There is no single student loan forgiveness program. There are dozens, and the one that fits you depends on your job, your loan type, your income, and in some cases your health or what your school did. The July 1, 2026 federal student loan overhaul rewrote the biggest category (income-driven forgiveness), ended the SAVE plan, and made most forgiveness taxable again. It left the career and discharge programs alone.

This list covers every federal path we can verify as of September 2026, grouped by how much debt each one actually cancels for how many people. The first tier is where the money is. The later tiers are real but narrow. If you’re not sure where to start, use the table below, then run your numbers through our student loan calculator.

Which Forgiveness Path Is Yours?

Start with your situation, not the program name. This table covers the paths that cancel the most debt for the most borrowers, with links to each section below.

One distinction matters throughout this list. Forgiveness and discharge cancel your balance. Repayment assistance sends money to your lender while you keep paying. The career, military, state, and employer programs are mostly repayment assistance, and most of it is taxable. The tax section covers the details.

How To Apply: The Three Paths Most Borrowers Use

These programs pay out. The Department of Education’s own figures, compiled in our forgiveness tracker, show what the big federal paths have canceled so far:

Teacher Loan Forgiveness adds another $4.2 billion for 486,300 teachers through FY2024. Every one of these programs is free to apply for through StudentAid.gov and your servicer. These are the steps for the three that cover the majority of borrowers; the program sections below cover the rest.

Tier 1

Federal Student Loan Forgiveness Programs That Cancel Your Balance

These paths account for nearly all of the federal student loan debt that actually gets erased. Federal Student Aid data compiled by Student Loan Planner shows PSLF alone had discharged $87.6 billion for 1,183,600 borrowers through September 30, 2025, per FSA’s PSLF reporting. Every program in this tier requires federal Direct Loans (or consolidation into them).

Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)

PSLF forgives your remaining Direct Loan balance, tax-free, after 120 qualifying monthly payments while working full-time for a qualifying employer. Qualifying employers are any federal, state, local, or tribal government agency and any 501(c)(3) nonprofit. The payments have to be made under an income-driven plan (IBR or RAP for new enrollments; PAYE and ICR until they sunset) or the 10-year Standard plan. Our PSLF qualification breakdown walks through the employer, loan, and payment tests.

Two things changed in 2026. Starting July 1, 2026, a payment only counts if it’s made on time, after the bill is issued and by the due date, under the Department of Education’s final rule. And in August, the Department corrected a counting error that had credited months spent in general or hardship forbearance since May 2024, so some borrowers saw their PSLF counts drop.

The four reasons PSLF forms get denied haven’t changed, according to Federal Student Aid’s PSLF data reports:

1. Not enough qualifying payments yet. The form was filed before 120, or months in the wrong plan or in forbearance didn’t count.
2. Missing or mismatched employer information. EIN, dates, or signature problems on the employment certification.
3. Loans that aren’t Direct Loans. FFEL and Perkins loans have to be consolidated before they count.
4. Employment dates that don’t cover the payments claimed. A gap between jobs, or a certification that ends before the payment period does.

Three of the four are paperwork, which is why our PSLF walkthrough recommends certifying employment every year rather than waiting until payment 120.

PSLF Buyback

Buyback lets you pay for months you spent in deferment or forbearance while working for a qualifying employer, so those months count toward your 120. It’s the main route for borrowers who sat in the SAVE forbearance from 2024 through 2026, since those months earned no PSLF credit on their own. You need 120 months of approved qualifying employment before you can apply, and the buyback amount is calculated using the income-driven plan you were on before SAVE, not SAVE’s formula.

The backlog is the problem. About 88,000 buyback requests were pending as of April 30, 2026, according to the Department’s court-ordered status report, and the Department stopped publishing those reports after May. Approval rates run around 96%, but borrowers who applied in late 2024 were still waiting in August 2026. Periods spent on RAP or the new Tiered Standard plan cannot be bought back.

Temporary Expanded PSLF (TEPSLF)

TEPSLF covers borrowers who had qualifying employment and 120 payments but were on the wrong repayment plan (Graduated or Extended, for example). Congress funded it with about $800 million starting in 2018, first-come, first-served. Federal Student Aid data shows $0.3 billion paid out to 7,300 borrowers through mid-2025, per our forgiveness tracker, and by our estimate roughly half of the money is now spent or committed to approved borrowers. At the current pace that leaves two to three years before the fund runs out, and the Department will not announce the end in advance. Our TEPSLF walkthrough explains how to request it, which is now done through the standard PSLF form.

