A major student loan servicer said that borrowers may reapply for an income-driven repayment (IDR) plan amid a deep backlog of applications.
Why It Matters
The Education Department said there were more than 1.98 million IDR applications pending as of April’s end—a major bottleneck facing borrowers seeking a plan to make payments more affordable, particularly as President Donald Trump‘s administration walks back some of former President Joe Biden‘s efforts to forgive student loan debt.
About 43 million Americans have some sort of student loan debt, which proponents of forgiveness plans say limit economic mobility.
What to Know
The Higher Education Loan Authority of the State of Missouri (MOHELA), one of the largest student loan services in the United States, wrote in a new update that borrowers who have submitted an IDR application and are still waiting on it to be processed may fill out a new one.
“Good news! Processing has resumed for IBR, PAYE, and ICR plans,” the MOHELA website reads. “If you submitted an Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) application prior to April 27th, 2025, and your application has not been processed yet, you can now reapply at StudentAid.gov to use your IRS verified income and select an eligible plan which may expedite processing.”
The announcement notes that the borrower’s previous application will be canceled, and that they can track their applications on their StudentAid.gov account.
Applications for the SAVE plan and “lowest monthly payment” requests are still on hold, and “If you have at least 1 loan on SAVE and 1 loan on another IDR plan, your application will remain on hold and your loans will stay in an administrative forbearance,” the update reads.
Newsweek reached out to MOHELA and the Education Department for comment via email on Monday.
The department has not commented on whether borrowers should reapply, and the statement does not guarantee that filling out a new application would quicken processing times—only that it “may” help.
MOHELA previously made an announcement saying that some borrowers who submitted before April 27 did not include income information, Forbes reported. The new announcement makes no mention of income data.
What People Are Saying
The Student Borrower Protection Center issued a warning about the backlog in May: “According to the report, there are 1,985,726 pending applications seeking to lower their monthly student loan payments as of April 30, 2025. During the month of April, ED [the Education Department] only approved or denied 79,349 applications. At this rate, it will take ED over two years to process the existing backlog of applications. The report also included new information about how ED is operating its new Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Buyback option.”
Kevin Thompson, CEO of 9i Capital Group and host of the 9innings podcast, previously told Newsweek: “This affects millions of borrowers now back in repayment, many of whom applied for forgiveness or income-driven repayment caps just to keep their finances afloat. Without that relief, a big chunk of their paycheck could be taken to cover loans; money they need for rent, food, or other bills.”
What Happens Next
The future of student loans in the U.S. remains murky. There are ongoing legal cases that could result in some borrowers still having debts forgiven, like a case heading toward the Supreme Court surrounding for-profit colleges accused of defrauding students.
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