Key insights
- Student loan payments made during forbearance periods, including the administrative forbearance related to the SAVE plan, do not count toward loan forgiveness. The SAVE plan has been struck down, requiring borrowers to resume payments under a different plan. This may strain consumer spending and savings for affected borrowers, presenting a slight headwind for the US economy.
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Millions of student loan borrowers exiting forbearance need to know that any payments made during the pause don't count toward forgiveness.
Because IDR payments vary with a borrower's wages, there's no fixed repayment term. Instead, after borrowers have made 20 or 25 years of qualifying monthly payments, any remaining debt is forgiven.
Borrowers who can't afford payments can request forbearance or deferment. Payments made during these pauses reduce the balance and accrued interest but don't count as qualifying payments toward forgiveness.
Many borrowers with high amounts of debt rely on forgiveness to help relieve their student loan burden. For many borrowers, the debt cuts into their spending and the amount they can save.
As of December 2025, about 7.2 million borrowers were enrolled in the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan.
Some states challenged the legality of the SAVE plan. While the cases were being litigated, the Department of Education placed millions of borrowers in administrative forbearance, a status that has lasted nearly two years. Any payments made during this time do not count toward the qualifying months needed for forgiveness.
Now that the SAVE plan has been officially struck down, borrowers using the plan will soon need to move to a different repayment plan and resume monthly payments. Resuming payments could be difficult for many SAVE borrowers, but it will restart progress toward forgiveness for millions.
Some other forms of forbearance and deferment do count toward forgiveness even though no payments are required:
The Department of Education is bringing back a loan forgiveness tracker for borrowers on income-driven repayment plans. This tool can help borrowers understand which months haven't counted toward forgiveness.
Borrowers eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)—those working for the government or nonprofits—can also enter forbearance or deferment. While time spent in the pauses above doesn't count toward PSLF, there are ways to "buy back" that time.
Through PSLF Buyback, eligible borrowers can cover their time in a payment pause with a lump-sum payment of what they would have owed.
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