Income-Driven Repayment Forgiveness

Every income-driven plan forgives whatever balance is left at the end of its term. The July 2026 overhaul cut the menu from four plans to two for new enrollments, and it changed the terms for everyone. Which plan you can use depends on when your loans were disbursed, and our IDR plan comparison covers the full decision.

Income-Based Repayment (IBR) is the legacy plan that survived. If you borrowed before July 1, 2026, you can enroll in IBR: 10% of discretionary income with forgiveness after 20 years if you were a new borrower on or after July 1, 2014, or 15% and 25 years if you borrowed earlier. The “partial financial hardship” test that used to block higher earners from enrolling was removed by the 2025 law, after a delay for system issues. Payments are capped at the 10-year Standard amount.

The Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) is the new plan and the only income-driven option for loans first disbursed on or after July 1, 2026. Payments run from $10 a month at $10,000 of AGI or less up to 10% of AGI above $100,000, minus $50 per dependent, with unpaid interest waived and up to $50 a month matched toward principal. Forgiveness comes after 360 qualifying payments, or 30 years. Our RAP explainer and RAP calculator cover the formula.

PAYE and ICR still exist for borrowers already enrolled, but both sunset by July 1, 2028. ICR borrowers move to IBR and keep their payment counts. Our PAYE and ICR pages explain what enrolled borrowers should do before then. Parent PLUS loans are excluded from RAP, and consolidations disbursed after June 30, 2026 lost access to IBR too, which closed the double-consolidation path for parents.

SAVE is over. A federal appeals court ordered the plan terminated in March 2026, and servicers began sending 90-day exit notices on July 1. Borrowers who don’t pick a plan get moved to Standard. The forbearance months never counted toward forgiveness, and choosing between RAP and IBR is the decision every former SAVE borrower has to make.

IDR forgiveness is taxable again. The federal tax exclusion for income-driven forgiveness expired December 31, 2025. Anyone reaching 20, 25, or 30 years from here on owes federal income tax on the canceled amount, as we detailed when the tax bomb returned. Borrowers who hit their forgiveness date before 2026 but were processed later won’t get a 1099-C, under the terms of the AFT settlement.

Total And Permanent Disability (TPD) Discharge

If you can’t work because of a disability, the Department discharges your federal loans and TEACH Grant obligations. Three routes qualify under 34 CFR 685.213: certification from a physician, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, or licensed psychologist; Social Security documentation showing SSDI or SSI with a review scheduled five to seven years out (or other qualifying criteria); or a VA determination of unemployability due to a service-connected disability. Our disability discharge explainer covers the automatic matching the Department does with SSA and VA records.

There’s a three-year monitoring period after discharge, but income is no longer checked. The only thing that reinstates the loans is taking out a new Direct Loan or TEACH Grant within those three years. TPD discharge is permanently tax-free under the 2025 law, which also made the exclusion apply to private student loans that offer it.

Closed School Discharge

If your school closed while you were enrolled, or within 180 days after you withdrew, and you didn’t finish your program elsewhere through a teach-out or transfer, your federal loans for that program can be discharged. The Department also discharges automatically one year after closure for borrowers who haven’t re-enrolled. The borrower defense and closed-school process runs through your servicer.

Borrower Defense To Repayment

Borrower defense cancels federal loans when a school misled you or broke state law in a way that caused you to borrow. The 2022 rule that would have made claims easier remains blocked by the courts, and the 2025 law delayed it to 2035, so claims are decided under the 1994 or 2016 standards depending on when you borrowed, according to the Department’s current process. Our borrower defense application walkthrough explains which standard applies to you.

The Sweet v. McMahon settlement is still being worked through. Class members whose decisions the Department missed by its deadlines are entitled to full settlement relief, with notices sent in March and June 2026. About 170,000 post-class claims remain in the queue.

False Certification Discharge

If someone took out a federal loan in your name through identity theft, or the school forged your signature or certified you for a loan you weren’t eligible for, you can have it discharged. File a police report, then submit the false certification application through your servicer. Our defrauded-borrower page has the forms.

Death Discharge

Federal student loans, including Parent PLUS loans, are discharged when the borrower dies (or, for Parent PLUS, when the student dies). The discharge is permanently tax-free under the 2025 law. Private loans are different, and what happens to student loans when you die depends on the lender and whether there’s a cosigner, who can be left with the full balance.

