UPDATED 8/17/2021

Over the years, several missionaries employees have called the Reliant office asking for help in filling out a Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Employment Certification Form so they could have their college loans forgiven after they have paid 120 qualifying payments while working full-time for a qualifying Public Service employer or employers.  Before August 2021, the PSLF qualifications excluded non-profits where proselytizing was part of the job responsibilities.  The PSLF qualifying rules have changed to now say: "If you are employed by a not-for-profit organization, time spent on religious instruction, worship services, or any form of proselytizing as a part of your job responsibilities MAY be counted toward meeting the full-time employment requirement."  This could be great news for Reliant missionaries.  Please go to this website employees. However, only certain, select types of loans are eligible for this program. Please go to Public Service Loan Forgiveness to determine if you or your loans are eligible for this program.

If Once you have any questions about this, please contact done your research and filled out your form, your Program Team Missionary Liaison.

  US Program Team:  US@reliant.org

Liaison can help fill out the employer portions of the form. (see below for contact info).

Key Links

• Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)
• Public Service Loan Forgiveness Form Information
• Public Service Loan Forgiveness Form

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Qualifying Employer

Qualifying employment for the PSLF Program isn’t about the specific job that you do for your employer. Instead, it’s about who your employer is. Employment with the following types of organizations qualifies for PSLF:

• Government organizations at any level (U.S. federal, state, local, or tribal) – this includes the U.S. military

• Not-for-profit organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code

Serving as a full-time AmeriCorps or Peace Corps volunteer also counts as qualifying employment for the PSLF Program.

The following types of employers do not qualify for PSLF:

• Labor unions

• Partisan political organizations

• For-profit organizations, including for-profit government contractors

Contractors: You must be directly employed by a qualifying employer for your employment to count toward PSLF. If you’re employed by an organization that is doing work under a contract with a qualifying employer, it is your employer’s status—not the status of the organization that your employer has a contract with—that determines whether your employment qualifies for PSLF. For example, if you’re employed by a for-profit contractor that is doing work for a qualifying employer, your employment does not count toward PSLF.

Other types of not-for-profit organizations: If you work for a not-for-profit organization that is not tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, it can still be considered a qualifying employer if it provides certain types of qualifying public services.

Full-time Employment

For PSLF, you’re generally considered to work full-time if you meet your employer’s definition of full-time or work at least 30 hours per week, whichever is greater.

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If you are employed by a not-for-profit organization, time spent on religious instruction, worship services, or any form of proselytizing as a part of your job responsibilities may be counted toward meeting the full-time employment requirement.

Filling out a PSLF form

Please contact your Liaison when you get to page 2 of the PSLF form (shown below - found at www.studentaid.gov) to make sure you enter the correct information in the sections marked with a red X.  You may fill out the sections highlighted in yellow.

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Approved PSLF's digital signatures

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. Reliant recommends checking with your lender for their preference on signatures.

Questions?