Student Loans

• Student Loan Empowerment Network (SLE Network): helps California residents navigate loan repayment. Anyone residing in the state can call (888) 774-2227 or complete an online intake form to receive free, one-on-one services related to managing debt, entering repayment, and financing a future education.  The SLE Network is a partnership between the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) and 14 community-based and legal aid organizations. For more information and to access support, visit the SLE Network website.  

• San Francisco Financial Counseling program: provides free, confidential, one-on-one financial guidance – including help with student loan repayment.    

• Free Consumer Rights Legal Clinics (provided by Bay Area Legal Aid): offers assistance with student loan debt problems, including default, income-driven repayment, disability discharge, and other issues. To access support, visit their site or call them at 800-551-5554.   

• The National Consumer Law Center’s Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project: publishes resource for borrowers and families such as their Student Loan Toolkit, which is a great starting point for those navigating challenges related to repayment.

San Francisco Financial Counseling, formerly known as Smart Money Coaching, has helped nearly five thousand people to address their unique financial challenges and goals, including reducing more than $4 million in debt, establishing credit, improving their credit score an average of 70 points, opening low-fee checking and savings accounts, and increasing savings by nearly $700,000. 

Our financial counselors: 

• Come from our communities and have similar lived experiences as the people they serve, 

• Trust that their clients are the best judges of their own financial situations and needs, 

• Won’t tell you how to spend your money, and instead will empower you to make informed decisions, and 

• Are trained by experts, make referrals to trusted community partners, and can escalate issues to City leadership if needed. 

Read more about how San Francisco Financial Counseling creates meaningful and life-changing financial outcomes for our community in our newest report chronicling the first eight years of the program: Building On Success: Celebrating Impacts of Smart Money Coaching and Introducing a New Chapter.

A number of programs enable borrowers to have their loans partially or fully discharged, including: 

• Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) - for full-time government or nonprofit employees who are in repayment for 10 years. 

• Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) Forgiveness - for borrowers who have been in repayment for 20-25 years (depending on their loan type and particular repayment plan) under an Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plan. 

• Borrower Defense to Repayment and Closed School Discharge - for borrowers who took out loans to attend an institution that misled or lied to secure their enrollment or that shut down during or soon after they enrolled. 

• Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) Discharge—for borrowers who have a disability that severely limits their ability to work, both now and in the future. 

• Teacher Loan Forgiveness (TLF)—for teachers who meet certain criteria including having taught for five consecutive years. Note: this program provides up to $17,500 in loan relief but will reset a borrower’s eligibility for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, meaning that payments credited towards TLF will not also count for PSLF eligibility. 

See a complete list of pathways to receive student loan relief. 

Borrowers working in non-profit and government jobs can qualify to have their outstanding student loans discharged after 10 years in repayment. For more information, and to submit an application, visit this site.

To access this benefit, borrowers must:

• Work full-time for a qualifying public service employer.
• Have Direct loans (or have consolidated their federal student loans into a Direct loan).
• Make 120 monthly payments (the equivalent of 10 years). Payments need not be consecutive, but borrowers must meet eligibility requirements for the month in which they made a payment for it to qualify.

Check out our Public Service Loan Forgiveness resources here.

Most borrowers are eligible to enroll in an Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plan, which allows them to make monthly payments based on their income and family size. 

If you qualify, and your income is below a certain threshold, you may even be eligible for $0 payments (which still count toward eligibility for current loan forgiveness programs). 

Find out more and enroll in an income-driven repayment plan here. 

You can find information about current loans and identify your loan servicer by logging into StudentAid.gov using your Federal Student Aid (FSA) ID. If you haven’t logged into the Federal Student Aid website since May 2015, you probably don’t have an FSA ID, but can easily create one.

To manage your student loan payments, enroll in a different repayment plan, or take other actions such as requesting a forbearance or deferment, log into your student loan servicer’s website.

The Office of Federal Student Aid’s Loan Simulator tool can help to estimate monthly payments under various plans and choose a repayment option tailored to your needs and goals—such as qualifying for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, making the lowest monthly payments, or minimizing costs over the life of the loan. It can also help you determine whether to consolidate your student loans.

Access the tool here.

If you are entering repayment for the first time, you will need to:

• Update your contact information on StudentAid.gov as well as your loan servicer’s website (you can identify your servicer by logging into StudentAid.gov).
• Choose a loan repayment plan best suited to your needs. You can compare plans using Federal Student Aid’s Loan Simulator.
• Enroll in autopay or manually make a payment on your loan servicer’s website.

The Office of Federal Student Aid offers further guidance on what to expect and important actions to take.  Access step-by-step guidance, FAQs, and get support here.

If you left school within the past 6 – 9 months, you may still be in your automatic grace period, meaning that payments are not yet due (note: depending on the type of loans borrowed, interest can still accrue during this time).

As policies shift, it is important to keep a record of your payment history and loan details. Save your digital and paper records in case you need to furnish proof.

You can:

• Download loan/payment history and save records from studentaid.gov
• Screenshot payment trackers on FSA.gov portals
• If you have already received debt relief, keep copies of any documents related to the discharge of your debt
• Borrowers seeking to enroll in IDR should apply and take screenshots to prove your application was submitted. Call your servicer and request to be put into a processing forbearance.

Problems with your federal student loan debt might include: 

• Challenges reaching your student loan servicer or excessively long wait times
• Inaccurate information from your servicer
• Incorrect information on your credit report related to your federal student loans, including debt that has already been repaid

Help is available!

File a Complaint with California’s Student Loan Ombudsperson
California’s Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) has a Student Loan Ombudsperson who is here to help you. Contact them with questions or file a complaint here.

Get Help through Congressional Casework
If you are having an issue with your federal student loans, your U.S. Senator or Representative’s casework team may be able to help you. You can complete a casework request for your elected officials here:

• Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (for San Francisco residents)
• Senator Alex Padilla
• Senator Adam Schiff

Note that you will need to complete a privacy waiver to allow a caseworker to act on your behalf.

Learn more about how to seek help from a congressional caseworker here: Protect Borrowers Congressional Casework Tool.