The Good Brigade | Digitalvision | Getty Images
In recent weeks, some federal student loan borrowers have received welcome news: The U.S. Department of Education will soon cancel their remaining debt.
“You are now eligible to have some or all of your federal student loan(s) discharged because you have reached the necessary number of payments under your Income-Based Repayment (IBR) Plan,” reads an email sent to one borrower.
The notices stand out, consumer advocates say, because student loan forgiveness has become rare under the Trump administration.
Since President Donald Trump took office, the U.S. Department of Education has stopped the relief under several programs in response to court actions and recent legislation. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of borrowers find themselves stuck in a backlog of buyback applications for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, an initiative that guarantees debt erasure for public servants after a decade.
The Education Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Here what to know about who qualifies for the latest round of loan cancellation.
Borrowers must be enrolled in IBR plan
While many student loan borrowers switch repayment plans over the life of their loan, the only plan that currently qualifies for debt cancellation after a certain period is the Income-Based Repayment plan, or IBR.
That’s due to recent court actions and Trump’s “big beautiful bill,” which phases out several existing income-driven repayment plans, or IDRs.
Congress created the first IDR plans in the 1990s to make student loan borrowers’ bills more affordable. Historically, the plans cap people’s monthly payments at a share of their discretionary income and cancel any remaining debt after a certain period, typically 20 years or 25 years.
Borrowers who are receiving these latest notices have likely transferred from an IDR plan that no longer concludes in debt forgiveness, such as the Income-Contingent Repayment plan, or ICR, to IBR.
Borrowers may need up to 300 qualifying payments
To qualify for IBR forgiveness, a borrower needs to be in repayment for 20 years or 25 years, depending on the age of their loans.
IBR, which has been available since 2009, offers debt cancellation after 240 payments to those who borrowed after July 1, 2014. For loans taken out prior to that date, borrowers were required to make 300 payments before the Education Department would scrub their balance.
If you’ve been in repayment long enough to qualify for the relief but still haven’t received a loan forgiveness email, you should continue making payments, said higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz. You don’t want to be flagged as late, and any overpayments should be refunded to you, Kantrowitz said.
Borrowers who have switched repayment plans over the years may find some payments on other plans qualify toward IBR forgiveness. As long as your payments were made on an IDR plan, experts say, that time should count toward your forgiveness timeline once you’re enrolled in IBR.
Government shutdown could mean delays in relief
According to the Education Department forgiveness emails, the qualifying borrowers’ IBR loan discharges will be processed “over the next several months,” and they have until Oct. 21 to opt out of the relief.
The ongoing government shutdown could delay the loan cancellation, said Carolina Rodriguez, director of the Education Debt Consumer Assistance Program.
“That said, many borrowers may feel somewhat desensitized to these delays, given the existing backlog, which has been exacerbated by prior staffing reductions within the Department of Education,” Rodriguez said.
Have you received an email from the Education Department stating that you qualify for IBR forgiveness? If you’re willing to share your experience for an upcoming article, please email me at annie.nova@nbcuni.com.
