qualifying PSLF payment even though no money changed hands. The $0 bill satisfied the payment requirement as if you had paid in full and on time.1Federal Student Aid. Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)
The credit is applied automatically. You don’t need to send anything in to claim the $0 payments themselves. What you do need to send in is proof that you also had qualifying employment during the months you want counted, because the payment credit alone doesn’t get recorded against your PSLF count without employment on file.
If you made voluntary payments during the pause, you may be able to request a refund from your loan servicer and still keep the PSLF credit for those months. Contact the servicer directly to ask.
You Still Have to Meet the Employment Rule
A pause month only counts if you were working full-time for a qualifying employer that month. Qualifying employers include federal, state, local, and tribal government organizations; the U.S. armed forces; 501(c)(3) nonprofits; and certain other nonprofits whose primary purpose is providing public services, such as AmeriCorps or Peace Corps.2Federal Student Aid. PSLF Infographic Private for-profit employers do not qualify no matter what work they do.
Full-time means averaging at least 30 hours per week for the period being certified. Combined hours across multiple qualifying part-time jobs can meet the threshold. Certain contract employees who work at least 30 hours per week for eight or more months in a 12-month span, common among teachers and professors, are treated as full-time for the entire year. Paid vacation, paid leave, and FMLA leave count toward your hours.3eCFR. 34 CFR 685.219 – Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF)
Work you did for a qualifying employer throughout the whole pause could hand you all 42 months of credit without a dollar in payments.
Your Loans Have to Be Direct Loans
Only federal Direct Loans qualify for PSLF. Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL) and Perkins Loans don’t count unless you consolidate them into a Direct Consolidation Loan.4Federal Student Aid. Which Types of Federal Student Loans Qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)? If you consolidated after the pause had already started, only the months following the consolidation date will pick up the COVID credit on the new Direct Consolidation Loan.
One caveat if you’re thinking about consolidating now: consolidating Direct Loans on or after September 1, 2024, triggers a weighted-average calculation for your qualifying payment count. The servicer averages the counts across the loans being consolidated, weighted by balance, rather than carrying the highest count forward. If one of your loans has significantly more qualifying payments than another, consolidation can drop your total.5Federal Student Aid. Do the Qualifying Payments I Made Before Consolidating My Direct Loans Still Count Toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)?
What About Your Repayment Plan?
The plan you were on during the pause does not affect whether those months count. All borrowers received the automatic $0 credit regardless of plan type. That’s specific to the pause period. Once payments resumed, you need to be on a qualifying repayment plan for your monthly payments to count going forward: Income-Based Repayment, Income-Contingent Repayment, Pay As You Earn, Saving on a Valuable Education, or the 10-Year Standard Repayment Plan.1Federal Student Aid. Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)
How to Get the Pause Months on Your Count
To get credit for the pause months, submit a PSLF form certifying your employment covering March 2020 through September 2023 (or however much of that window applies to you). You’ll need two things for each qualifying job you held:
- The employer’s Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN), which appears on your W-2 or can be requested from HR.6Federal Student Aid. Tackling the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Form: Employer Tips
- Exact start and end dates for the position.
The fastest route is the PSLF Help Tool at StudentAid.gov/pslf. It searches the qualifying-employer database by EIN, fills in your form, and lets both you and your employer sign digitally. Your employer receives a DocuSign email from Federal Student Aid to certify the dates.7Federal Student Aid. The Employer’s Role in Public Service Loan Forgiveness If digital signing isn’t possible, you can download the PDF, get a manual signature, and upload the signed form back through the tool. Manual submissions take longer.8Federal Student Aid. How to Manage Your 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.9MOHELA. PSLF Information Track your submission by logging in to StudentAid.gov and checking the “My Activity” section of your dashboard. Processing has historically taken 60 to 90 days, and delays have been reported in recent years given the volume of submissions after the pause ended. Submitting a PSLF form annually is a good habit even before you hit 120 payments so your count stays current.