Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, attends a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Washington. The Education Department recently confirmed that it has rescinded some qualifying PSLF payments, impacting borrowers’ eligibility for student loan forgiveness. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
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The Education Department has publicly confirmed that it is reversing some student loan forgiveness credit borrowers had received toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness. The admission follows mass confusion last week as borrowers began reporting that their qualifying payment counts for the PSLF program had suddenly dropped, pushing them further away from being eligible to discharge their student loans.
PSLF is a popular program that allows borrowers to qualify for student loan forgiveness after 120 “qualifying payments,” which is the equivalent of 10 years. Payments must be made on Direct federal student loans under specific repayment plans (mostly income-driven repayment plans) while the borrower is employed for certain nonprofit or government organizations. Any remaining student loan balance can be discharged after the borrower has made 120 qualifying payments (and those payments don’t have to be consecutive).
Last week, borrowers began reporting that their qualifying PSLF payment counts had suddenly and inexplicably been reduced by the Education Department. Customer service agents at the department’s Federal Student Aid call centers had initially told borrowers that the sudden drop in student loan forgiveness credit was due to an unspecified data error. But now, the department appears to be acknowledging that at least some of the rescinded PSLF credit was deliberate, and was intended to resolve “errors” in the department’s data systems. Here’s the latest.
Reversed Student Loan Forgiveness Credit Originally Attributed To PSLF Data Error
Borrowers with student loans on track for PSLF began reporting last week that their PSLF payment counts had suddenly been reduced. Some borrowers received official notices from the Education Department’s Office of Federal Student Aid, informing them of a “Qualifying Payment Count Reduction,” and detailing specific months that had counted toward student loan forgiveness, but were no longer eligible. That, in turn, pushed them further away from their student loan forgiveness eligibility date.
Some borrowers concerned about the sudden changes called the department’s FSA call centers, and reported on public forms like Reddit that FSA call center staff indicated the problem was attributable to a data error that would soon be corrected. The Education Department subsequently put up a banner message on borrowers’ StudentAid.gov dashboards, indicating that PSLF qualifying payment counts were “incorrect” and would soon be updated. Some borrowers also reported that their PSLF qualifying payment counts and student loan forgiveness tracker were removed entirely from their StudentAid.gov dashboard, leading to even more concern and uncertainty.
Education Department Says Some Student Loan Forgiveness Credit For PSLF Was Intentionally Rescinded
But the Education Department now appears to be suggesting that, at least for some borrowers, the reversal of qualifying PSLF payment counts was intentional and the result of department officials working to correct various coding and data errors in their systems, as first reported by POLITICO on Sunday.
“While revamping the federal student aid systems for the July 1 changes, FSA identified multiple PSLF counter code errors stemming from changes implemented in May 2024 under the Biden Administration,” said a department spokesperson in a statement via email on Monday. “These errors resulted in inaccurate payment counts for some borrowers.”
Department officials attributed the data errors to efforts by the Biden administration to rectify past mistakes involving the PSLF program through temporary initiatives like the Limited PSLF Waiver and One-Time IDR Account Adjustment, which allowed borrowers to receive credit toward student loan forgiveness that might otherwise not have counted.
“Like other missteps caused by the previous Administration, FSA has resolved the issue and already notified the vast majority of affected borrowers of updates to their payment counts,” said the department. “The Department remains committed to ensuring that every qualifying payment is properly credited to a borrower’s account.”
Scope And Details About Reversed Student Loan Forgiveness Credit For PSLF Unclear
But some borrowers are reporting that they have lost student loan forgiveness credit towards PSLF for periods that should otherwise qualify under PSLF rules, as they were in repayment on Direct federal student loans and making payments under income-driven repayment plans while working in qualifying public service employment.
“My counts are still off,” posted one borrower on Reddit. “I received no communication. Has this actually been fixed, or am I being affected by a different error, or am I just screwed??? 6 months of previously Qualifying payments are gone which means I’m now on the hook for payments for another year. I am totally devastated. I expected to be elgibile for forgiveness early 2027. I was never in SAVE, not in forbearance of any kind. Been in ICR since I graduated.”
The department has provided no specific details on its efforts to correct corrupted data, or whether the attempts to fix the underlying data problems and rescind erroneous PSLF credit is separate from an issue that has apparently resulted in some borrowers losing legitimate student loan forgiveness credit that should otherwise remain intact. The department declined on Monday to identify the scope of the data errors. Although asked, the department also did not address on Monday whether some borrowers who have lost their qualifying PSLF payments in error should expect to see those lost payments restored.
Meanwhile, the PSLF banner message on some borrowers’ StudentAid.gov dashboard that first appeared last week has now changed. It now suggests that the Education Department has not actually completed its system updates.
“Updates in Progress,” said the banner message on borrowers’ PSLF Tracking dashboard. “We continue to work on updating your PSLF payment counts and during this time period, your payment counts may shift or appear incomplete. Check back for updates periodically.”
Additional Problems With Student Loan Forgiveness And PSLF
The Education Department’s conflicting messages and lack of transparency regarding qualifying PSLF payment counts comes as borrowers are facing significant changes to federal student loan forgiveness and repayment programs, and are having to navigate an increasingly dysfunctional system. Advocacy groups for borrowers have grown critical of the ongoing failures, with some calling for a national pause on student loan payments until the problems can be rectified.
“The federal student loan system is riddled with servicing errors, payment miscalculations, and ‘glitches’ erasing years of qualifying PSLF credits,” said the Student Debt Crisis Center in a statement on X on Monday. “The truth grows clearer by the day: the Department of Education cannot maintain the system they created.”
In July, the department began quietly implementing changes to federal regulations that could make it harder for borrowers to get their student loans forgiven through PSLF, including by instituting a new rule that payments must be made on time in order to count toward student loan forgiveness. Previously, borrowers had a grace period that allowed for some untimely payments to still be considered qualifying. Meanwhile, borrowers are contending with a host of other problems including miscalculated monthly payments under income-driven repayment plans, false delinquency alerts, and incorrect information on program eligibility. Other borrowers applying for several loan forgiveness and discharge programs continue to face massive application backlogs.
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