Some student loan borrowers are unable to view their loan forgiveness progress online. The Department of Education has temporarily suspended calculations for income-based repayment plans and the Public Service Student Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program.
The move follows major changes to student loan programs made by the Trump administration. In particular, new restrictions have been implemented for the Public Service Student Loan Forgiveness Program. As a result, many people are currently unable to access the forgiveness eligibility calculations and related information.
Why are forgiveness calculations unavailable?
The official Department of Education website, StudentAid.gov, has now removed the forgiveness calculations for borrowers enrolled in the Public Service Student Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) and Income-Based Repayment (IDR) programs.
The website was originally created by the Biden administration. Its main purpose was to help borrowers directly view their total payment details, how many months have passed, and how much progress they have made.
That calculation information is now temporarily unavailable. This may be due to some maintenance or change actions the department is taking. As a result, borrowers are currently unable to clearly understand their status in the forgiveness program.
Background for the MOHELA Notice and Calculation Removal
An automated notification from MOHELA customer service stated that the forgiveness calculation details available on Studentaid.gov for the Public Service Student Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) and Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) programs have been temporarily removed.
Furthermore, MOHELA representatives are unable to provide a clear explanation to customers in this regard. Therefore, they are advised to continue to visit Studentaid.gov for more information.
The reason for this action is not currently clear. But this is not a new situation. Last spring, the IDR calculation found on Studentaid.gov was temporarily removed in order to correct it after it was affected by incorrect information. What happened now may be a similar maintenance operation.
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Elizabeth Warren’s Response and Service Restoration Assurance
Senator Elizabeth Warren has expressed concern about the lack of student loan forgiveness calculation information on Studentaid.gov. She has long campaigned for the benefit of minority and middle-income borrowers, and said that Education Secretary Linda McMahon has agreed to restore the service.
She said that Secretary McMahon has assured that the IDR calculation tracking feature, which was removed under the Trump administration, will now be added to Studentaid.gov.
Despite this assurance, many borrowers are currently unable to see their forgiveness progress and are confused. There has been no specific announcement yet on when the information will be restored.
Suspended Student Loan Forgiveness Programs
Effective February 2025, student loan forgiveness processes for income-based repayment plans such as SAVE, PAYE, and ICR have been temporarily suspended.
The Department of Education said in a statement in April that these programs were not legally created by Congress, and therefore, the forgiveness programs for these programs have been suspended due to a lack of legal basis.
In contrast, the Income-Based Repayment (IBR) program is the only one created by Congress, so the forgiveness program for it continues to operate. Additionally, if borrowers have already made payments to PAYE, SAVE, or ICR programs and enroll in the IBR program, those payments will also be considered for IBR forgiveness, the Department of Education said.
This means that while no new forgiveness is currently being granted, past payments have not been wasted, and borrowers who continue to be enrolled in the IBR program will still be eligible.
As a result, student borrowers continue to be unable to view their loan forgiveness calculations and progress on Studentaid.gov. While the Department of Education and the administration have promised to restore this service, there has been no firm timeline announced for when it will be implemented. This has caused confusion among many creditors and uncertainty about next steps.