Bankruptcy Discharge

Student loans can be discharged in bankruptcy, but only if you prove “undue hardship” through an adversary proceeding. The Justice Department’s November 2022 guidance, which lets borrowers submit an attestation form instead of litigating every factor, is still in effect, and the DOJ reported that 87% of the first 652 cases under it ended in full or partial discharge. Our student loan bankruptcy explainer covers when it’s worth hiring an attorney who does this work.

Tier 2

Career-Based Student Loan Repayment Programs

These programs pay your lender directly in exchange for a service commitment, in nearly every case at a designated shortage site. Nearly all of them are taxable unless the program says otherwise. Health care has the most money by far, and our graduate school forgiveness list goes deeper on the professional-degree programs.

Health Care

National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Loan Repayment Program. Up to $75,000 for a two-year full-time commitment in primary care at a Health Professional Shortage Area site ($80,000 with the Spanish-language enhancement), or $50,000 for behavioral health and dental. Half-time awards are half those amounts. NHSC awards are tax-free, and the 2026 application cycle closed with awards issued by September 30. Our doctor forgiveness breakdown compares NHSC to PSLF for physicians.

NHSC Students to Service. Up to $120,000 for final-year medical, dental, and nursing students who commit to three years at an NHSC site, plus a $40,000 supplement for maternity care target areas. The next cycle is listed as “opening soon.”

NHSC Substance Use Disorder and Rural Community programs. Up to $75,000 (SUD Workforce) or $100,000 (Rural Community) for three-year commitments at approved treatment sites, per HRSA. Both cycles closed for 2026.

Nurse Corps Loan Repayment Program. Pays 60% of your unpaid nursing education debt over two years, with an optional third year for another 25%, for RNs, APRNs, and nurse faculty at critical shortage facilities. HRSA notes the awards are not tax-exempt. Our nurse forgiveness page covers the state programs that stack with it.

Faculty Loan Repayment Program. Up to $40,000 over two years for health-professions faculty from disadvantaged backgrounds, plus funding to offset the tax, through HRSA.

NIH Loan Repayment Programs. Up to $50,000 per year for researchers who commit at least half their time to qualifying biomedical or behavioral research at a nonprofit or government institution. The extramural cycle opened September 1, 2026 and closes November 19, 2026, with awards starting July 2027.

Indian Health Service Loan Repayment Program. Up to $50,000 for an initial two-year commitment at an Indian health facility, with annual extensions until the debt is repaid. The FY2027 competition opens October 1, 2026.

Legal

DOJ Attorney Student Loan Repayment Program (ASLRP). $6,000 per year, $60,000 lifetime, paid directly to the lender for Justice Department attorneys with at least $10,000 in federal loans who sign a three-year service agreement. The 2026 cycle closed May 15; 2027 dates post in the spring. Our lawyer forgiveness page covers law school LRAPs too.

John R. Justice Program. Up to $10,000 per year and $60,000 lifetime for state and federal public defenders and prosecutors with a three-year commitment, administered through state agencies. The FY2025 solicitation totaled $2.46 million nationally, and no FY2026 solicitation had been posted as of September 2026.

Federal Employees

Federal Student Loan Repayment Program. Agencies can pay up to $10,000 per year and $60,000 total toward an employee’s federal loans in exchange for a three-year service agreement. It’s a recruitment tool, not an entitlement: in calendar year 2024, 36 agencies paid $150.8 million to 16,851 employees, an average of $8,951 each, according to OPM’s annual report. The payments are taxable. Our employer repayment assistance list includes federal agencies alongside private companies.

Veterinarians

USDA Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program. Up to $40,000 per year for three years for veterinarians who practice in a USDA-designated shortage area. The FY2026 cycle closed March 5, 2026, with service starting January 1, 2027. Awards are reported on a 1099-G and are taxable.

Teachers

Teacher Loan Forgiveness. Up to $17,500 for secondary math, science, and special education teachers, or $5,000 for other teachers, after five consecutive full academic years at a low-income school listed in the Teacher Cancellation Low Income Directory. It’s tax-free, but the same five years can’t also count toward PSLF, so most teachers with large balances are better off on PSLF alone. A bill to allow both is pending in the Senate and has not moved.

Tier 3

Military Student Loan Repayment

Every branch offers loan repayment as an enlistment incentive, but the terms are set at enlistment, tied to specific occupations, and in most cases require giving up the Montgomery GI Bill. Payments are taxable. Our military borrower resource covers the interest-rate cap and PSLF rules that apply to service members on top of these.

