Author Topic: My student loans were forgiven ($24,500)  (Read 2680 times)

clarkfan1979

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My student loans were forgiven ($24,500)
« on: February 19, 2025, 10:46:16 AM »
From October 2011 to February 2025, I paid my student loans down from $57,500 to $24,500. I probably paid about $18,000 to $20,000 in interest.

In October 2024, I applied for the Temporary Extended Public Student Loan Forgiveness (TEPSLF) program. If you have 120 payments while working full-time for a public non-profit, you can qualify. I got an update on my application on February 14th stating that I qualified and my student loans are forgiven. I logged into my student loan account today and they are all gone. It's actually showing a refund is due.

They recognized my 10-years of payments from October 2011 to October 2021. It looks like March 2020 to October 2021 counts as qualifying payments even though all student loan payments were suspended during that time.

I started making payments again October 2023 and my last payment was February 2025. I'm getting a refund check for $3400 because my last payment should have been October 2021.

My goal was to be worth 1 million before I paid off my student loans. We are at 1.7 million, so I guess I achieved my goal.




Laura33

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Re: My student loans were forgiven ($24,500)
« Reply #1 on: February 19, 2025, 10:58:13 AM »
Congratulations!! 

okits

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Re: My student loans were forgiven ($24,500)
« Reply #2 on: February 19, 2025, 11:33:52 AM »
Congratulations!

Tigerpine

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Re: My student loans were forgiven ($24,500)
« Reply #3 on: February 19, 2025, 12:07:29 PM »
Will the amount that was forgiven be counted as income for tax purposes?

economista

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Re: My student loans were forgiven ($24,500)
« Reply #4 on: February 19, 2025, 12:53:10 PM »
Will the amount that was forgiven be counted as income for tax purposes?

Not with PSLF. Under other forgiveness programs yes, but not Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

roomtempmayo

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Re: My student loans were forgiven ($24,500)
« Reply #5 on: February 19, 2025, 12:55:08 PM »
Good news, and congratulations on earning the forgiveness of those loans with a decade of public service.

Tigerpine

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Re: My student loans were forgiven ($24,500)
« Reply #6 on: February 19, 2025, 01:32:00 PM »
Will the amount that was forgiven be counted as income for tax purposes?

Not with PSLF. Under other forgiveness programs yes, but not Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
In that case, this is truly great to hear!  Congratulations!

Arbitrage

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Re: My student loans were forgiven ($24,500)
« Reply #7 on: February 19, 2025, 02:18:37 PM »
Congratulations, and I'm jealous!

We've been paying my wife's ~$90k of loans seemingly forever.  Accelerated payments on her private loans early in our marriage, as they had high (and variable) interest rates, but did manage to consolidate the federal loans at a sub-2% rate. 

At some point, she would've been eligible for some income-based forgiveness - I forget the details - based upon her own income, but our joint income killed that off.  Thanks, marriage penalty!  I think that all of the various forgiveness machinations they were trying to orchestrate over the past few years would've excluded us (except the initially promised global one) since we consolidated.  Always kind of hoped for it, but never counted on it.  Good on you for scoring.

JupiterGreen

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Re: My student loans were forgiven ($24,500)
« Reply #8 on: February 19, 2025, 02:31:47 PM »
Wow that is amazing, congratulations!

Dee

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Re: My student loans were forgiven ($24,500)
« Reply #9 on: February 19, 2025, 06:00:57 PM »
Well done Clarkfan1979! Congrats on adding to your net worth by having this student loan wiped out.

AuspiciousEight

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Re: My student loans were forgiven ($24,500)
« Reply #10 on: February 20, 2025, 05:06:05 AM »
That's awesome - congrats!

Dee18

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Re: My student loans were forgiven ($24,500)
« Reply #11 on: February 20, 2025, 05:26:42 AM »
Congratulations! So fun to read some happy news of government working well.

comicguy

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Re: My student loans were forgiven ($24,500)
« Reply #12 on: February 20, 2025, 08:46:13 AM »
That is awesome! Congrats!!

Turtle

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Re: My student loans were forgiven ($24,500)
« Reply #13 on: February 20, 2025, 09:16:40 AM »
Congratulations!  That must feel really good.  Did you get a screenshot for posterity? 

Student loan forgiveness as a long term retention bonus for teachers is the next best thing to actually paying teachers what they are worth.  (Which some school districts/colleges do better than others.)

Catbert

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Re: My student loans were forgiven ($24,500)
« Reply #14 on: February 20, 2025, 10:50:17 AM »
Well done!

Dr. Pepper

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Re: My student loans were forgiven ($24,500)
« Reply #15 on: February 20, 2025, 11:17:52 AM »
Glad you were able to make this work, congrats!

Just Joe

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Re: My student loans were forgiven ($24,500)
« Reply #16 on: February 20, 2025, 02:00:41 PM »
Congrats! Money well spent and well forgiven!

Rural

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Re: My student loans were forgiven ($24,500)
« Reply #17 on: February 20, 2025, 06:55:11 PM »
Congratulations! It's a long slog, but you did it!

LaineyAZ

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Re: My student loans were forgiven ($24,500)
« Reply #18 on: February 21, 2025, 08:38:18 AM »
Very glad to hear this, thanks for letting us know.

