Student Loan Debt Statistics 2026: Balances, Defaults and Delinquency
Balances, defaults, delinquency, repayment plans and state-by-state figures from Federal Student Aid and the New York Fed, updated through mid-2026, with the 2026 policy timeline and the sources you need to cite them.
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📐 Figures verified Sep 27, 2026 against Federal Student Aid's portfolio reports (data through June 30, 2026; the age, debt-size and state tables are as of March 31, 2026), the New York Fed Household Debt and Credit Report for Q2 2026 (released August 2026) and Education Department and Treasury announcements. How we check numbers →
Americans owed $1.651 trillion in student loans at the end of June 2026, according to the New York Fed, and 10.6% of that debt was 90 or more days past due. Federal Student Aid counts $1.72 trillion in federal loans across 42.3 million recipients. Of those, 9.3 million were in default, owing $234 billion, the most since its data series began in 2016.
Numbers That Matter: Student Loan Debt in 2026
| Statistic | Figure | Source | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|
| Student loan balances, Q2 2026 (all loans) | $1.651 trillion | New York Fed, Household Debt and Credit Report | Sep 27, 2026 |
| Change from Q2 2025 | +$13 billion (+0.8%) | New York Fed | Sep 27, 2026 |
| Share of balances 90+ days delinquent, Q2 2026 | 10.60% | New York Fed data workbook | Sep 27, 2026 |
| Balances newly 90+ days delinquent, four quarters to Q2 2026 | 7.83% | New York Fed data workbook | Sep 27, 2026 |
| Federal student loans outstanding, June 30, 2026 | $1,724.5 billion | Federal Student Aid, Portfolio Summary | Sep 27, 2026 |
| Federal loan recipients, June 30, 2026 | 42.3 million | Federal Student Aid | Sep 27, 2026 |
| Recipients in default, federally managed loans | 9.3 million ($234.1 billion) | FSA, Portfolio by Loan Status | Sep 27, 2026 |
| Share of federally managed dollars in default (DWS calculation) | 14.2% | FSA, Portfolio by Loan Status | Sep 27, 2026 |
| Recipients 271 to 360 days delinquent | 660,000 ($17.5 billion) | FSA, Portfolio by Delinquency Status | Sep 27, 2026 |
| Direct Loan recipients still listed in the ended SAVE plan, June 30, 2026 | 6.52 million ($354.3 billion) | FSA, Portfolio by Repayment Plan | Sep 27, 2026 |
| Borrowers owing $100,000 or more, March 31, 2026 | 3.8 million ($710.1 billion) | FSA, Portfolio by Debt Size | Sep 27, 2026 |
| Borrowers aged 62 and older, March 31, 2026 | 3.2 million ($143.7 billion) | FSA, Portfolio by Age | Sep 27, 2026 |
The Headline Numbers
Student loan balances stood at $1.651 trillion at the end of June 2026, according to the New York Fed's Household Debt and Credit Report. That was $7 billion less than in March and $13 billion more than a year earlier. The figure covers federal and private loans together, as they appear on Equifax credit reports, and it makes student debt the third-largest kind of household debt, after mortgages ($13.117 trillion) and auto loans ($1.713 trillion). Student loans are 8.8% of the $18.77 trillion that households owe. Auto loans moved ahead of student loans in the fourth quarter of 2023; for most of the 2010s, student debt was the larger of the two.
The Education Department keeps its own count. Its Federal Student Aid office (FSA) reports $1,724.5 billion in federal student loans as of June 30, 2026, held by 42.3 million recipients: $1,564.8 billion in Direct Loans (38.3 million recipients), $157.0 billion in older Federal Family Education Loans, known as FFEL (6.4 million), and $2.7 billion in Perkins Loans (800,000). Someone with loans in two programs is counted in each program but once in the total. FSA tallies every federal loan in its own system, with accrued interest, while the New York Fed estimates balances from a sample of credit reports, so the two totals aren't expected to match.
A "recipient" is the student a loan paid for. For a Parent PLUS loan, that is the child, not the parent who owes the money, which is why FSA's recipient and borrower counts differ slightly. Federal balances grew 3.5% in the year to June 30, from $1,665.6 billion, while the number of recipients was unchanged at 42.3 million.
