How Long Does It Take to Get Student Loans Forgiven?

Choose a student loan forgiveness plan based on your current finances, circumstances, and goals. There’s no one-size-fits-all option.

Loan forgiveness, discharge, and cancellation eliminate some or all of your student loan debt. They are essentially the same, and with subtle differences:

• Loan forgiveness requires complying with long-term program requirements. The common ones include making qualifying payments under an eligible repayment plan.
• Discharge and cancellation often refer to loan elimination due to specific circumstances. Disability, school closure, and qualifying employment are a few examples.

Timelines vary widely depending on your specific situation. Your personal circumstances and repayment plan are critical factors in your timeline.

The type of loan you have and your current employer influence your repayment plan. You may qualify for a five-year forgiveness plan or make payments for 20-25 years.

Waiting years for forgiveness can feel overwhelming and stressful. By understanding your timeline, you can make an informed plan. You’ll feel more in control and make more confident decisions.

Overview of the main programs and their timelines

• PSLF: 10 years (120 monthly qualifying payments)
• Teacher Loan Forgiveness: 5 years
• Income-Driven Repayment: 20-25 years
• Perkins Loan Cancellation: 5-7 years (depending on your profession)
• Borrower Defense/Closed School: Variable (application-based)
• Total and Permanent Disability: Immediate upon approval
 
Qualifying for student loan forgiveness programs

• Only federal loans (Direct Subsidized, Unsubsidized, PLUS, and Direct Consolidation Loans) qualify for federal forgiveness programs.
• Federal Perkins Loans are also qualified but may have to be consolidated.
• Private loans are never eligible for federal forgiveness programs.

The PSLF’s purpose was to encourage graduates to pursue public service careers. The incentive was forgiveness of the loan balance after qualified payments.

Timeline: Exactly 10 years. You must make 120 qualifying monthly payments. 

A common question among borrowers: “Will I actually get approved?” PSLF has historically had low approval rates, but it significantly improved after several program reforms.

As of early 2025, over 1 million borrowers have received over $78 billion in PSLF forgiveness. The average forgiveness amount was $73,000 to $78,000 per approved borrower.

Breakdown of the PSLF requirements
 
• Full-time work for a qualifying employer. You must work at least 30 hours per week or whatever your qualifying employer considers full-time work, whichever is greater. If you have multiple part-time qualifying jobs, combine their number of hours.

• Work for qualifying employers only. Foremost are government agencies at the federal, state, local, and tribal levels. 501(c)(3) nonprofits and other qualifying public service organizations are also included.

• Direct Loans only. Your student loans must include the word “Direct” to qualify. Consolidation is available for other federal loans (e.g., Perkins and FFEL) to qualify.

• Income-driven repayment plan or 10-year standard plan. You must make qualified payments under any of these two qualifying plans.

• Your payments don’t have to be consecutive. Your previous qualifying payments still count if you leave public service and return.

The processing time for final forgiveness after 120 payments is approximately 60-90 business days. Your payment record and employment history are verified during the review period. As soon as everything’s in order, your remaining loan balance is officially forgiven. The forgiven loan balance amount isn’t taxable income at the federal level.

Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) monthly payments are based on your discretionary income and family size.

Timeline: 20-25 years of qualifying payments. The actual number of years depends on the specific plan, but it equals 240-300 monthly payments in an eligible plan. Once you’ve reached the required payments, your remaining loan balance is forgiven.

Available IDR Plans and their timelines

• Income-Based Repayment (IBR): 20-25 years, depending on when you first borrowed. On or after July 1, 2014, it’s 20 years. If earlier, it’s 25 years. Monthly payments are capped at 10%-15% of discretionary income.

• Pay As You Earn (PAYE): 20 years. Monthly payments are capped at 10% of discretionary income.

• Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR): 25 years. Monthly payment is 20% of discretionary income or a fixed amount based on an income-adjusted 12-year repayment schedule, whichever is lower.

Note: SAVE plan currently blocked by court injunction (as of 2025). 
 
