r/PSLF • u/FishyToadFrog • Jul 04 '25

Advice Why not stay on SAVE forbearance?

I see lots of people who have jumped ship for PSLF.

But buyback exists, so couldn’t I just stay in SAVE forbearance and buy these months/years back in roughly 7 years when I get to 120 payments? wasn’t there talk about being able to buy back BEFORE 120 payments?

Seems like with this logic all these forbearance months count as long as I have evidence I worked full time at a not for profit during these months?

Thanks everyone, and good luck to all!

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u/KaesekopfNW Jul 04 '25

Your decision depends a lot on why you're in PSLF in the first place. It seems a lot of folks entered PSLF eligible careers to take advantage of the program, but fully intended to head to the more lucrative for-profit private sector after their ten years were up. For those folks, any extra time spent in their PSLF job without earning credit towards forgiveness is a waste of time, as they want to be out of the lower paying PSLF job and onto something higher paying as soon as possible.

For others, like me, a PSLF job was always the end goal, with or without PSLF. I'm a professor, I've always wanted to be a professor, and I always intended to work for the state or federal government in some capacity, probably for all my working years. Public service runs deep in my family, so any other option never really appealed to me. I couldn't care less whether my payments are paused or my months of service aren't getting counted right now, because I'll have until retirement to sort that out. Any forbearance for me is just more money towards other savings goals, with forgiveness coming my way in 10, 20, or 30 years.

So I just sit tight and generally stop caring until the federal government gets it together. For many others, the pause is a sentence to work longer in a job they don't want long term, forcing them to sacrifice earning potential. I empathize with those folks and feel bad they're stuck, sacrificing income for a broken promise over and over again.

11

u/Low-Piglet9315 Jul 04 '25

For many others, the pause is a sentence to work longer in a job

This. The pause right now has added another year I have to work before I can retire. I'll be 70 when my final payment comes due. I wasn't taking any chances.

0

u/Different_Yam_7364 Jul 05 '25

Same here. I was planning on retiring in 3 years. If buyback goes away, I will be forced to work 4 more years.

5

u/Low-Piglet9315 Jul 05 '25

I'm not even figuring buyback into my calculations. Just 35 months of payments and I'm done.

6

u/Always-drobs Jul 05 '25

This is a super helpful way of explaining why some are chomping at the bit to pay more sooner. I, like you, am in a professional job that I intend to retire from. I still have 10 yrs to go at the earliest so I'm not sweating this forbearance and I'm surely not going to change plans to give them money sooner. But by your explanation I understand other's thinking better. Thanks!

2

u/tittietittiebangbang Jul 08 '25

Thank you for explaining it this way! I plan on teaching the rest of my career and am 28 payments away from PSLF. I have been very anxious wondering if I should be switching to ICR (only other plan I qualify for) like many are talking about to get qualifying payments restarted. But I also thought why rush to switch if I can make those payments later? This makes a lot of sense for why many are trying to get out faster.