1. LOAN TYPE — Confirmed Direct Loans with no FFEL/Perkins history, so no consolidation issue here — this clears the first gate cleanly. 2. PATHWAY — Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) track: Direct Loans, apparently a qualifying government employer (public school), on an income-driven plan for 6 years. This is the right pathway to be pursuing. 3. QUALIFYING EMPLOYER — A public school is a government employer, which is a qualifying employer category for PSLF regardless of the specific nature of the teaching work — this part sounds solid, but should still be confirmed directly via the PSLF Help Tool's employer search on studentaid.gov rather than assumed, since the tool checks the specific employer's EIN/registration, not just "public schools generally." 4. PAYMENT COUNT — 6 years of consistent monthly payments on an income-driven plan, if all qualifying, would put her at roughly 72 of the 120 required qualifying payments — but "roughly monthly, no long gaps that they remember" is not the same as an official certified count. The real gap here: has she actually submitted the PSLF form to certify her employment during this period? If she's been paying but never certifying, the official count could be well behind what she assumes, or could require reconstructing employment history now rather than as it happened. 5. TPD / BORROWER DEFENSE — Not applicable to this situation. 6. Not applicable. 7. HONEST ASSESSMENT — This looks like a genuinely strong PSLF case on the facts given: right loan type, right employer category, right plan type, meaningful payment history. The real risk isn't eligibility, it's administrative — uncertified employment periods are the most common way people on a real PSLF track end up with a lower official count than their actual payment history would support. 8. NEXT STEPS — Submit or update the PSLF form via the PSLF Help Tool on studentaid.gov now, covering the full 6-year employment period at this school, if it hasn't been certified recently. Do this periodically going forward (at least annually, and immediately if she changes employers) rather than waiting until she thinks she's near 120. 9. Not applicable — no FFEL/Perkins consolidation issue here. 10. WHAT NOT TO DO — Don't assume 6 years of payments equals 72 certified qualifying payments without checking the actual official count after certifying — verify it directly rather than estimating from memory of payment history.