Student Loan Debt by Year
Year-end figures show two things at once. Student debt kept creeping up through the payment pause, and the share of it that was seriously past due collapsed while no payments were required, then rebounded. At the end of 2019, 11.06% of balances were 90 or more days behind. The share bottomed out at 0.49% in the third quarter of 2024 and reached 10.60% by mid-2026.
| Period | Student loan balances (New York Fed) | Share 90+ days delinquent | Federal portfolio (FSA, September 30) |
|---|---|---|---|
| End of 2019 | $1.508 trillion | 11.06% | $1,510.3 billion |
| End of 2020 | $1.555 trillion | 6.45% | $1,566.3 billion |
| End of 2021 | $1.576 trillion | 4.99% | $1,610.7 billion |
| End of 2022 | $1.595 trillion | 0.87% | $1,634.5 billion |
| End of 2023 | $1.601 trillion | 0.60% | $1,602.2 billion |
| End of 2024 | $1.615 trillion | 0.53% | $1,638.6 billion |
| End of 2025 | $1.664 trillion | 9.57% | $1,692.6 billion |
| Mid-2026 | $1.651 trillion | 10.60% | $1,724.5 billion (June 30) |
FSA's federal total fell in 2023, the year forgiveness under income-driven repayment and Public Service Loan Forgiveness wiped out tens of billions of dollars of balances, and has risen since. All figures are in nominal dollars. The New York Fed's column is for all student loans on credit reports; FSA's is federal loans only, measured at the end of the government's fiscal year on September 30.
Defaults and Delinquency
Missed payments are where 2026 looks different from any earlier year. Federal borrowers weren't required to pay from March 2020 until October 2023, and a one-year "on-ramp" that ran through September 30, 2024 kept missed payments off credit reports. When it ended, delinquencies started landing on credit files in 2025, and loans that stayed unpaid began to default.
The New York Fed's broadest measure, the share of student loan balances 90 or more days past due, was 10.60% in the second quarter of 2026, up from 10.34% in the first quarter and up from 10.16% a year earlier. The flow of new delinquencies tells a more hopeful story: over the four quarters through June, 7.83% of balances moved into serious delinquency, down from a peak of 16.19% in the fourth quarter of 2025. Fewer borrowers are newly falling behind, although that partly reflects how many already have.
| Measure | Mid-2026 | A year earlier | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Share of student loan balances 90+ days delinquent | 10.60% | 10.16% | New York Fed |
| Balances newly 90+ days delinquent (four-quarter rate) | 7.83% | 12.88% | New York Fed |
| Recipients in default, federally managed loans | 9.3 million | 5.3 million | FSA |
| Dollars in default, federally managed loans | $234.1 billion | $116.6 billion | FSA |
| Recipients 31 to 360 days delinquent (loan-level count) | 3.47 million | 6.68 million | FSA |
| Recipients 271 to 360 days delinquent | 660,000 | 30,000 | FSA |
| Recipients current in repayment | 14.45 million | 12.76 million | FSA |
Federal Student Aid's own figures show where those missed payments end up. As of June 30, 2026, 9.3 million recipients had $234.1 billion in defaulted loans in the federally managed portfolio, which covers Direct Loans and the FFEL loans the Department holds. A year earlier the count was 5.3 million, owing $116.6 billion. Defaulted loans now make up 14.2% of federally managed dollars, and the recipient count is the highest since that series began in 2016. For reporting, FSA counts a loan as defaulted once it is more than 360 days delinquent, though a loan technically defaults after 270 days.
More defaults are in the pipeline. At the end of June another 660,000 recipients, owing $17.5 billion, were 271 to 360 days behind, and 3.47 million recipients held $101.4 billion that was 31 to 360 days late. 14.45 million recipients were current. These are loan-level counts, so a person with loans in two stages of delinquency appears twice.
Default rarely comes alone. When New York Fed economists studied 3.6 million federal borrowers who had recently defaulted, they found many were behind on other bills as well: nearly 40% of those with an auto loan, 56% of those with a credit card and 20% of those with a mortgage were past due.
Default normally brings wage garnishment and the seizure of tax refunds and part of certain federal benefits. The Education Department put those involuntary collections on hold on January 16, 2026, and it had not announced a restart date as of our Sep 27, 2026 check. Defaulted loans are still reported to the credit bureaus. The policy timeline below has the details, and our guide to what happens if you can't pay student loans covers the ways out of default.
