With more than 10 years of experience making loans and other complex money matters more accessible to the everyday person, Jennifer has helped readers build manageable and healthy money habits. Her work has been featured on numerous national financia.
Jennifer Calonia Loans ExpertWith more than 10 years of experience making loans and other complex money matters more accessible to the everyday person, Jennifer has helped readers build manageable and healthy money habits. Her work has been featured on numerous national financia.
Written By Jennifer Calonia Loans ExpertWith more than 10 years of experience making loans and other complex money matters more accessible to the everyday person, Jennifer has helped readers build manageable and healthy money habits. Her work has been featured on numerous national financia.
Jennifer Calonia Loans ExpertWith more than 10 years of experience making loans and other complex money matters more accessible to the everyday person, Jennifer has helped readers build manageable and healthy money habits. Her work has been featured on numerous national financia.
Loans ExpertUpdated: May 31, 2022, 7:56am
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Borrowers who are thinking about pursuing Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), or are currently in progress toward it, have likely heard a lot about the PSLF employment certification form.
Submitting the PSLF form for employment certification isn’t technically required. However, doing so can help you organize your employment history so you’re fully prepared to apply for PSLF when you’re ready.
If you’re a federal student loan borrower who’s pursuing PSLF, here’s what you need to know about certifying your employment through this form.
Working full-time at an eligible government or nonprofit employer while making 120 qualifying loan payments is a critical part of PSLF eligibility. To confirm that you work for an eligible employer and help track the payments you’ve made, you can submit the PSLF employer certification form annually.
This PSLF form is a self-reporting process, and submitting the form regularly to certify your employers has many advantages.
The information you provide on each PSLF form is added to your student loan record. It’s a helpful way to create a 10-year digital trail of your employment history. The information on the form is used to determine whether your employer meets the requirements of the PSLF program. It also creates a log of your qualified payment count to date.
If you have trouble remembering to submit the PSLF form, the Department of Education recommends recertifying your employment at the same time you recertify your income-driven repayment plan each year. It can also be useful to submit the PSLF form whenever you change employers.
There’s no rule against submitting a decade’s worth of employment history in one lump along with your final PSLF application. The downside, however, is having to hunt down the signatures of authorized officials from every employer you’ve worked for over those 10 years.
Whether you’ve completed 120 qualifying payments or are simply recertifying your employment, you’ll use the same PSLF form. The Department of Education offers a PSLF Help Tool that can determine if you work for a qualifying employer and guides you through submitting the form.
If you prefer to manually fill out the PSLF form using a paper document or PDF, here are the steps to follow.
The first section of the PSLF employment certification form asks for your personal information. This includes your name, Social Security number, birth date, address, phone number and email.
If at any point during your repayment, something in this section changes—like an address or surname—check the box indicating that a change has occurred.
The next section is where you’ll specify that you’re submitting the PSLF form to verify your employer. Select the first box that reads: “I just want to find out how many qualifying payments I have made or if my employer is a qualified employer.”
Then, read the legal acknowledgment. Certify that the information you’ve provided is accurate by including your signature and the date in this section.
Tip: At the top of the next page there’s a line to write your full name and Social Security number again. Remember to add this information to avoid processing delays.
The entirety of sections three and four should be filled out by an authorized official designated by your employer. This is often someone in Human Resources or sometimes your direct manager. Your workplace should fill out all of the fields in this section, including:
The official should then include their own name, title, phone number and email on the form. Make sure they sign and date their sections.
Once you’ve secured your employer’s information and an authorized signature, submit the PSLF form via mail, fax or through your student loan account.
