Student Loans

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Number of student loan borrowers in default matching pre-pandemic levels

By Catherine Mueller Nearly 8 million student loan borrowers with $180 billion federal student loans are in default, according to the latest data from the Department of Education. The number of defaulted borrowers mirrors the count from December 2019, prior to the payment pause, when 7.7 million recipients with approximately $168 billion in federal student loans […]

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Tiles spelling Student Loan Debt. Cash bills and a calculator.

Nonpayment rates among student loan borrowers put colleges and universities at risk

By Marlene Seeklander More than 1800 higher education institutions across the country are at risk of losing access to federal student aid due to high rates of nonpayment by student loan borrowers. In a February 18 Electronic Announcement, the Department of Education released updated data indicating over 1800 institutions have nonpayment rates at or exceeding 25

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Comments sought on proposed changes to federal student loan program regulations

By Marlene Seeklander The Secretary of Education is seeking comments on proposed federal student loan regulatory changes, which stem from legislative action last summer. In a Federal Register Notice published on January 30, 2026, the Secretary proposes to amend some of the regulations governing the Federal student loan programs in order to implement changes that were

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Public Service Loan Forgiveness program changes happening this summer

By Marlene Seeklander Some nonprofit organizations could soon be excluded from the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program if it is determined the organization has a substantial illegal purpose. Although the final regulations were published October 31, 2025, the Department of Education just recently posted the information on the What’s New area of the Knowledge Center

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Tiles spelling Student Loan Debt. Cash bills and a calculator.

Department delays collections on student loans

By Catherine Mueller Borrowers, who have defaulted on the federal student loans, received a temporary reprieve recently with a decision to delay collections activities. On January 16, the U.S. Department of Education (the Department) announced that it will delay the implementation of involuntary collections on federal student loans, including Administrative Wage Garnishment (AWG) and the Treasury

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Negotiated rulemaking on budget reconciliation student loan provisions to continue in early November

By Catherine Mueller Despite the federal government shutdown, the Department of Education will resume negotiated rulemaking sessions on the student loan provisions which became law under budget reconciliation. Negotiators are expected to continue their discussions on the provisions November 3 to November 7. The first negotiated rulemaking session was conducted in early October and while many

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FY 2022 national default rate briefing released

By Marlene Seeklander The national student loan default rate remains at 0% for the third year in a row. The Department of Education (ED) released their FY 2022 national default briefing and, as expected, the FY 2022 cohort default rates were affected by the pause on federal student loan payments that began in March 2020.

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TPD Discharge information now available

By Marlene Seeklander The Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) discharge loan assignment process has resumed. In a July 30 Electronic Announcement, the Department of Education announced that the TPD loan assignment process has now resumed and loan holders such as lenders and guaranty agencies and schools (participating in the Federal Perkins Loan Program and servicing their

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