Student Loans: Trump Admin Shares New Update on Forgivene…

The Department of Education updated borrowers on Monday about the status of its application backlog.
Many borrowers remain in limbo about the applications for federal student loan forgiveness and repayment programs, and currently there are more than a million applications for income-driven repayment plans that are still unprocessed.
Why It Matters
More than 42 million Americans hold a collective $1.7 trillion in student loan debt.
While the Department of Education offers several income-driven repayment options to help lower borrowers’ debt balances, the agency has been working to fix its backlog for several months now.
What To Know
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a filing on Monday that more than a million applications for IDR plans remain unprocessed.
And the backlog for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness credit continues to grow, impacting public service workers who were unable to get the financial help due to deferment or a period of forbearance.
The original IDR backlog stood at around 2 million applications earlier in the spring, and the current number falls at 1,076,266 applications. More than 300,000 applications were processed in August.
Many borrowers have been waiting six months or longer for a decision, according to Forbes, and other publications reported that the Education Department was planning to reject more than 400,000 IRD applications as the SAVE plan continues to be blocked by legal challenges.
The number of PSLF applications has surged to 74,510, up from 72,730 last month. In April, there were less than 50,000 applications pending.
At the current rate of procession, it would take the department more than 13 months to get through the entire backlog.