Student Loan Debt by Age
Student debt is not just a young person's problem. FSA's March 2026 figures show borrowers aged 35 to 49 hold the most federal student debt, $685.1 billion across 15 million people. Borrowers 62 and older owe $143.7 billion across 3.2 million, up from 2.9 million a year earlier, and their average balance of about $44,900 is higher than that of any group under 35. Parent PLUS loans, which parents take out for a child's education, are one reason older Americans hold student debt at all.
| Borrower age | Federal borrowers | Balance | Average per borrower | Borrowers a year earlier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 and younger | 6.2 million | $85.6 billion | $13,800 | 6.5 million |
| 25 to 34 | 14 million | $465.8 billion | $33,300 | 14.5 million |
| 35 to 49 | 15 million | $685.1 billion | $45,700 | 14.7 million |
| 50 to 61 | 6.4 million | $312.8 billion | $48,900 | 6.3 million |
| 62 and older | 3.2 million | $143.7 billion | $44,900 | 2.9 million |
In the New York Fed's credit-report data, people in their 30s hold the most student debt, $523 billion, followed by those aged 40 to 49 ($383 billion) and 18 to 29 ($306 billion). Delinquency rises with age. Over the four quarters through June, 9.86% of balances held by borrowers 50 and older moved into serious delinquency, against 5.32% for borrowers 18 to 29.
| Age | Student loan balances that became 90+ days delinquent over the past year |
|---|---|
| 18-29 | 5.32% |
| 30-39 | 6.49% |
| 40-49 | 8.05% |
| 50+ | 9.86% |
| All ages (this table) | 7.44% |
The age breakdown comes from a separate table in the New York Fed's data, and its all-ages figure (7.44%) differs slightly from the headline 7.83%. Older borrowers face a particular risk if collections resume: the Treasury Offset Program can take part of Social Security benefits to repay defaulted federal loans.
How Much Borrowers Owe
Most federal borrowers owe relatively little, and a minority owe most of the money. As of March 31, 2026, 14.1 million borrowers, 31% of the total, owed less than $10,000, and together they held just 4.2% of federal student debt. At the other end, 3.8 million borrowers owed $100,000 or more. They are 8.5% of borrowers but hold 41.9% of the dollars, $710.1 billion, and 1.2 million of them owed $200,000 or more.
| Federal balance owed | Borrowers | Share of borrowers | Balance | Share of dollars |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Less than $5,000 | 6.9 million | 15.4% | $18.9 billion | 1.1% |
| $5,000 to $9,999 | 7.2 million | 16.1% | $52.5 billion | 3.1% |
| $10,000 to $19,999 | 9.2 million | 20.5% | $132.5 billion | 7.8% |
| $20,000 to $39,999 | 9.5 million | 21.2% | $270.8 billion | 16.0% |
| $40,000 to $59,999 | 4.2 million | 9.4% | $206.4 billion | 12.2% |
| $60,000 to $79,999 | 2.6 million | 5.8% | $177.4 billion | 10.5% |
| $80,000 to $99,999 | 1.4 million | 3.1% | $127.7 billion | 7.5% |
| $100,000 to $199,999 | 2.6 million | 5.8% | $354.3 billion | 20.9% |
| $200,000 or more | 1.2 million | 2.7% | $355.8 billion | 21.0% |
The typical borrower sits well below the average. The median federal borrower owes in the $10,000 to $19,999 range, while the average is about $37,900, pulled up by the large balances at the top, which often come from graduate and professional school. FSA counts parents with PLUS loans as borrowers in this table, which is why its total (44.8 million) is higher than the recipient count used elsewhere on this page.
Repayment Plans Now That SAVE Has Ended
SAVE, the income-driven plan launched in 2023, never fully took effect. Courts blocked it in 2024, enrolled borrowers were placed in forbearance, and a March 10, 2026 court order ended it. On June 30, FSA still listed 6.52 million Direct Loan recipients, owing $354.3 billion, in SAVE, down from 7.73 million a year earlier. Servicers began sending notices in July that give those borrowers about 90 days to choose another plan.