EscapeVelocity2020

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Re: My student loans were forgiven ($24,500)
« Reply #19 on: February 21, 2025, 08:43:57 AM »
In a more reasonable country (like Norway) they'd realize that educating the masses is a net benefit and not try to profit on it.  Glad this worked out but still think it's ridiculous that you went in to debt becoming a more valuable asset for the country LOL

tooqk4u22

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Re: My student loans were forgiven ($24,500)
« Reply #20 on: February 21, 2025, 09:23:41 AM »
From October 2011 to February 2025, I paid my student loans down from $57,500 to $24,500. I probably paid about $18,000 to $20,000 in interest.

In October 2024, I applied for the Temporary Extended Public Student Loan Forgiveness (TEPSLF) program. If you have 120 payments while working full-time for a public non-profit, you can qualify. I got an update on my application on February 14th stating that I qualified and my student loans are forgiven. I logged into my student loan account today and they are all gone. It's actually showing a refund is due.

They recognized my 10-years of payments from October 2011 to October 2021. It looks like March 2020 to October 2021 counts as qualifying payments even though all student loan payments were suspended during that time.

I started making payments again October 2023 and my last payment was February 2025. I'm getting a refund check for $3400 because my last payment should have been October 2021.

My goal was to be worth 1 million before I paid off my student loans. We are at 1.7 million, so I guess I achieved my goal.

This loan forgiveness program is probably the only one that makes sense as it is not a giveaway for nothing....it is an inducement and essentially part of benefits package to attract and retain employees. 

That said and good for you, the bolded part is ridiculous and another example of how dumb the federal government is.    No payment is not a payment and shouldn't be counted as such, and there shouldn't be a refund.  Surely you would have reached the milestone anyway and if it me I would be happy about it as well and certainly wouldn't complain. 

In a more reasonable country (like Norway) they'd realize that educating the masses is a net benefit and not try to profit on it.  Glad this worked out but still think it's ridiculous that you went in to debt becoming a more valuable asset for the country LOL

This argument is only partially true - yes, Norway provides free tuition/fees but there is still housing and other related costs and Norway is quite expensive.  Most in-state tuitions throughout the US are not prohibitively expensive (and some even are free based on good grades) but all the other costs such as fees, books, meals and especially housing add a lot to the total, and I am sure it does in Norway also.   There is also community college that in many states is free or very low cost.

Also, Norway has like 5.5mil population and probably 5% of that are college age in geography about the size of most states, and states are what provide higher education so voters could advance that if it were important to them (but it would come with higher taxes).  And just like in the US, there are private universities that are full pay in Norway. 

So its not as simple as you say.   

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economista

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Re: My student loans were forgiven ($24,500)
« Reply #22 on: February 21, 2025, 12:20:28 PM »
I am so happy you got PSLF, and especially happy to hear that they still processed the paperwork after the admin change. I’ve been worried that the new administration would put a hold on that.

I have worked for the federal government since July of 2012, but only payments made while in “active repayment status” and employed by an approved agency get counted. So all payments made prior to November 2014 don’t count toward my 120, because even though I worked full time, I was also a student in grad school and therefore not in active repayment (but I made payments anyway because it was smart to do so). I’ve been part of the PSLF program since I entered repayment status and they have changed my loan servicer 3 times, each time putting me in admin forbearance for a few months. Those months I had no payments and they don’t count. I am scheduled to make my last payment in April 2025 and then I can officially submit the paperwork saying I’ve hit 120 payments. If I get fired because of the stupid Musk RIF before then I’m going to be SO MAD.

Catbert

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Re: My student loans were forgiven ($24,500)
« Reply #23 on: February 22, 2025, 10:26:15 AM »
Be sure to tell Elon, "no backsies."

lifeisshort123

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Re: My student loans were forgiven ($24,500)
« Reply #24 on: February 23, 2025, 08:05:35 PM »
I am so happy you got PSLF, and especially happy to hear that they still processed the paperwork after the admin change. I’ve been worried that the new administration would put a hold on that.

I have worked for the federal government since July of 2012, but only payments made while in “active repayment status” and employed by an approved agency get counted. So all payments made prior to November 2014 don’t count toward my 120, because even though I worked full time, I was also a student in grad school and therefore not in active repayment (but I made payments anyway because it was smart to do so). I’ve been part of the PSLF program since I entered repayment status and they have changed my loan servicer 3 times, each time putting me in admin forbearance for a few months. Those months I had no payments and they don’t count. I am scheduled to make my last payment in April 2025 and then I can officially submit the paperwork saying I’ve hit 120 payments. If I get fired because of the stupid Musk RIF before then I’m going to be SO MAD.

I fully get that, but you are so close... don't lose hope...

and if you do... go work for a non-profit for two months (or less) while you figure out the next steps... Any loss of pay would be well worth it to have the loans forgiven...

I actually think long term the entire system needs to be reevaluated... SO many people pay for years and years only to have these loans not actually being reduced... that is ridiculous.... There needs to be a pathway out of debt for folks tho take on student loans... especially people in their teens and twenties who have fallen for deceptive marketing (though I do think Gen Z is getting much smarter about this as the con has been revealed).  On the other hand, having the federal government forgive limitless amounts of debt doesn't in my view seem to be a good social policy.  Even the Obama administration proposed capping PSLF at around $50k (which was not approved by congress so the limitless forgiveness continues).

Not sure Washington is capable of serious policy conversations (or has been for a long time either, if ever), but I think the entire Higher Ed system nationwide is going through some serious pressures that need to be considered.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!