Army College Loan Repayment Program. Up to $65,000 for active-duty enlistees in critical specialties: 33⅓% of the balance or $1,500 per year, whichever is greater, for three years, per Army benefits. The Army Reserve version pays up to $20,000 on a six-year enlistment. Army JAG officers can get up to $65,000, and Army health professionals can get repayment that goarmy.com lists at up to $250,000 depending on specialty.

Navy Loan Repayment Program. Up to $65,000 on federal loans only, available at enlistment and reenlistment for qualifying ratings, per navy.com. Navy health professionals can get up to $40,000 per year, less about 22% withheld for federal tax.

Air Force and Space Force. The enlisted College Loan Repayment Program pays 33⅓% of unpaid principal per year, up to $21,664.50 annually for three years, according to airforce.com. Air Force JAG offers up to $65,000 over three years after the first year of service, contingent on funding.

National Guard and Reserves. The Army National Guard Student Loan Repayment Program pays up to $50,000 (15% or $500 per year, whichever is greater) on a six-year commitment in a critical-skill vacancy. The Air Force Reserve program caps at $3,500 per year and $20,000 lifetime, per ARPC.

Tier 4

State Student Loan Forgiveness Programs

Nearly every state runs at least one repayment program, and most target health care, teaching, or rural work. A few are broader. Our state-by-state directory lists every program we track; these are the ones worth knowing about even if you don’t live there.

Maine Student Loan Repayment Tax Credit. A refundable credit of up to $2,500 per year and $25,000 lifetime for Maine residents paying on loans for an associate, bachelor’s, or graduate degree, per Maine Revenue Services. It’s the closest thing any state has to universal forgiveness.

Maryland SmartBuy 3.0. Pays off up to $25,000 in student debt (raised from $20,000 in June 2026) for first-time homebuyers who finance through the state’s mortgage program, per Maryland DHCD.

California State Loan Repayment Program. $50,000 for a two-year full-time commitment at a qualifying health site, with $20,000 extensions. The 2026 cycle closed September 15; the next opens July 2027.

New York Get On Your Feet. Covers 24 months of income-driven payments for recent graduates earning under $50,000, but HESC lists the program as postponed until fall 2026.

Kansas Rural Opportunity Zones closed to new applicants June 30, 2026. Existing participants continue receiving up to $15,000 over five years.

State programs come with a state tax question too. Several states tax forgiven student debt even when the federal government doesn’t.

Tier 5

Employer Student Loan Repayment Assistance

The 2025 law made the Section 127 exclusion permanent: employers can pay up to $5,250 per year toward your student loans tax-free, and the cap is indexed to inflation starting in 2027, according to the National Association of Tax Professionals. That removed the main reason companies hesitated. Our list of employers offering student loan repayment is updated as programs change.

The benefit is still uncommon. The International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans found 14% of employers offered it in 2024, up from 4% in 2019. Among the larger programs: Fidelity pays up to $15,000 for full-time employees, Google matches up to $2,500 per year, and Chipotle matches student loan payments with up to a 4% 401(k) contribution under the SECURE 2.0 provision that treats loan payments like retirement deferrals. Ask HR before you assume your employer doesn’t offer something; SECURE 2.0 matches in particular are new and under-advertised.

Tier 6

Volunteer Student Loan Forgiveness (AmeriCorps)

AmeriCorps Segal Education Award. Completing a term with AmeriCorps State and National, VISTA, or NCCC earns an education award you can apply to qualified federal or state student loans or to future tuition. The full-time award is tied by law to the maximum Pell Grant for the fiscal year your term is approved, a link written into the program by the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act of 2009, so it moves whenever Congress adjusts Pell. For 2025–2026 that figure is $7,395, per AmeriCorps. Shorter terms earn a set percentage of the full-time award based on the minimum hours required:

• Full-time (1,700+ hours): 100%, or $7,395 for 2025–2026
• Three-quarter time (1,200+ hours): 70%
• Half-time (900+ hours): 50%
• Reduced half-time (675+ hours): about 39%
• Quarter-time (450+ hours): about 26%
• Minimal time or summer associate (300+ hours): about 21%
• Abbreviated time (100+ hours): about 5.6%

The award is subject to federal and state income tax in the year you use it, and interest that accrued on qualified loans during service can be paid separately on request.

Casual volunteering doesn’t qualify for anything. The award can also pay future tuition, so it’s worth more to someone heading to graduate school than to someone whose remaining balance is already small.

