The Trump administration will resume garnishing wages from delinquent student loan borrowers in early 2026, the U.S. Department of Education confirmed to NPR.
The move comes after a year-long pause in wage enforcement due to the pandemic.
“We expect the first notices to be sent to approximately 1,000 delinquent borrowers the week of January 7,” a department spokesperson told NPR. A spokesman said wage garnishment notices were expected to increase monthly over the course of the year.
The borrower is in arrears when he does not pay the loan for more than 270 days. Once that happens, the federal government can try to collect the debt by confiscating tax returns and social security benefits, as well as ordering the employer to withhold up to 15% of the debtor’s salary. Borrowers should receive a 30-day notice from the Department of Education before starting this wage garnishment.
Betsy Mayotte, president and founder of The Institute of Student Loan Advisors, says that while borrowers expected this, the timing is unfortunate.
“It will coincide with an increase in health care costs for many of these delinquent borrowers,” she said, referring to the increase in health insurance premiums under the Affordable Care Act that will take effect in 2026. “Those two will almost certainly put significant economic pressure on low- and moderate-income borrowers.”
About 5.5 million borrowers are currently in arrears recent analysis of the latest federal student loan data published by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a public policy think tank.
Another 3.7 million are more than 270 days behind on payments and 2.7 million are in early delinquency.
“We currently have about 12 million borrowers who are either delinquent on their loans or in default,” Preston Cooper, who studies student loan policy at AEI, told NPR.
That’s more than 1 in 4 federal student loan applicants.
Cory Turner contributed to this story.
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