June by the Numbers: How SavvyFi Coaching Helped Borrowers Beat a Critical Deadline
If you carry student loans, June wasn’t a quiet month. A key deadline for Parent PLUS borrowers hoping to stay eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) landed on July 1 – and a third of the borrowers we coached were still sitting in SAVE forbearance, trying to figure out what to do next. Here’s what that looked like in the numbers, and in the lives behind them.
June by the Numbers
- Average customer rating: 9.66 / 10
- Average monthly payment reduction (when we could lower it): $354/month (range: $89–$630)
- Average projected forgiveness: $79,251 (range: $1,500–$270,000)
- Average timeline to forgiveness shortened (when we could shorten it): 20 months (range: 15–60 months)
But the numbers only tell part of the story.
A Deadline That Couldn’t Wait: The Parent PLUS Consolidation Rush
For borrowers with Parent PLUS loans, PSLF eligibility has always come with an asterisk. This year, that asterisk had a hard deadline: July 1. Miss it, and the path to forgiveness through public service work closes.
In June, we helped several Parent PLUS borrowers consolidate their loans in time to preserve PSLF eligibility before the deadline hit. For families who’ve spent years paying down loans they took out to help their kids through school, that consolidation wasn’t paperwork – it was the difference between a forgivable loan and a decade (or more) of payments with no forgiveness in sight.
Navigating Life After SAVE
About a third of the borrowers we coached this month came to us still parked in SAVE forbearance, unsure what came next. The rules around SAVE have shifted quickly, and for many borrowers, the forbearance period has felt less like a pause and more like a waiting room with no signage.
We walked each of them through their options – what forbearance is actually doing to their loan balance and forgiveness timeline, and what plan makes sense to move to next. If you’re in the same spot, we broke this down in detail in You’ve Been in SAVE Forbearance: Here’s the 90-Day Decision You Can’t Sleepwalk Through.
Real Borrowers, Real Results
Beth came to her session unsure whether years of her employment history had ever been properly certified for PSLF. Her coach walked her through certifying that past employment – a move that added roughly 60 additional qualifying payments to her PSLF count. She also learned how filing Married Filing Jointly versus Married Filing Separately would change her monthly IDR payment. Beth is now projected to receive $225,000 in forgiveness.
In her words:
“My coach was TERRIFIC! Very knowledgeable and kind. I was so apprehensive and anxious about my loan situation, and he was very thorough and supportive. I will be forever grateful to my organization for providing this opportunity for additional support.”
Nora didn’t realize how close she was. Her coach showed her she’s just 18 months/payments away from forgiveness — and helped her lower her monthly payment by more than $250, which will also increase the amount ultimately forgiven. Her coach also clarified the difference between TEPSLF and standard PSLF, which turned out to matter directly for her situation.
The Feedback Speaks for Itself
“Wonderful attention to detail and my coach was so respectful during these difficult conversations.”
“My coach is amazing. I’m definitely using him to more than likely do the work for me. It’s definitely worth it. I would share with another organization, as the rules for students are changing and how informative the team was.”
“He made the process understandable and the documentation accessible. I have been able to reach my goal of possible student loan forgiveness that I have been trying to do for the past 5 years.”
Why This Work Matters
Student loans are confusing by design right now. The rules keep changing. Deadlines arrive with little warning. And for borrowers who fall behind, the consequences aren’t abstract – wage garnishment and withheld government benefits are real threats hanging over real people.
What we hear from borrowers, month after month, isn’t that they wanted a miracle. It’s that they wanted someone to help them understand where they actually stand, and what to do about it – a personalized game plan they could trust, in language that made sense.
Take the First Step
If you’ve been putting off your student loans, or you’re not sure whether you’re on the right track, the July 1 Parent PLUS deadline was a reminder: these decisions have windows, and they close.
Sign up for a free consultation to see where you stand.
And if you’re part of a nonprofit collaborative or school purchasing consortium, mention it – you may be eligible for discounted services.
If you’re an employer reading this:
This is what it looks like when your team has real support – not just information, but guidance.
Because behind every number is a person who finally feels in control.
About SavvyFi: SavvyFi is a user-friendly fintech platform that makes it easy for employers to provide college savings and student loan benefits to their employees. Because the company’s platform is “zero-touch” to HR — without any complicated systems, integrations, or paperwork — SavvyFi unlocks education financing capabilities to even the smallest employers that would not otherwise be able to offer these benefits.
Disclosure: Third-party quotes shown may not be representative of the experience of all SavvyFi customers and do not represent a guarantee of future performance or success.
