are student loans forgiven after 20 years

student loan forgiveness after 20 years feeling defeated after paying student loan debt for years and seeing you owe more than what you borrowed is normal thankfully federal loans offer student loan forgiveness after 20 years of payments in an income driven repayment plan federal student loan forgiveness after 20 years is an option if your loans are only from undergrad or you’re eligible for the pay as you earn or ibr plan for new borrowers otherwise if you have parent plus loans or loans from graduate school you’ll have to wait five more years for loan forgiveness private loans are different private student loan forgiveness options are typically limited to severe permanent disability loan discharge and death no lender for gives offers forgiveness at the end of a repayment term ahead learn ways to get federal student loan forgiveness after 20 years are federal student loans forgiven after 20 years the u.s department of education forgives student loan debt after 20 years of qualifying payments under an eligible income driven repayment plan in most cases federal student loans go away only when you make payments all types of loans including spousal consolidation loans are eligible for forgiveness after 20 or 25 years of payments accept loans in default however if you have parent plus loans or perkins loans you may need to consolidate into a direct consolidation loan before qualifying for repayment plan forgiveness typically periods of deferment and forbearance don’t count towards the 20 years needed for forgiveness however all borrowers placed in the forbearance related to the coronavirus pandemic will receive credit towards forgiveness under their repayment plan from march 2020 through january 2022 federal student loan forgiveness programs after 20 years of payments repayment plan forgiveness after 20 years happens under the following idr plans revised pay as you earn repay plan for loans borrowed while in undergrad loans borrowed for graduate school are forgiven after 25 years of student loan payments pay as you earn paye plan for undergraduate and graduate student loans most people who borrowed federal loans before 2011 are ineligible for this payment plan income based repayment ibr plan for new borrowers people who borrowed loans before 2011 are eligible for forgiveness after 25 years income contingent repayment icr plan ineligible for forgiveness after 20 years of payments federal family education loans and direct loans from undergraduate and graduate studies are eligible for forgiveness after 25 years of payments you can check your eligibility and payment amount under each plan by using the loan simulator on the federal student aid website note the payment plan you choose does not affect your interest rate your rate remains the same no matter which plan that you’re in the only way to get a lower interest rate is to refinance with a private lender refinancing causes you to lose federal benefits like loan forgiveness and income based payments so it’s not for everyone federal student loan forgiveness by loan type direct loan program loans including direct consolidation loans 10 years for full-time public service employees under the pslf program 20 years under the paye plan for new borrowers only 20 years under the repay plan for undergraduate loans only 20 years under the ibr plan for new borrowers only 25 years under ibr and icr plans ffel loans stafford loans