To apply for loan forgiveness under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, borrowers must submit an Employment Certification form annually to verify their employment at a qualifying public service organization. The form is available online at studentloans.gov and requires borrower and employer information to confirm eligible employment. Qualifying payments are tracked annually through the submission of this form to ensure borrowers meet the 10-year payment requirement for loan forgiveness.

1. Applying for PSLF

2. The PSLF Application Process
To have your federal loans forgiven through PSLF, there are certain steps you
need to take now, and there will be important steps to take once you’ve made
10 years of qualifying payments. The following slideshow will highlight the
Annual Employment Verification process.
Annual Employment Verification
Application for Forgiveness
Confirmation and Loan Forgiveness

3. If you work in a public service capacity and are considering pursuing Public
Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), it’s important to validate and start tracking your
payments through your employer.
The following slideshow will show you how:

4. To get started, head
over to
studentloans.gov

5. Click “Managing Repayment”

6. In the drop down, select Public
Service Loan Forgiveness

7. Click on the Employment
Certification form link

8. The PSLF Employment Certification Form will
open in your browser as an editable PDF.

9. On page 1, you’ll enter your
personal identification
information

10. At the bottom of page 1, sign
and date the document

11. Either you or your employer can
complete the extensive list of work
questions on page 2

12. At the bottom of page 2 you’ll need an
authorized official of your employer to
sign off on the information gathered at
the top of the page

13. Page 3 provides instructions for
completing the form, plus it provides
definitions for terms used when
determining certification

14. Page 4 provides the mailing address
for the completed form as well as
additional important info

15. Page 5 has additional important
information and resources for
understanding PSLF

16. Page 6 has important notices and legalese.
Once you’ve read, you should print pages 1 and 2
and send them to the address from page 4.

17. Page 6 has important notices and legalese.
Once you’ve read, you should print pages 1 and 2
and send them to the address from page 4.
Tracking your qualifying payments on an annual
basis is the best way to guarantee you have your
student loans forgiven through PSLF!