Michael Sonn was now been denied public service loan forgiveness twice. Source: Michael Sonn

When Congress authorized a $350 million fund to help fix a popular but troubled student loan forgiveness program earlier this year, Michael Sonn was excited. Finally, he thought, he might be debt-free. However, the remedy isn't going too well. Nearly 34,000 people have applied for loan forgiveness through the fix-it fund, according to data shared this week at a conference held by the Department of Education. Just 26 borrowers have been approved. More than 20,000 applications are still pending because the borrower hasn't yet been denied public service loan forgiveness, a requirement that has been criticized by consumer advocates as an unnecessary hurdle.

Other borrowers haven't been in repayment for 10 years yet — another program requirement, or didn't hold qualifying loans. Sonn is one of the many public servants denied for the original program — and now denied again from the fund created to remedy the original program. After more than a decade of student loan payments, Sonn had learned he didn't qualify for public service loan forgiveness because he was enrolled in the wrong repayment plan. He's far from alone — 99 percent of the original program's applicants have been rejected, recent Education Department data show.