86,000 Public Servants Stuck In 3-Year Loan Forgiveness Queue

A new federal court filing (PDF File) shows that borrowers seeking Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) credit through the buyback process could face waits approaching three years under current processing speeds.

The latest status report from the U.S. Department of Education reveals that 86,520 PSLF Buyback applications were still pending as of January 31, 2026. During January, only 2,430 buyback applications were decided.

At that pace (and assuming no new applications were submitted) clearing the existing backlog alone would take roughly 35 months. In reality, new requests continue to arrive each month and processing times have varied month-to-month - meaning the wait time could be longer.

For public service workers who have already reached or are near 120 qualifying payments, the numbers suggest a long period of uncertainty.