What’s Going on with Your Student Loan Repayment?

Federal student loan servicers sometimes place borrowers into administrative forbearance when they need additional time to process paperwork, correct account errors or implement changes to repayment plans.For example, during the rollout of the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan, administrative forbearance became especially common as servicers worked through payment recalculations and application backlogs.Although the SAVE plan has since been blocked by the courts, administrative forbearance continues to be used to resolve servicing and repayment issues.Depending on the reason for the forbearance, these periods may count toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) or income-driven repayment (IDR) forgiveness.

However, administrative forbearance related to the SAVE litigation is treated differently and generally doesn't count toward forgiveness under the current rules.Let’s take a look at what we know about administrative forbearance and what it means for you.Background info: Servicers unable to calculate payments Continued confusion about student loan repayment and student loan forgiveness is due, in part, to years of changing repayment rules, court challenges and multiple federal policy changes, including the rollout of the SAVE Plan and subsequent litigation that blocked it.On top of that, many borrowers have new loan servicers.

During the return to repayment in late 2023, borrowers reported widespread communication issues, payment calculation errors and delays in processing IDR applications.While many of those initial transition issues have been resolved, servicing delays and processing backlogs continue for some borrowers.The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) reports that, in the past, student loan servicers have made it difficult for borrowers to get into the income-driven plans that would help them, as well as getting information about cancellation and loan forgiveness programs.The CFPB says that it has found past incidents of errors, delays, red tape and illegal actions that are detrimental to borrowers.

During the initial return to repayment, Democratic lawmakers sent different letters to servicers, demanding to know what measures were being taken to protect borrowers, expressing concern that none of the old issues had been resolved and that there was the potential for a whole host of new issues.Student loan servicers, meanwhile, pointed the finger at Congress, insisting that lawmakers hadn't provided them with adequate resources to prepare for the end of measures put in place during the coronavirus pandemic, nor to prepare them for a new repayment plan and to handle all of the waivers.As a result, loan servicers increasingly relied on administrative forbearance to temporarily pause payments, giving themselves more time to calculate payments and address other account issues.MOHELA administrative forbearance MOHELA was the first servicer to use mass administrative forbearance while working through backlogs of paperwork and attempting to figure out new IDR payment amounts, including the rollout of the SAVE plan.

At the time, mandatory administrative forbearance counted toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) and long-term IDR forgiveness under Department of Education regulations finalized in 2023, allowing MOHELA to temporarily pause payments without delaying borrowers' progress toward forgiveness.However, those regulations were challenged in court shortly after.And on March 10, 2026, a federal court issued an order preventing the Department of Education from implementing the SAVE Plan and portions of other IDR regulations.But the court preserved a provision of the 2023 regulations that allows time spent in certain qualifying deferments and forbearances to continue counting toward loan discharge.

SAVE-related administrative forbearance, however, generally does not qualify for PSLF or IDR forgiveness credit under the current rules.What happened with the MOHELA administrative forbearance during the transfer to Federal Student Aid? During the transfer of PSLF servicing from MOHELA to Federal Student Aid in 2024, many borrowers were placed into administrative forbearance while accounts and payment information were transferred.Unlike the SAVE litigation administrative forbearance, this transfer-related administrative forbearance should count toward both PSLF and long-term IDR forgiveness.Nelnet and Aidvantage administrative forbearance While MOHELA received the most attention during the SAVE Plan rollout, other servicers also used administrative forbearance for similar reasons.

But they sometimes took different approaches.For example, Nelnet took an aggressive stance towards placing borrowers into administrative forbearance.It previously encouraged some borrowers to continue making payments under the Standard Repayment Plan while their paperwork was being processed.Because those payments were significantly higher than what borrowers would owe under an IDR plan, administrative forbearance likely became a better alternative.

In comparison, Aidvantage didn't appear to have a trend of using administrative forbearance in a broad way.Can you get PLSF credit for SAVE administrative forbearance? If you're working toward PSLF, losing qualifying payment credit during the SAVE administrative forbearance doesn't necessarily mean those months are gone for good.The PSLF Buyback program allows eligible borrowers to receive credit for certain months that otherwise wouldn't count toward the required 120 qualifying payments.Depending on your circumstances, this may include months spent in SAVE administrative forbearance.

PSLF Buyback isn't automatic, however.You'll need to have qualifying public service employment during the affected months, satisfy the program's requirements and submit a buyback request to the Department of Education.Unfortunately, you can't request a buyback until doing so would bring you to 120 qualifying PSLF payments.If the months you're seeking to buy back still leave you short of forgiveness, you'll need to continue making qualifying payments before you become eligible to apply.

Even then, borrowers should expect processing delays, as the Department of Education continues to work through a significant PSLF Buyback backlog.Note that borrowers pursuing long-term IDR forgiveness don't currently have a comparable buyback option for SAVE administrative forbearance.What to do while you're stuck in administrative forbearance Administrative forbearance can be a helpful tool that gives loan servicers time to process paperwork, correct account issues and implement repayment changes without requiring borrowers to make payments.However, not all administrative forbearances are treated the same, and whether those months count toward forgiveness depends on the reason the forbearance was applied.

Regardless of your loan servicer, if you were placed into administrative forbearance, don't assume you requested it or that it automatically counts toward forgiveness.Instead, confirm with your servicer why it was applied and whether the period qualifies for PSLF or IDR forgiveness credit.And if you're pursuing PSLF and were placed into SAVE-related administrative forbearance, determine whether you may eventually qualify for the PSLF Buyback program once you've met the program's eligibility requirements.If you need help figuring out the best repayment strategy or understanding how administrative forbearance affects your student loans, check out our custom student loan planning service.