What can I do if my former employer can’t — or won’t — sign off on public service loan forgiveness?

Aside from encouraging college graduates to pursue careers in the public sector, the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness program is meant to keep employees — including social workers, teachers and attorneys who work at nonprofits — from being in debt for the bulk of their adult lives.

But the forgiveness part can be tricky to accomplish. On top of issues at the federal level (more on that below), it also requires some buy-in from employers.

A reader from Pico Rivera wrote to LAist and asked:

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The answer

According to the U.S. Department of Education’s office of federal student aid, if a former employer is “unable or unwilling” to sign a Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) form, borrowers may be able to certify their employment using other documents.

The alternate forms of documentation can include a W-2 form for each calendar year in the borrower’s public service employment period, or paystubs for every month. The office won’t approve any months that lack supporting documentation.

What is the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program?

Congress established the PSLF program in 2007, during the George W. Bush administration. The program is meant to encourage college graduates to work in the public service sector by promising to forgive their remaining student loans if they remain in the field for 10 years and make 120 monthly payments.

PSLF has had its issues. For years, borrowers enrolled in the program struggled to have their debts forgiven. Some made a number of payments, only to find out they didn’t qualify due to a technicality.

The Biden administration made changes to the program to make it more flexible. It also discharged debt through PSLF for over 1 million borrowers. Before that, only 7,000 people had received debt relief through the program.

Thomas Gokey, a case worker and policy director at Debt Collective, which advocates for debt abolition, said borrowers continue to encounter obstacles when attempting to get their employment certified.

“It's not so much that the former employer is just adamantly saying, ‘No,’” he said. “A lot of times, the former employer doesn't understand what they're supposed to do.” And sometimes, he added, employers erroneously determine that their workers aren’t eligible.

In those situations, Gokey said, it can help to speak with former employers, either in person or on the phone. If that’s not an option, borrowers can try getting certified using W-2 forms or paystubs.