IDR makes sense if you consider these circumstances:
 
• If you have high debt relative to income, you’ll enjoy more manageable payments.
• Your monthly payments are capped at 10-20% of your discretionary income.
• If your income is low enough, your calculated payments can be $0/month. These $0 payments still count, too.

What counts toward 20/25 years in the IDR timeline
 
• Any month in repayment status
• Certain long-term forbearance periods (12+ consecutive months or 36+ cumulative)
• Economic hardship or military deferments (for time after 2013)
 
CRITICAL TAX WARNING

Starting January 1, 2026, IDR forgiveness is considered taxable income (“tax bomb”). However, PSLF remains tax-free at the federal level. You must plan for potential tax liability (i.e., consult with a tax professional).

Annual recertification is required to stay on IDR. Missing recertification deadlines can mean increased monthly payments and delays in forgiveness processing.

Teacher Loan Forgiveness encourages teachers to work at low-income schools or educational service agencies.

Timeline

You must complete 5 complete and consecutive academic years of qualifying teaching service. Your five years must be at qualifying schools or educational service agencies.

Importantly, those five years must be uninterrupted qualifying service. If you worked for four years at an eligible school but transferred to a non-qualifying school, your five-year timeline is then paused.

Forgiveness amounts

The exact forgiveness amount varies depending on your subject area and whether you meet the “highly qualified” standard:

• Up to $17,500 for highly qualified math, science, or special education teachers
• Up to $5,000 for other qualifying elementary and secondary school teachers
 
Eligibility requirements
 
You must meet these eligibility requirements in full to qualify:
 
• Teach at a Title I school or educational service agency serving low-income students
• Be considered “highly qualified” in your subject area under federal guidelines
• Have only Direct Loans or FFEL Stafford Loans issued after October 1, 1998
• Settled any outstanding balance on Direct/FFEL loan on October 1, 1998
• Complete 5 consecutive academic years at qualifying schools.

Are you wondering, “Should I do Teacher Loan Forgiveness or PSLF?” Consider these factors:

• You CANNOT use the same 5 years to qualify for both programs.
• You’re well-advised to choose PSLF if you have more than $17,500 in debt and plan to teach 10+ years.
• Teacher Loan Forgiveness has a cap. PSLF forgives your entire remaining balance.

How to verify if your school qualifies

Search the Teacher Cancellation Low-Income Directory at StudentAid.gov.

Remember: Teacher Loan Forgiveness is NOT taxable income. You won’t owe federal income tax on the forgiven balance.

The Perkins Loan program is a federal loan program for students with exceptional need.

Important: the Perkins Loan program ended in 2017. As such, no new loans have been issued, but cancellation policies still apply to existing Perkins borrowers.

Timeline: Up to 100% cancellation over 5 years, but some professions require 7 years

The Perkins Loan Cancellation program allows up to 100% cancellation over 5 years, but some professions require 7 years.

Most professions qualify for full cancellation over five years, including teachers in low-income schools and nurses in public/nonprofit hospitals. Some professions, however, qualify only for up to seven years, such as lawyers employed by the federal government.

Unique feature: Perkins cancellations occur incrementally each year. In contrast, other programs forgive your loan balance all at once at the end.

The standard cancellation schedule is as follows:

• Years 1-2: 15% cancelled per year
• Years 3-4: 20% cancelled per year
• Year 5: 30% cancelled
• Total: 100% after 5 years of qualifying service
 
Qualifying professions

Here’s the list of qualifying professions under the program.
 
• Teachers at low-income schools or teaching shortage subjects
• Nurses and medical technicians
• Law enforcement and correctional officers
• Firefighters (service on or after August 14, 2008)
• Military service
• Peace Corps/AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers
• Head Start workers
• Librarians at Title I schools

Keep your documentation of service. Your eligibility depends on your role and your employer type.

Where to apply

• Contact the school that issued your Perkins Loan or its designated servicer. The federal Direct Loan servicer isn’t the agency that handles cancellations.
• Perkins Loan cancellation is NOT taxable income. You won’t owe federal income taxes on the forgiven amount.

Warning: If you consolidate Perkins Loans into Direct Loans for PSLF, you’ll permanently lose Perkins cancellation eligibility. There’s no reversing the decision.