Programs That Are Limited, Ended, Or Overstated

Several programs still show up in search results and forgiveness lists but cancel very little debt today. We keep them here so you know what they actually are.

Perkins Loan Cancellation. No new loans since 2017 Existing Perkins borrowers can still cancel up to 100% over five years (15%, 15%, 20%, 20%, 30%) for qualifying work: teaching in a shortage field or low-income school, nursing, law enforcement, firefighting, Head Start, child and family services, and several others under 34 CFR 674.53. Apply through the school that made the loan. Our Perkins repayment page has the full profession list.

SEMA Loan Forgiveness Program. $2,000, 10 recipients This is a $2,000 award from the SEMA Memorial Scholarship Fund for employees of member companies in the automotive aftermarket, not a government program. Ten people received it in 2026. Applications for 2026 closed in April.

Broad or “hardship” forgiveness. Does not exist There is no general federal forgiveness program. The Supreme Court struck down the $10,000–$20,000 plan in 2023, and the Biden administration withdrew its hardship rule in December 2024. Nothing has replaced either, and the current administration has said it won’t pursue broad cancellation. Any company promising “Biden forgiveness” or “new 2026 forgiveness” for a fee is running a scam.

Foster parents, trade school, and other niche paths. These mostly route through the programs above (PSLF for agency employees, state programs for specific trades). We cover them in foster parent forgiveness and trade school forgiveness.

Private Student Loans

No federal program forgives private student loans. PSLF, IDR, TPD (unless the lender opts in), and every program in the tiers above apply to federal loans only. A handful of lenders discharge on death or disability, and Navient offers a school-misconduct cancellation for select borrowers, but that’s the extent of it.

If your private loan payment is the problem, the tools are refinancing to a lower rate, negotiating a settlement if you’re in default, or bankruptcy under the same undue-hardship standard as federal loans. Our refinance lender comparison covers current rates. Never refinance federal loans into a private loan if you’re pursuing anything on this list; you lose every program in Tier 1 permanently.

Tax Consequences Of Student Loan Forgiveness In 2026

The rules split into three groups after December 31, 2025. Our taxes on forgiveness explainer covers how the 1099-C works; this table is the short version.

The math. $50,000 of taxable forgiveness at a 22% marginal rate adds $11,000 to your federal bill in a single year. That’s still less than $50,000, so forgiveness is worth pursuing, but you need to plan for the bill. Our tax bomb calculator estimates it for your balance and bracket.

Insolvency. If your total debts exceed the fair market value of everything you own on the day the loan is forgiven, you can exclude forgiven debt up to the amount of your insolvency using IRS Form 982. Borrowers reaching 20- or 25-year forgiveness with large balances and modest assets are the ones this helps most, and our insolvency walkthrough shows the calculation.

What Happens After Forgiveness

Your servicer reports the loan to the credit bureaus as paid in full with a zero balance. Forgiveness is not a negative mark; the account simply closes, and your payment history on it stays. Any remaining loans on the same account stay open. If you were mid-buyback or had multiple servicers, check all three reports about 60 days after the discharge letter, and dispute any loan still showing a balance through the Fair Credit Reporting Act process.

For taxable forgiveness, the servicer sends a Form 1099-C the following January showing the canceled amount, which goes on your return as income unless you qualify for the insolvency exclusion. PSLF, death, and disability discharges don’t generate a 1099-C. If you overpaid before a discharge was processed, the Department refunds payments made after your 120th qualifying payment; those refunds have taken months in past cycles, so track the date of your final qualifying payment.

How To Avoid Forgiveness Scams

Every program on this page is free to apply for. The federal ones run through StudentAid.gov and your servicer; the career programs run through the agency that funds them. Companies that charge to “enroll” you in PSLF or IDR are charging for a free form, and the ones promising forgiveness that doesn’t exist are worse. If you want professional help, pay a flat fee to a firm like Student Loan Planner for a plan, not a monthly fee to a “document preparation” company.

Final Thoughts

More than 80 programs, and most borrowers qualify for one. If you work in public service, PSLF is the answer and everything else is noise. If you don’t, your path is IBR or RAP with a tax bill at the end, and the decision is which plan gets you there cheaper. The career, military, and state programs are worth real money for the people they target, and they stack on top of PSLF in most cases.

Start at StudentAid.gov, where every federal program is free to apply for. If your situation has more than one moving part (two borrowers in a household, PSLF plus a career program, a large balance approaching a taxable forgiveness date), a one-time consult with Student Loan Planner or StudentLoanAdvice.com costs less than one wrong plan choice.