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PSLF FAQs

Updated

Index

 

  1. Overview

1.1 - Public Service Loan Forgiveness  (PSLF)

1.2 - PSLF Employment Certification Form (ECF)

  1. Docusign (Technical)

2.1 - Process Overview

2.2  -  ECF Routing 

2.3 -  Accepted Signatures

  1. Docusign (Completing and Understanding the Form) 

3.1-  Multiple Employment Periods

3.2 - PSLF Eligibility

3.3 - Full time vs. Part Time

3.4 - Multiple Positions

3.5 - Per Diem

  1. Support

4.1 - Borrower Support/Who to contact

4.2 - HR Support/ Who to contact

  1. Role of Employer HR & Accountability 






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Overview

 

Public Service Loan Forgiveness - 1.1

 

What is the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program? 

 

The PSLF program allows borrowers to receive forgiveness on the remaining balance on their Direct Loans once they’ve made 120 qualifying monthly payments under a qualifying repayment plan, while being employed full-time by a qualifying employer.

 

How do borrowers qualify for PSLF? 

 

To qualify for PSLF, borrowers must:

 

  • Be employed by a U.S. federal, state, local, or tribal government or not-for-profit organization 
  • Work full-time (30 hours a week or more) for that agency or organization;
  • Have Direct Loans (or consolidate other federal student loans into a Direct Loan);
  • Repay their loans under an income-driven repayment plan*; and
  • Make 120 qualifying payments.*

 

Once all of these conditions are met, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program forgives the remaining balance on borrowers qualifying loan(s).

 

*All information related to Public Service Loan Forgiveness eligibility originates from the Department of Education. For more information, visit: https://studentaid.gov/manage-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/public-service

 

 

PSLF Employment Certification Form - 1.2

 

What is the PSLF Employment Certification Form? 

 

The PSLF Employment Certification form collects information related to the borrower’s employment history. Employers must certify certain employment details, such as employment dates and average hours worked. 

 

Employees submit a Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) & Temporary Expanded PSLF (TEPSLF) Certification & Application (PSLF Form) annually or when they change their employers. 

 

This allows the Department of Education to track whether a borrower is making qualifying PSLF payments and helps borrowers determine if they’re on the right track. 

 

You can view the PSLF Employment Certification Form here. 

 

Docusign (Technical)

 

Docusign - Docusign Process, 2.1

How does the Docusign Process Work? 

  • Prior to launching the benefit, your HR team provides its preference (via the Savi Onboarding survey) on: 

    • Which HR inbox the PSLF ECFs should be emailed to via Docusign.
    • How each of the fields below should be prefilled in the form: 
      • Employer Name
      • Employer FEIN
      • Employer Address
      • Employer Status (501c3 or Government entity) 
      • HR Official Information
        • HR Official’s Name
        • HR Official’s Title
        • HR Official’s Phone
  • Employees who are Savi Essential or PRO members will receive support processing their PSLF ECF’s, digitally, through Docusign. 
  • Your HR team will only receive PSLF ECFs via Docusigns for employees who are enrolled in Savi Essential or PRO. 
    • Please note: Savi users who are not Savi Essential or PRO users will submit forms however they previously were doing so (manually, via fax, etc.)
  • Once an employee submits their PSLF ECF through the Savi tool, the ECF will be emailed to the requested HR inbox.
  • Once opened from that inbox, the majority of the form will be pre-filled, and the HR official completing the form will need to confirm the employee’s start date & end date, whether they are still employed, and their average hours/week. 
    • Please note: Dates must be entered in the MM/DD/YYYY format.
  • The HR official will then sign the form, click submit, and will receive a completed copy of the form immediately. 
  • You can check out a visual of this process here!

 

  • At what point can the ECF Docusign be downloaded? When HR contacts receive a copy? 
    • HR contacts can download the Docusign at any point when they are listed as a signer. If the signer has a Docusign account, a copy of the completed form will also be saved to that account. If the signer does not have a Docusign account, a copy of the document will be emailed to them once completed. Note, you are not required to have a Docusign account to work with Savi.

 

  • What email address will the  Docusign ECF come from and what will the subject line be? 
    • The subject line will be "SAVI Application via Docusign", and the email will come from the following email addresses:
    • Please note: Ensure that Docusign is not blocked by your email administrator, otherwise the emails might go to your spam/junk folder.