Did your school engage in fraud, misrepresentation, or misconduct? Did it lead to you taking out federal student loans under false pretenses? Consider the Borrower Defense to Repayment program.

The timeline for the approval process is highly variable. It can take months, even years, depending on the case facts. Under the law, the US Department of Education has up to 3 years to issue a decision. There are situations in which schools were found to have engaged in widespread conduct. In these cases, group discharges may be granted faster.

What it covers

Borrower Defense only discharges federal Direct Loans under specific circumstances. As such, private loans aren’t covered.

Types of qualifying misconduct – Your school must have committed certain types of misconduct, including:

• Misrepresentation of job placement or graduation rates
• False claims about accreditation or transfer credits
• Misleading claims about admissions selectivity
• Deceptive recruitment practices

You must prove that your school’s misconduct was misleading. As a result, you suffered harm (e.g., financial, educational, time lost). As of April 2024, $17.2 billion in federal student loan debt had been cancelled for almost 975,000 borrowers.
 
The application process is relatively simple:

• Submit your complete application online at StudentAid.gov/borrower-defense.
• It takes about 3 hours to complete from start to finish. 
• Gather your supporting evidence, such as advertisements, emails, and enrollment documents.
 
After submitting your complete application, here’s what you should do:

• Request forbearance, so you don’t have to make monthly payments.
• Remember: your loans won’t go into default while your application is under active review.

If your claim is approved, your qualifying loans are fully discharged:

• You’ll receive a refund of payments made
• Your negative credit history will be removed.
• You won’t owe federal income tax on your Borrower Defense discharge. 

The Closed School Discharge provision has been in existence since the early 1990s, when many for-profit schools closed permanently. As a result, their students were left with debts but without degrees.

If you’re eligible, you won’t repay federal student loans related to an education you didn’t receive.

Timeline: Relatively quickly to automatic

You must provide the required documentation to ensure quick processing. In some cases, the loan discharge is automatic. Your eligibility depends on your enrollment or withdrawal status at the time your school closes.

Eligibility requirements

You must meet one of these eligibility requirements to qualify:
• You were enrolled either part-time or full-time when the school officially closed.
• You were on an approved leave of absence when the school closed.
• You withdrew within 180 days before the school closed. (Applicable to loans released after July 1, 2020)
• You withdrew within 120 days before its closure. (Applies to loans disbursed before July 1, 2020).

NOT eligible if:

• You completed your program before the school closed.
• You transferred credits from the closed school to a “comparable program” at another school.
• You completed your program through a teach-out agreement.

Important considerations:

• Choosing a teach-out for degree completion results in disqualification.
• Weigh the benefit of a loan discharge against the value of earning your degree elsewhere.
• Ensure that your academic records are preserved. Contact your state’s licensing agency.

How to apply:
 
• Contact your loan servicer first. You’ll get guidance on the verification steps and required forms.
• Prepare supporting documentation of enrollment/withdrawal dates.

When your claim is approved, you’ll get these benefits:

• Full discharge of federal loans you borrowed for the closed school
• Refund of any payments you’ve made to the federal loans
• Removal of the related negative credit history

Remember: Closed school discharge ISN’T taxable income at the federal level.

The TPD Discharge has been part of the federal student loan law since the late 1960s. Its purpose has always been to cancel loans for borrowers with severe disabilities.

Timeline: Discharge is effective upon approval

Originally, it required extensive physician certification and automatic 3-year post-discharge income monitoring. In 2021-2023, the US Department of Education allowed automatic discharge. There is no waiting period or years of payment required.

Three ways to qualify

• Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) Determination. You must be 100% disabled or deemed unemployable due to a service-connected disability. The VA has a definitive rating system for total and permanent disability.

• Social Security Administration (SSA). If you receive SSDI or SSI benefits, you may qualify. These benefits must include a disability review scheduled 5-7 years in the future or no scheduled review at all.

• Physician Certification. A licensed physician must certify your inability to engage in substantial gainful activity due to physical/mental impairment lasting 60+ months or resulting in death.

