Even with student loan forgiveness on hold in 2025, thousands still received — here’s how

In 2025, student loan rules changed a lot during President Donald Trump’s first year of his second term. Many loan forgiveness programs were stopped or changed, and this confused many borrowers. Even so, about 121,000 people still had their student loans forgiven in 2025.

This number is lower than in past years under President Joe Biden, but it is still higher than older years. Student loan payments take up a lot of monthly money, so loan forgiveness helps people spend on family, save money, and pay for daily needs.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)

Around 117,280 borrowers had their loans forgiven through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program in 2025. PSLF helps people working in public service jobs after they make payments for 10 years. Investopedia calculated these numbers using Education Department data and court documents.


Under President Joe Biden, an average of 267,500 borrowers per year got forgiveness through PSLF. Biden’s total PSLF forgiveness reached nearly 1.07 million borrowers, which was a record. Before Biden, only about 7,000 borrowers had ever received PSLF forgiveness in the program’s history.

Income-based repayment plans

In 2025, about 3,570 borrowers got loan forgiveness through the Income-Based Repayment (IBR) plan. There are three income-driven plans: ICR, PAYE, and IBR. These plans forgive remaining loan balances after 20 or 25 years of payments based on income. Most of 2025 saw forgiveness paused because of a lawsuit questioning the plans. Early in 2025, forgiveness was paused for ICR and PAYE plans.

In July 2025, forgiveness was also paused for the IBR plan. Forgiveness under income-driven plans restarted in October 2025. From Nov. 1 to Dec. 31, 2025, at least 3,570 borrowers received forgiveness through IBR, as per Investopedia. No borrowers received forgiveness through ICR or PAYE by the end of 2025.

Comparison with past years

The Education Department does not publish full data on income-driven forgiveness. Before the Biden administration, only 50 borrowers ever received forgiveness under income-driven plans. Under Biden, about 1.04 million borrowers got forgiveness through income-driven plans.

That averaged almost 260,000 borrowers per year under Biden. In 2025, forgiveness under Trump was less than 1.4% of Biden’s yearly average, as noted by Investopedia. This shows that even with pauses and legal challenges, some borrowers still benefited from student loan forgiveness in 2025, mainly through public service jobs.

FAQs

Q1. Did anyone get student loan forgiveness in 2025?

Yes, about 121,000 borrowers still received student loan forgiveness in 2025, mainly through public service programs.

Q2. Why was student loan forgiveness paused in 2025?

Forgiveness was paused because of policy changes and court cases that challenged income-based repayment plans.