Enroll in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program
The federal government offers the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program to employees of government organizations to offer them relief from the burden of long-term compound interest and fees.
Begin online: https://studentaid.gov/pslf
On This Page
Overview
As an employee of the City of St. Louis, you may qualify for a substantial amount of your federal student loans to be forgiven.
The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program forgives the remaining balance on your Direct Loans:
- after you’ve made the equivalent of 120 qualifying monthly payments under an accepted repayment plan, and
- while working full-time for the City.
Because you have to make 120 qualifying monthly payments, it will take at least 10 years before you can qualify for PSLF.
This program is administered by the Federal Student Aid office. This page provides instructions to have the city verify your employment for the program.
Preparation
Whether you have made 120 qualifying payments or not, you should fill out and submit the PSLF form annually or whenever you change employers. Otherwise, you’ll have to submit PSLF forms for each employer you worked for all at once. It could become difficult to contact those employers after such a long time or you could discover that some of your employers do not qualify.
Before enrolling, ensure that you are qualified for the program:
- You must meet the definition of full-time employment for the PSLF program.
- Ensure your loan is eligible for the program. Any loan received under the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program qualifies for PSLF.
- Ensure you are on a qualifying repayment plan.
- Create or log into your studentaid.gov account.
Instructions
To be considered for PSLF, you need to submit a PSLF form. The PSLF Help Tool allows you to prepare and sign your form and request certification and signature from your employer electronically.
- Use the Begin Online button below to begin using the help tool. You will need to log into your studentaid.gov account.
- Use the City of St. Louis's EIN (43-6003231) to search for the City in the employer database.
- Choose CITY OF ST. LOUIS and click Continue.
- After you complete your PSLF form using the PSLF Help Tool, you can sign and submit it digitally. Check the box to sign electronically and click Continue.
- To get a digital signature from your employer, you will need the correct email address for an authorizing official. The email address to enter for the City is
personnelhcm@stlouis-mo.gov
- Once your authorizing official certifies your employment by signing digitally, your form will be electronically submitted to the PSLF servicer for processing.
Begin online: https://studentaid.gov/pslf
What to Expect
Tracking Your Forms
Once you’ve submitted your PSLF form for your employer’s signature, you can track it in My Activity. Here, you’ll be able to see whether your PSLF form is open (in progress), closed, or completed. You can select a form and learn
- if review of your employer’s eligibility has been completed,
- if your employer has electronically signed your form, and
- what next steps you might take.
After Your Form is Submitted
After you submit a PSLF Form and the PSLF servicer confirms you have a qualifying employer and qualifying loans, your loans will transfer to the PSLF servicer. Once the PSLF servicer determines how many qualifying payments you made during the employment period on your form, you’ll receive a letter telling you the number of qualifying payments you have made.
The number of qualifying payments you have made will be updated only when you submit another PSLF form that documents a new period of qualifying employment.
Once your cumulative total of qualifying payments reaches 120, the PSLF servicer will confirm your eligibility and forgive your remaining balance.
Additional Information
You will need to certify your employment every year and any time you change employers. This lets you confirm you’re on track toward forgiveness.
Contact
Department of Personnel
(314) 622-4308
1114 Market Street,
Room 700
St. Louis, MO 63101
Monday-Friday, 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM