If you have federal student loans, now is the time to check your account—you could be years closer to loan forgiveness, or in some cases, already eligible for it. The Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) recount, also known as the IDR account adjustment, wrapped up on January 16, 2025, and has already led to $57.1 billion in student loan forgiveness.
For medical professionals with hundreds of thousands in student loan debt, this one-time adjustment could be life-changing. Here’s what you need to know about the IDR recount, how mistakes have impacted borrowers, and what steps you should take to ensure you’re on the right track.
The IDR account adjustment was a one-time program by the Department of Education that retroactively counted more past repayment periods toward loan forgiveness. It was meant to correct errors and inconsistencies in the way payments were previously tracked for IDR and Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF).
Typically, borrowers must make 20 or 25 years’ worth of payments under an IDR plan to qualify for forgiveness, while PSLF requires 10 years of payments for those working in qualifying public service jobs. However, due to years of mismanagement by loan servicers, many borrowers were not getting proper credit for their payments—causing delays in forgiveness.
The IDR recount fixed this problem by:
As a result, many borrowers jumped years ahead on their progress toward forgiveness—and some immediately qualified for loan cancellation.
For years, loan servicers mismanaged IDR payments, leading to significant errors in tracking progress toward forgiveness. Here are some of the most common mistakes:
Many borrowers discovered that their loan servicers weren’t correctly counting their qualifying payments toward forgiveness. Even if they made payments every month, they may have been marked as ineligible due to administrative errors.
Fix: Log in to Studentaid.gov, check your IDR tracker, and ensure your payment count reflects your history. If it looks incorrect, document the discrepancy and contact your servicer immediately.
In the past, loan servicers often steered borrowers into forbearance instead of enrolling them in IDR plans. This led to unnecessary interest accrual and delays in progress toward forgiveness.
The IDR recount retroactively fixed this mistake by counting long periods of forbearance (12+ months in a row or 36+ cumulative months) toward forgiveness.
Fix: If you were placed in forbearance for extended periods, check whether those months are now reflected in your payment count.
Some borrowers—especially those who consolidated their loans years ago—have missing payment records from their servicers. This is a serious issue, as it can wipe out years of repayment history, pushing forgiveness further away.
Fix: If your payment count is lower than expected, request your account history from your servicer. If records are missing, escalate your case to the Federal Student Aid (FSA) Ombudsman.
Some borrowers qualified for forgiveness under the IDR recount but have not seen their balances erased yet.
Fix: If you’ve made 20 or 25 years of payments (or 10 years under PSLF) and haven’t received forgiveness, call your servicer and ensure your case is being processed. If they can’t resolve it, file a complaint with the Department of Education.
Medical professionals working at nonprofits or public hospitals should have their payments counted toward PSLF. However, due to errors, some have been wrongly excluded from the program.
Fix: If you worked in public service, check your PSLF payment tracker at Studentaid.gov. If your qualifying payments weren’t counted, submit a PSLF Employment Certification Form and request a review.
Log into Studentaid.gov and check how many payments you have. If you’re in an IDR plan, click “View IDR Progress” to see how many payments are left.
If you’re not enrolled in an IDR plan, you can still see your progress by clicking "View Details" on your loan page.
Take a screenshot or download a copy of your progress. If there are any discrepancies, you’ll need this documentation to dispute errors with your loan servicer.
If your payment count seems incorrect, call your loan servicer and ask for a detailed payment history. If they can’t resolve the issue, escalate the case to the FSA Ombudsman.
To continue earning credit toward forgiveness, you must be enrolled in an IDR plan. The four options are:
Use the Loan Simulator on Studentaid.gov to see which plan is best for you.
If your tracker shows that you’ve hit the required number of payments, loan forgiveness should be automatic. You’ll receive an email from the Education Department and a confirmation from your loan servicer once your balance is wiped out.
If you don’t want forgiveness (for tax or financial planning reasons), you must opt out within 30 days.
For young medical professionals carrying six-figure student debt, the IDR recount is one of the most impactful policy changes in decades. Whether you’re working toward PSLF or a standard IDR plan, this adjustment could bring you years closer to financial freedom.
The most important step you can take is checking your account, verifying your payment count, and enrolling in an IDR plan if necessary. Mistakes have been common, but they can be corrected—as long as you take action.
If you need help navigating these changes, feel free to reach out to a financial advisor who specializes in student loan repayment for medical professionals. A proactive approach now can save you tens of thousands of dollars and put you on the path to financial security.
