New ED Status Report Shows Gradual Processing of IDR, PSLF Backlog
By Maria Carrasco, NASFAA Staff Reporter
In its January legal filing, the Department of Education (ED) demonstrated gradual progress in addressing the number of pending and outstanding income-driven repayment (IDR) and Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Buyback program applications for December. However, that application backlog could soon grow drastically if a settlement terminating the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) repayment plan is finalized, which would result in moving over 7 million borrowers to other repayment plans.
The January legal filing is part of an agreement with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) that requires ED to continue filing status reports detailing the number of pending and outstanding IDR and PSLF applications. The agreement overall would offer more borrowers a pathway to forgiveness and ensure that eligible applicants are not subject to a tax bill due to processing delays, pending final court approval.
According to January’s filing, the department received 258,465 IDR applications between December 1 and 31, 2025. In December 242,655 applications were approved while 34,476 were denied, and as of December 31, ED recorded a backlog of 734,221 IDR applications.
The filing also noted that during this period, ED received 5,090 PSLF Buyback applications, approved 1,690 applications, and denied 190. As of December 31, 2025, ED has a backlog of 83,370 PSLF Buyback applications.
Since these status filings began last year, ED reported in May that there was an IDR backlog of over 1.5 million pending applications. Meaning between May to December 2025, ED reduced the backlog of IDR applications by roughly 848,000.
The backlog of IDR and PSLF buyback applications could soon balloon, experts warn, as the Trump administration prepares to terminate the SAVE plan. In a December press release, ED announced that it had proposed a joint settlement agreement with Missouri to end the SAVE plan. Under this proposal, ED would not enroll any new borrowers in the SAVE plan, would deny any pending applications, and would move all SAVE borrowers into other repayment plans. There are over seven million borrowers in the SAVE plan, according to ED.
While this proposal from ED awaits court approval, Adam Minsky, an attorney and student loan expert, estimated in his Forbes article that if the IDR application backlog grows to around seven million after the SAVE plan is terminated, it could take ED and student loan servicers 25 months – or over two years – to get through those requests at its current rate of processing.
“This influx of new applications may be unlike anything the department has experienced before,” Minsky wrote. “And at the current rate of processing, it could lead to massive delays that would make the recent IDR backlog seem insignificant by comparison.”
As part of the settlement between ED and Missouri, ED agreed to hold a negotiated rulemaking session to terminate the SAVE plan and remove it from federal regulations. ED has yet to announce when this negotiated rulemaking session will take place. Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), SAVE, along with the Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) and Pay As You Earn (PAYE) plans, will sunset on July 1, 2028.
Publication Date: 1/22/2026
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