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Do you know what type of federal student loans you have?

Step 2

You can receive credit toward loan forgiveness no matter what type of federal student loan you have. However, depending on the type of federal loan you have, you may have to take additional steps.

IMPORTANT: Only federal loans you took out to pay for your own education are eligible for the recent and temporary changes to PSLF. Parent Plus loans are not eligible themselves. To make a Parent Plus loan eligible for the limited PSLF waiver benefits, you must consolidate it with another loan. See Step 3 to learn more information about consolidation.

How to identify your student loan type?

Watch an info video here or see the instructions below.

1

Go to the federal government's PSLF Employer Search Tool

If you have forgotten your username or password, click the “Log In” button and follow the prompts for either “Forgot My Username” or “Forgot My Password” to retrieve your account information.

2

View your Loan Details

When you log in, you will see your student aid dashboard. On the dashboard, click “View Details”

If you have “Direct Loans” taken out at the same time you will qualify for loan forgiveness without having to change the loan type. 

If you have “Direct Loans” taken out at different times, you can choose to consolidate these loans to get PSLF for all of your Direct Loans at the same time.

If you have “Federal Family Education Loans” (FFEL), Perkins Loans, or any other loans without the word “Direct” you will need to consolidate your loans. You can learn about consolidating your loans in Step 3.

If you have one or more direct loans - proceed to step 4! If you have one or more older federal loans known as Federal Family FFELP or Perkins Loans, proceed to step 3 to consolidate your loans into a single direct loan. 

Have more questions? Visit our Frequently Asked Questions. 

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