  • Will there need to be a secure log in?
    • Individuals who have access to the designated email inbox will be able to access the Docusign form from the link in the email address. The secure sign in happens by accessing the email address itself. 

 

  • Is there any password or login set up needed? 
    • No. Savi handles the setup and routing of the form, so all that is required is access to the appropriate email address. 

 

  • Will the Docusign link/ECF ever expire?
    • The Docusign link will expire after 90 days. If HR needs access to a new link, they should contact their Savi account manager. 

 

  • What questions on the form will the HR official need to complete? 
    • The HR official will need to complete questions 5-8  in section three of the form, which includes the Employment Start Date, Employment End Date, Full time / Part time status, and average hours per week worked. The HR official will then need to complete Section 4 of the form. 

Docusign - PSLF ECF Routing, 2.2

Why are the PSLF ECF forms not being sent to the HR email we requested? 

  • In the Savi tool, users select their employer(s) from a dropdown menu. Users should select the verified entry for their employer. If they don't pick the verified entry from the dropdown, they will be able to enter the email address of where they want their ECF emailed. 

 

 

Docusign - Acceptable Signatures, 2.3

 

How do HR officials sign electronically?

  • Officials sign via the Standard Docusign procedure. They acknowledge the electronic signature, sign, and hit submit.

 

What types of signatures are acceptable when signing a PSLF ECF via Docusign?

 

  • According to studentaid.gov, "Digital signatures from you or your employer must be hand drawn (from a signature pad, mouse, finger, or by taking a picture of a signature drawn on a piece of paper that you then scan and embed on the signature line of the PSLF form) to be accepted. Typed signatures, even if made to mimic a hand-drawn signature, or security certificate-based signatures are not accepted."
  • While Savi uses Docusign to collect the signature of the borrower and HR official (typically hand drawn from signature pad, mouse, finger), when Savi submits the signed ECF to the Department of Education, that is submitted as a PDF!  Below you’ll see various signature examples that are acceptable. 

 

 

Docusign Help (Non-Technical) 



Qualifying Employment - Multiple Employment Periods 3.1

 

Will multiple ECFs need to be created for employees that have left their employment and been rehired?  

  • Yes, multiple ECFs will need to be signed for employees that have left employment and are rehired. If the employee has two or more separate periods of employment, the employer should request additional page 2’s for that employee from their Savi account manager, one for each period of employment. There is no need to sign the original request. Forward the DocuSign request to your Savi account manager or to savipartnerships@bysavi.com and let us know how many periods of employment the employee has, and we will adjust the DocuSign and resend accordingly. 

 

  • What happens if an employee has multiple periods of employment?
    • If an employee has multiple periods of employment with the same employer, then Savi will send the HR multiple page 2’s of the ECF’s. So when Savi submits the forms, there will be one page 1 with the employee’s information, and then a page 2 for each period of their employment. 

 

Qualifying Employment, PSLF Eligibility  - 3.2

 

Since the PSLF program is for a 10 year period, would we need to provide original hire information for employees whose original dates of service are more than 10 years old?

  • Yes - student loan payments do not have to be consecutive in order to qualify for loan forgiveness. If their employment started and ended prior to October 2007 (when the PSLF program started), you do not need to certify it. If their employment started prior to October 2007 but didn’t end until after October 2007, then we want to make sure that is certified. 

 

  • What should we do in the cases where employees worked for organizations that  our organization acquired? 
    • As long as you feel comfortable certifying the prior employment at the acquired organization, it’s alright to certify these dates as employment and use your employer information. (This is because if the former employer doesn’t exist, there might not be a way for the employee to certify their employment dates, other than through your organization).

 

Qualifying Employment, Full-time vs. Part time - 3.3

 

How should we certify a form of an employee that has worked both full-time and part-time? Should we take the average of hours worked per week instead of just certifying FTE?

  • If the average hours worked per week over the full employment period (both full and part-time), averages out to be considered FTE, you can certify full-time employment for the whole period. This would mean that the employee gets credits for payments made even when they were below the level of FTE. 
  • If the employee worked more part-time than full-time, you should complete multiple page 2’s, one for the full-time employment and a separate one for the part-time employment.