Application process

• Apply online at StudentAid.gov/tpd-discharge (Managed by FSA as of March 2025).
• Choose between digital or manual signature options.
• Upload your supporting documentation (e.g., VA ratings, SSA notices, or doctor certification).

Important updates

• The automatic 3-year post-discharge income monitoring period has been removed.
• Some VA/SSA eligible borrowers receive automatic discharge without applying for cancellation.
• Loans that are discharged under TPD are federal student loans and TEACH Grant service obligations.

TPD discharge is also NOT taxable income at the federal level through 2025.

You can still get new federal loans after TPD discharge. However, you must:

• Get a physician certification attesting to your ability for substantial gainful activity.
• Acknowledge that any new loans won’t be discharged based on your current disability, unless your condition worsens.

Your federal student loan forgiveness timeline is neither arbitrary nor fixed. Be sure to understand the factors that can extend and shorten it.

Factors that can EXTEND your timeline

• You used forbearance or deferment that may not count toward forgiveness, usually under PSLF and IDR plans.
• You’re not enrolled in a qualifying repayment plan (PSLF and IDR).
• You have the wrong loan type (FFEL or Perkins without consolidation). These loans must be consolidated into a Direct Loan to qualify.
• You changed jobs mid-PSLF but didn’t submit a new PSLF employment certification. Your previous qualifying monthly payments may not be counted. 
• You missed the annual IDR recertification deadline. This can result in increased payments, but these may still count.

Factors that can SHORTEN your timeline

• You made a One-time IDR Account Adjustment (completed in January 2025). It counted past periods that didn’t previously count. 
• You enrolled in the PSLF Buyback option. You can now buy forbearance/deferment months. However, you must have 120 months of qualifying employment.
• You combined multiple loans into a Direct Consolidation Loan. This way, payments on previously unqualified loans count toward forgiveness.

Common mistakes that delay forgiveness

• Failing to submit PSLF employment certification as required
• Making payments with the assumption that these count without verification
• Consolidating loans when it restarts your PSLF payment clock. Check the rules carefully.
• Paying under the wrong repayment plan for years

Processing backlogs to expect

• Over 700,000 pending IDR applications as of late 2025
• Over 83,000 pending PSLF Buyback applications as of late 2025
• 60-90 days standard PSLF form processing time

What to do in case of errors in your payment count

• Conduct regular reviews of your StudentAid.gov account.
• Maintain detailed records of your payments.
• File complaints with the FSA Ombudsman if the counts seem off.

You must understand the tax consequences of each loan forgiveness program. This way, you can make informed decisions in your financial planning.

These are the tax-free federal loan forgiveness programs:

• Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)
• Teacher Loan Forgiveness 
• Perkins Loan Cancellation
• Total and Permanent Disability Discharge 
• Closed School Discharge
• Borrower Defense to Repayment Discharge
• Death Discharge

Remember that state taxation laws differ. You should contact a tax advisor for guidance on your state’s income taxes on loan cancellations.

Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) forgiveness plans may be considered POTENTIALLY TAXABLE as of January 1, 2026. This was due to the American Rescue Plan Act exemption expiring on December 31, 2025.

Here’s what you should know about the “IDR Tax Bomb”

• The forgiven amount will be added to your taxable income for the year it’s discharged.
• The taxable income added can result in you being pushed into a higher tax bracket.
• You may have reduced eligibility for tax credits, such as EITC and Child Tax Credit.
• If you have a $50,000 forgiven loan, you could have a $10,000+ tax bill depending on your income.

Here are your options if you can’t afford the tax bill

• If your debts exceed your assets, use IRS Insolvency Exclusion (Form 982) to exclude forgiveness from income.
• You can negotiate with the IRS using the Use Offer in Compromise (Form 656) to pay less than your full tax liability.
• You may also spread tax payments over 6 years through the Installment Agreement (Form 9465).

Keep these tips in mind when planning for loan forgiveness

• Save money now if you expect IDR forgiveness after 2025.
• Consult a tax professional to choose the right plan and estimate tax liability.
• Weigh the pros and cons of repayment and refinancing.