The Department of Education has paused certain student loan forgiveness. Here’s what you need to know

The US Department of Education has halted the cancellation of student loans in Income-Based Repayment plans, prompting concern among borrowers that their loans will not be forgiven anytime soon.

The US Department of Education has halted the cancellation of student loans in Income-Based Repayment plans, prompting concern among borrowers that their loans will not be forgiven anytime soon. The department posted a notice of the pause in an FAQ on its Federal Student Aid website earlier this month, saying that it needs to address a federal court order that affects income-driven repayment plans. “Currently, IBR forgiveness is paused while our systems are updated to accurately count months not affected by the court’s injunction. IBR forgiveness will resume once those updates are completed,” the department wrote. The department noted that forgiveness in other income-driven repayment plans are paused, but it will continue to “process loan forgiveness for the IBR Plan, which was separately enacted by Congress” in the future. The pause comes at a time of major change for the nation’s student loan system that has rattled some borrowers. Interest will start accruing on August 1 for millions of borrowers in Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plans, a Biden-era income-driven repayment option that has been blocked by the federal court order, even as payment remain halted. And President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” contains a major overhaul of student loan repayment plans and borrowing rules. The roughly 2 million borrowers in IBR plans are eligible to have their loans forgiven after either 20 or 25 years of payments, depending on when the loans were taken out. But calculating whether borrowers have made enough payments to qualify for forgiveness has been an issue for several years.