 

Should I certify employment dates if I receive an ECF request for a part-time employee?

  • Yes, employers should certify part-time employment dates. In the Savi tool, an ECF won’t generate unless the employee has entered enough part-time employers in that period to be considered working full-time. 

 

What happens if the employee works 30 hours a week but is not considered full-time with our organization?

  • The PSLF definition of full time is 30 hours, so if the employee worked that amount, you can certify them as full-time and check that box on the form. This will not trigger any change in their employment status at your organization.

 

How should I calculate an adjunct faculty member’s hours?

  • Recent changes to the PSLF program allow adjunct faculty to multiply their hours, so they get closer to the 30 hour full-time threshold.  
  • For non-tenured/adjunct faculty, the number of credit hours they teach should be multiplied by 3.35. Ex: If the employee teaches 6 credit hours per week, you would multiply 6 x 3.35, for a total weekly hours worked of 20.1.
  • For part-time employees that aren’t adjunct faculty/don’t teach any credit hours, simply report their hours normally. Ex: a part-time employee works 15 hours per week, their form would list 15 hours.



Qualifying Employment, Multiple Positions - 3.4

 

What happens if an employee works multiple positions with the same employer?

  • If an employee has held multiple positions with an employer but has been continuously employed, you can list the original start and end dates on one page. 
  • If their employment was in separate periods, you would complete an additional page 2 for each employment period.

 

Qualifying Employment, Per Diem- 3.5

 

What happens when an employee is per diem?

  • If you don’t have access to an employee’s full history, they’ll need to check the box on the ECF that says their employer can’t verify employment. 
  • Then, Savi will ask you to send us a note on your organization's letterhead/with a signature stating the below (language can be updated). We’ll submit this note with the employee’s ECF

 

  • To whom it may concern,

This letter is to inform you of the dates worked for [EMPLOYEE NAME]. [EMPLOYEE NAME] worked for [EMPLOYER NAME]  from [DATE], as [TITLE]

While [EMPLOYEE NAME] was employed by [EMPLOYER] we used the outside [FOR PROFIT COMPANY NAME] for payroll. They are a for profit company.

[EMPLOYER NAME] is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. [EMPLOYER NAME]'s Federal EIN is [FEIN NUMBER].

 

If you need any further information, please contact me.

 

[HR NAME] 

[HR SIGNATURE] 

 

Savi Support

Support - 4.1

Who should I  reach out to if we have a question about an ECF that I received? 

  • Please send all questions to your dedicated Savi account manager. 

Who should our employees reach out to if they are unsure of the status of their docusign?  

 

  • Registered Savi Essential Users should: 
    • Go to their Savi dashboard to make sure all their form(s) have been signed by your employer.
    • If the form is pending with HR to sign, it will say “Sent to Employer” under the “Submitted ECF” section.
    • If they see an employer in the “Start a New Form” section, they should resubmit the ECF. They can also reach out to their employers to make sure that the HR email listed in the ECF is still valid.
    • If they don’t see an employer on their Savi dashboard, they should go back to the application and add the employer to their work history before returning to the ECF Enrollment Page.
  • If they have further questions, they should reach out to our team by signing into their Savi account and sending a message to our team. 



Role of Employer HR andAccountability 

 

  • Does MOHELA ask employers for “proof” of employment? 
    • MOHELA considers the employer the source of truth. The only time they might reach out to employers is when there’s information missing on the ECF. 

 

  • What happens if we fail to sign a form (for example, we miss the docusign email)?  
    • If a form does not get completed in a timely manner, Savi will follow-up. 

 

  • What happens if there is a disagreement around an employee's full-time/part-time status and (the employee disagrees with this decision of the HR team)?
    • In cases where an employee and HR official disagree on the employee’s full-time status, there are a few options, but all of them include reaching out to the borrower and/or HR contact for clarity. Overall however, these disputes are essentially between employer and employee. 

 

  • If an employee submits an ECF with error in it, what’s the process? What should HR do?
    • HR contacts should reach out to their Savi account manager with the issue and they will escalate it internally.

 

  • What happens if HR cannot find an employee in their system?
    • If you cannot match an ECF to an employee in your system, HR should reach out to their Savi account manager and they will reach out to the borrower to make sure they selected the correct employer.

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