PSLF Buyback Backlog Stands at 88,000 After Education Department Processes 6,870 Applications in April

The Trump administration released new data on the PSLF Buyback program this week in a court filing on Wednesday. The filing, submitted by the Education Department and Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, shows the application backlog has fallen for the first time since monthly reporting began. The PSLF Buyback backlog now stands at roughly 88,000, down from 89,720 last month.

The Education Department made determinations on 6,870 PSLF Buyback requests during April after receiving 4,790 new applications that month. It processed 3,280 applications in March and 2,520 in February. The currently-stated figure of 88,000 pending applications includes duplicate requests.

There are nearly 20,000 duplicate requests for PSLF Buyback currently reflected in the application backlog. ED estimates there are 18,000-19,000 duplicates to be removed. "A borrower may receive a Buyback offer only once for a given loan," the Education Department stated in the filing.

Moving forward, ED plans to preemptively identify and remove duplicate requests. The department added that removing duplicates will not alter the substantive analysis ED must conduct for each borrower, or the order in which ED processes requests. The Education Department did not say how many of the 6,870 PSLF Buyback applications processed during April included duplicate requests.

It also did not say how many of those borrowers actually got their student loans forgiven. The department indicated it will publish additional statistics next week. The first status report one year ago for the month of April 2025 indicated a PSLF Buyback application backlog of 49,318.

The backlog later ballooned to nearly 90,000. PSLF requires 120 qualifying monthly payments. PSLF Buyback is a program enacted under the Biden-Harris administration. Borrowers can only apply for buyback once they have 120 months of certified, qualifying PSLF employment.

"The buyback opportunity is only available if the borrower already has 120 months of qualifying employment and buying back months would result in forgiveness under PSLF or TEPSLF," the Education Department stated. If approved, borrowers would be issued a formal buyback offer and would have a 90-day window to make the payment.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon testified during a Senate Committee hearing on proposed budget estimates for the Department of Education on April 28, 2026.

The article was published on May 15, 2026. @Forbes reported these details from the court-ordered status report related to ongoing litigation over processing delays.