According to CNBC, the U.S. Department of Education is reevaluating account histories for borrowers seeking Public Service Loan Forgiveness, and some have seen their qualifying payment counts reduced, pushing them farther from debt cancellation. PSLF, created in 2007, erases federal student debt for government and nonprofit workers after 10 years, or 120 qualifying monthly payments. The Brookings Institution says about 1.2 million public servants have had their debt wiped out under the program, with an average forgiven balance of nearly $75,000.

Several social media posts appear to document borrower experiences, including one Reddit user who said their payment count fell from nearly 120 to 94. Nancy Nierman, assistant director of the Education Debt Consumer Assistance Program in New York, said a few clients have seen their PSLF counts drop. An Education Department spokesperson said the agency is correcting coding errors made by the Biden administration that led to inaccurate payment counts for some borrowers and said it remains committed to crediting every qualifying payment properly.

Higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz said borrowers are not being given specific explanations for the changes, making it difficult to verify whether the adjustments are accurate. Scott Buchanan, executive director of the Student Loan Servicing Alliance, said the changes are not the result of any new PSLF policy and are due to technical accounting errors, adding that some borrowers will see their counts rise.