PSLF calculator
Public Service Loan Forgiveness: payments left, forgiveness date and the amount forgiven.
The balance, rate, payments and income are example inputs — use your own and the payment count from studentaid.gov. The calculator assumes your next payment is this month and that every payment counts.
What the number means
Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) cancels the rest of your federal Direct Loans after you have made 120 qualifying monthly payments while working full time for a qualifying employer. The amount cancelled is the principal and the accrued interest that remain after the last required payment. So the size of the forgiveness depends on how far your payments sit below what it takes to pay the loan off in those 120 months: the lower the payment compared with the balance, the more is forgiven.
How the calculator works
It counts the payments still needed: 120 − payments made. Then it follows the loan month by month for that many payments. Each month interest accrues on the principal (rate ÷ 12), your payment goes to interest first and then to principal, and any interest your payment does not cover waits as unpaid interest; under the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) that unpaid interest is not charged and the principal is reduced by at least $50 a month (34 CFR 685.209). What remains after the last payment is the forgiven amount. The month shown assumes your next payment is due this month and every later payment counts. As a comparison, the same schedule is run without forgiveness: a fixed payment for as long as it takes to pay the loan off, or RAP for its 360 payments. The difference in what you pay is what forgiveness saves you.
Worked example
With $60,000 at 6.5% and 36 of the 120 payments made, you need 84 more. A fixed payment of $400 a month for 84 months comes to $33,600, and the $52,049 left is forgiven in October 2033. Without forgiveness the same payment would take 310 months (26 years) and $123,951 to clear the loan, because it is only slightly more than the monthly interest, so forgiveness saves about $90,351. On RAP with $45,000 of adjusted gross income, you pay $12,600 over the same period and $55,800 is forgiven. If you instead pay the 10-year Standard amount on a $40,000 loan ($454.19 a month), the loan is gone in 120 months and nothing is forgiven. The first two results show that the benefit comes from low payments, not from public service alone.
Limits of this method and common mistakes
Counting months that do not count. A payment counts only if it is on a qualifying plan, for the full scheduled amount, and made while you work full time for a qualifying employer, which means at least 30 hours a week on average. Check the employer with the PSLF tools on studentaid.gov before you rely on it. Wrong loan type. Only Direct Loans count; FFEL and Perkins loans must be consolidated first, and under 34 CFR 685.219(c)(3) the payments on consolidated loans are averaged. Rules change. The 2026 rule added a standard for employers with a substantial illegal purpose, effective July 1, 2026, and the plans open to new loans changed on the same date, so read the current rules before a big decision. One rate. The calculator uses one balance and one rate; with several loans, your servicer applies payments to each loan in its own way. Constant assumptions. Income, payments and rates change; the growth box gives only a simple picture.
Frequently asked questions
What do I need for Public Service Loan Forgiveness?
Three things at once, under 34 CFR 685.219: you have made the equivalent of 120 monthly qualifying payments on eligible Direct Loans (Direct Subsidized, Unsubsidized, PLUS or Consolidation loans) after October 1, 2007; you were employed full time by a qualifying employer, or serving full time in AmeriCorps or the Peace Corps, when you made the 120th payment and when you apply; and you are not in default. Loans from other federal programs, such as older FFEL loans, count only after they are consolidated into a Direct Consolidation Loan.
Which employers qualify?
A qualifying employer is a U.S. federal, state, local or tribal government organization (including the armed forces and National Guard), a public child or family service agency, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, a tribal college or university, or another nonprofit that provides a non-governmental public service such as public health, public education, public safety, law enforcement or early childhood education and is not a labor union or partisan political organization. For-profit companies do not qualify. Since July 1, 2026 an employer that the Department of Education determines has a substantial illegal purpose, as the rule defines it, loses qualifying status, and payments after that determination do not count. Full time means an average of at least 30 hours a week in qualifying employment, with special counting for teachers, professors and adjunct faculty.
Which payments count?
A month counts if you pay the full scheduled amount, or the equivalent in installments, under a qualifying repayment plan while employed full time by a qualifying employer. Qualifying plans are income-driven plans, the 10-year Standard plan, any other plan whose payment is at least what the 10-year Standard plan would require, and the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP). Months in certain deferments and forbearances also count, such as the cancer treatment, economic hardship, military service, AmeriCorps and National Guard ones, but not while you are on RAP. For other months of deferment or forbearance in which you worked full time for a qualifying employer, 34 CFR 685.219(g)(6) lets you get credit by making a payment equal to what you would have paid on a qualifying plan (often called a buyback). Only your servicer's count is official.
Why is nothing forgiven on the 10-year Standard plan?
Because the Standard plan is built to pay the loan off in 120 payments, the same number PSLF needs. In the example, a $40,000 loan at 6.5% on the Standard plan costs $454.19 a month and ends at $0 in 120 months, so nothing is left to forgive. PSLF only helps when your payments are lower than that, for instance on an income-driven plan, or when the balance is large compared with your income. If you can only count on a high income, forgiveness may be small or zero.
How much would be forgiven in an example?
Take $60,000 at 6.5% with 36 qualifying payments made and $400 paid each month from November 2026. That is only a little more than the monthly interest of about $325, so the balance falls very slowly; the last 84 payments (7 years) bring forgiveness around October 2033 and $52,049 is forgiven after you have paid $33,600. Without forgiveness the same $400 would take about 310 months and $123,951 to clear the loan. Under RAP with $45,000 of adjusted gross income the payment is $150.00 a month; over the same 84 payments you pay $12,600 and $55,800 is forgiven, because RAP does not charge the interest your payment cannot cover and reduces principal by at least $50 a month. These are example numbers, not predictions.
Is PSLF forgiveness taxable?
No for federal income tax: the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service states that PSLF forgiveness remains excluded from federal income, unlike forgiveness under income-driven plans after 2025, which is generally taxable. State rules can differ, so check your state if you expect a large balance to be cancelled.
An educational estimate, not legal, tax or financial advice. Rules change, and your servicer and the Department of Education decide your payment count. Sources, checked October 28, 2026: eCFR, 34 CFR 685.219 (PSLF, as in 91 Federal Register 23897, May 1, 2026), 685.209 (Repayment Assistance Plan) and 685.208 (10-year Standard plan); IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service, What to Know about Student Loan Forgiveness and Your Taxes (March 2026). Official tools: studentaid.gov PSLF Help Tool. Related: the student loan repayment plans calculator, student loan calculator, loan payoff calculator and salary calculator. How we check our calculators.