Key Points
- The Department of Education removed the IDR forgiveness tracker from StudentAid.gov as legal challenges over forgiveness eligibility grow.
- The 8th Circuit injunction has halted forgiveness under PAYE, ICR, and SAVE plans, creating confusion for millions of borrowers.
- Some deferments may no longer count toward forgiveness, further complicating loan management for affected borrowers.
Federal student loan borrowers lost a helpful tool over the weekend as the Department of Education removed the Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) forgiveness tracker from StudentAid.gov. The tracker, launched last year, allowed borrowers to monitor their qualifying payment counts for eventual loan forgiveness after 20 or 25 years of repayment.
We echoed the warnings of advocacy groups, urging borrowers to screenshot their IDR status data. By Sunday evening, the IDR progress tracker had vanished from their dashboards. It's important to note that the IDR tracker is separate from the PSLF payment tracker, which is visible.
While the IDR tracker itself is no longer visible, there is no indication that borrowers’ underlying qualifying payment counts have been erased. However, the sudden removal leaves borrowers with less information as they attempt to plan repayment and forgiveness strategies amid growing legal uncertainty.
More Issues From The Court Injunction
The disappearance of the tracker comes at a tense moment for federal student loan borrowers. A recent 8th Circuit Court of Appeals injunction paused forgiveness benefits under the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, as well as under older IDR plans such as Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) and Pay As You Earn (PAYE).
We covered the PAYE and ICR issue here, but this same issue is trickling into other areas - such as the IDR payment tracker.
The court pointed out that while IBR forgiveness is clearly mandated after a certain number of qualifying payments, the statutes governing ICR and PAYE lack that same clear instruction. As a result, forgiveness under those plans is on hold while litigation proceeds. Borrowers enrolled in IBR remain eligible for forgiveness, but those relying on SAVE, PAYE, or ICR must wait for a final ruling.
The Department of Education may need to change the underlying payment counts that power the IDR tracker based on what the court rules.
New Concerns About Eligible Deferments And Forbearances
Compounding borrower frustration is new uncertainty over which periods of deferment or forbearance will still count toward IDR forgiveness. Under the Biden administration’s IDR Account Adjustment initiative, borrowers were promised credit for certain deferments and forbearances, including periods of economic hardship or military service.
However, with the SAVE plan and related forgiveness programs under legal scrutiny, there is now a risk that borrowers who received credit for deferments may see that credit reversed. Court filings suggest that the Department of Education may need to re-evaluate qualifying payment counts, depending on the outcome of the litigation.
In a court filing last week, the Department of Education clarified, "Periods of time spent in processing forbearance will count towards Public Service Loan Forgiveness (“PSLF”) eligibility under 34 CFR § 685.219(c)(2)(v)(H). Those periods will not, however, count towards eligibility for forgiveness due to a borrower’s enrollment in an IDR plan."
Without the IDR tracker visible, borrowers will find it much harder to determine whether they still qualify for loan forgiveness or whether they might need to recalibrate their repayment strategies.
Waiting For Clarity
The removal of the IDR tracker arrives as millions of borrowers already face administrative delays. Those seeking to switch plans or reenter IDR after SAVE’s suspension have found that the Department of Education paused all IDR processing earlier this year. Officials have promised that processing will resume in early May, but backlogs are expected to take 1-2 months to resolve.
Borrowers stuck in administrative forbearance, unable to make qualifying payments, now face a murkier path. Without access to visible IDR progress counts, many are left guessing how close they are to forgiveness or whether they might need to submit additional paperwork.
While federal officials have not confirmed when or if the IDR tracker will return, the disappearance highlights the fragile nature of student loan relief programs that can be disrupted by changing court rulings and administrative decisions.
For now, the best move for borrowers may be to document everything: old loan statements, screenshots, and deferment approvals. Until legal and administrative clarity returns, student loan forgiveness through income-driven repayment remains an uncertain path for millions of Americans.
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Editor: Colin Graves
Robert Farrington is the founder of The College Investor and is widely recognized as one of the nation’s leading voices on student loan debt and saving for college. He holds an MBA from UC San Diego Rady School of Management and has spent over 15 years researching, writing, and advising on student loans, 529 plans, financial aid programs, and saving and investing for young professionals.
Robert has been featured in the The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, NBC News, and Forbes, where he has been a regular personal finance contributor for over a decade. His work combines both professional expertise and personal experience – he successfully navigated his own student loan repayment journey and has helped thousands of readers do the same.
He is committed to making the intersection of personal finance and education transparent and accessible. You can learn more about Robert on the About Page or on his personal site RobertFarrington.com.