The wait is over.

After 10 years of waiting for the application for Public Service Loan Forgiveness to become available, student loan borrowers can now apply to have their student loans forgiven.

Here is what you need to know.

And here is the application you will need.

What Is Public Service Loan Forgiveness?

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program is a federal program created in 2007 that forgives federal student loans for borrowers who are employed full-time (more than 30 hours per week) in an eligible federal, state or local public service job or 501(c)(3) non-profit job who make 120 eligible on-time payments.

This equates to 10 years of monthly student loan payments that are on-time and in full.

Insider Tip: Only payments made after October 1, 2007 are eligible. Therefore, any student loan payments made prior to this date would not count toward the 120 payments.

Which Repayment Plans Are Eligible For Public Service Loan Forgiveness?

The 10 years of monthly student loan payments can be made under several qualifying student loan repayment plans:

  • Standard Repayment
  • Income-Based Repayment (IBR)
  • Pay As You Earn Repayment (PAYE)
  • Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE)
  • Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR)

Insider Tip: In order to be eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, you have to make the majority of the 120 student loan repayments under an income-driven repayment plan.

Most borrowers prefer an income-based repayment plan because they can lower their monthly student loan repayment, and have a larger amount of their student loan forgiven.

In contrast, the Standard Repayment plan assumes that all your student loans will be paid off in 10 years.

Therefore, if you are enrolled in this repayment plan, there would not be any remaining student loans to forgive at the end of the repayment period.

Which Types Of Student Loans Are Eligible For Public Service Loan Forgiveness?

There are only two types of student loans that are eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness:

  • Direct Loans
  • Federal Direct Consolidation Loan

Only Direct Loans issued by the federal government are eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Eligible Direct Loans include:

  • Federal Direct Subsidized Stafford/Direct Loans
  • Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford/Direct Loans
  • Federal Direct PLUS Loans (for parents and graduate and professional students)
  • Federal Direct Consolidation Loans

What Types Of Student Loans Are Not Eligible For Public Service Loan Forgiveness?

If you have one of the following student loans, they are not eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness:

  • Private Student Loans
  • Federal Perkins Loans
  • Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL)

Insider Tip: Therefore, if you have a student loan that you borrowed from a private student loan lender such as Sallie Mae, then this type of student loan is ineligible.

Zack Friedman is the Founder & CEO of Make Lemonade, a personal finance site with free comparison tools, calculators and reviews to help you make smarter financial decisions and save money.

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