Student Loan Repayment Program Consultants
The Department of Education (ED) is making changes to streamline borrowers’ federal student loan web experience. The changes will eventually allow borrowers to fully manage their federal student loans on StudentAid.gov. The first changes started in March 2024, and the rest will happen in stages over the next few years.
Throughout March 2024, all federal loan servicer websites and email addresses will change from “.com” to “.gov.” Most of these changes will be completed by April 2024. Some MOHELA borrowers will not see these changes implemented until late June 2024. Borrowers will also see an updated look on the loan servicer’s website to include branding for the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) office of Federal Student Aid.
Beginning May 1, 2024, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) will no longer be managed through a designated loan servicer. Instead, ED is updating its systems and contact centers to streamline and fully manage these programs through StudentAid.gov. Borrowers will be able to submit PSLF forms and track progress on StudentAid.gov. They’ll also be able to get support for the program through ED’s contact centers.
ED will move these programs from MOHELA on StudentAid.gov. This means that starting on May 1, 2024, processing any forms for PSLF will be paused.
There will be a pause in processing for all PSLF forms while the program is transitioned.
You will not see updates to your PSLF payment counts as you make qualifying payments or certify employment with a PSLF form submission during the processing pause. Your qualifying payment counts will be updated after the transition is complete in July. At that time, you will be able to access a new PSLF dashboard on StudentAid.gov. You might also see delays and further updates to your eligible and qualifying payment counts due to the income-driven repayment (IDR) count adjustment.
If you complete 120 qualifying payments during the pause, any additional payments you make will be refunded or applied to your other federal student loans that have outstanding balances, after the transition is complete and processing resumes. Your loans will be forgiven by your servicer once your PSLF form is processed. If you would like to request a forbearance because you believe you have reached forgiveness (or will reach it during the processing pause) and have met the requirement for 120 qualifying payments, you can contact your servicer directly with this request.
During this transition period, the Federal Student Aid Information Center (FSAIC) will not be able to provide any information about PSLF accounts, including whether ED has received a paper form. Borrowers will be able to see that forms successfully submitted on their StudentAid.gov account “My Activity” pages. Loan servicers will not be able to answer any questions related to PSLF form or payment counts.
When processing resumes in July 2024, borrowers will be able to access their PSLF information by logging in to their StudentAid.gov accounts. They will also be able to view eligible and qualifying PSLF payments in an easy-to-read format; access enhanced self-service tools, including program dashboards and status tracking for forms and applications; and see a decrease in processing time for PSLF forms.
Starting in July, ED will fully manage the PSLF Program, but loans will remain with a loan servicer.
Later in 2024, ED will launch a simplified log-in process. This will allow borrowers to use their StudentAid.gov account username and password (sometimes called an FSA ID) to log in to both the servicer’s website and StudentAid.gov, so they’ll no longer have to manage multiple usernames and passwords. More information about this transition is expected in Fall 2024.
These enhancements will also serve to
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