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Many student loan borrowers<\/a> have hit a repayment obstacle: The U.S. Department of Education denied their application to switch into a new payment plan.<\/p>\n The department rejected 327,955 borrower requests to be enrolled in an income-driven repayment plan<\/a> in August alone, according to a Dec. 15 court filing<\/a>. <\/p>\n The denials mean many of these borrowers may remain stuck in their prior repayment plan with a higher monthly payment, or in an interest-accruing forbearance. As of the end of November, another 802,730 IDR plan applications remain pending<\/a> with the Education Department. <\/p>\n Millions of student loan holders rely on IDR plans to afford their payments and eventually, to emerge from their debt. The plans cap borrowers\u2019 monthly bills at a share of their discretionary income, and lead to debt cancellation after a certain period, typically 20 years or 25 years. Those pursuing the popular Public Service Loan Forgiveness<\/a> program, which leads to debt erasure for public servants after a decade, also typically need to be enrolled in an IDR plan. <\/p>\n Consumer advocates said they were alarmed by the number of denials.<\/p>\n \u201cThis could cause further delays \u2014 losing out on qualifying months for Public Service Loan Forgiveness and IDR cancellation \u2014 and many of these borrowers will wind up paying a higher amount each month,\u201d said Persis Yu, deputy executive director and managing counsel at Protect Borrowers. <\/p>\n More than 42 million Americans hold student loans, and the outstanding debt exceeds\u00a0$1.6 trillion<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Education Department did not respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n