Where are borrowers going? Enrollment in Income-Based Repayment rose to 3.31 million Direct Loan recipients from 2.17 million a year earlier, and Pay As You Earn to 1.61 million from 1.33 million. The number on the standard 10-year plan fell to 11.67 million from 14.4 million, partly because loans that default drop out of these counts. The new Repayment Assistance Plan opened on July 1, after these figures were taken.
| Repayment plan (Direct Loans) | Recipients, June 30, 2026 | Balance | Recipients a year earlier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard, fixed payments over 10 years or less | 11.67 million | $265.2 billion | 14.4 million |
| Fixed payments over more than 10 years | 1.5 million | $78.5 billion | 1.85 million |
| Graduated, 10 years or less | 2.04 million | $62.0 billion | 2.36 million |
| Graduated, more than 10 years | 650,000 | $37.2 billion | 690,000 |
| Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) | 1.32 million | $55.9 billion | 1.22 million |
| Income-Based Repayment (IBR) | 3.31 million | $225.0 billion | 2.17 million |
| Pay As You Earn (PAYE) | 1.61 million | $136.8 billion | 1.33 million |
| SAVE (ended by court order) | 6.52 million | $354.3 billion | 7.73 million |
| Alternative | 390,000 | $12.0 billion | 690,000 |
This table covers Direct Loans in repayment, deferment or forbearance; loans in default, in school or in their grace period aren't included. Two loan types deserve a note. Parent PLUS loans, $115.0 billion owed on behalf of 3.5 million students, can't be repaid under RAP. Grad PLUS loans ($131.9 billion for 1.9 million recipients) closed to new borrowers on July 1, 2026, although students already borrowing for their program keep the old limits for up to three years. Our student loan repayment guide compares the plans that remain.
Student Loan Debt by State
Federal Student Aid publishes balances by borrower address for every state. As of March 31, 2026, California had the most federal student debt ($156.7 billion), followed by Texas ($138.3 billion) and Florida ($113.1 billion). Per borrower, the picture changes: borrowers in District of Columbia owe the most, about $55,800 on average, and borrowers in North Dakota the least, about $30,500.
The share of borrowers in default ranges from 15.2% in Wisconsin to 28.3% in Mississippi. The highest shares are in Mississippi, Louisiana, New Mexico, Alabama and Arizona.
| State | Federal borrowers | Balance | Average balance | Borrowers in default | Share in default* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 664,000 | $26.0 billion | $39,200 | 169,000 | 25.5% |
| Alaska | 64,500 | $2.4 billion | $37,200 | 15,000 | 23.3% |
| Arizona | 916,100 | $34.0 billion | $37,100 | 232,000 | 25.3% |
| Arkansas | 408,400 | $14.5 billion | $35,500 | 86,000 | 21.1% |
| California | 3,919,500 | $156.7 billion | $40,000 | 730,000 | 18.6% |
| Colorado | 764,600 | $29.7 billion | $38,800 | 144,000 | 18.8% |
| Connecticut | 515,400 | $19.8 billion | $38,400 | 91,000 | 17.7% |
| Delaware | 137,800 | $5.6 billion | $40,600 | 29,000 | 21.0% |
| District of Columbia | 114,600 | $6.4 billion | $55,800 | 28,000 | 24.4% |
| Florida | 2,747,700 | $113.1 billion | $41,200 | 589,000 | 21.4% |
| Georgia | 1,702,700 | $74.6 billion | $43,800 | 396,000 | 23.3% |
| Hawaii | 121,000 | $4.9 billion | $40,500 | 24,000 | 19.8% |
| Idaho | 216,500 | $7.5 billion | $34,600 | 43,000 | 19.9% |
| Illinois | 1,601,500 | $65.3 billion | $40,800 | 295,000 | 18.4% |
| Indiana | 898,500 | $31.0 billion | $34,500 | 212,000 | 23.6% |
| Iowa | 423,400 | $13.5 billion | $31,900 | 88,000 | 20.8% |
| Kansas | 379,300 | $13.1 billion | $34,500 | 84,000 | 22.1% |
| Kentucky | 615,600 | $21.6 billion | $35,100 | 121,000 | 19.7% |
| Louisiana | 694,000 | $25.1 billion | $36,200 | 187,000 | 26.9% |
| Maine | 186,600 | $6.7 billion | $35,900 | 35,000 | 18.8% |
| Maryland | 842,300 | $38.4 billion | $45,600 | 179,000 | 21.3% |
| Massachusetts | 900,600 | $33.4 billion | $37,100 | 139,000 | 15.4% |
| Michigan | 1,377,300 | $53.2 billion | $38,600 | 309,000 | 22.4% |
| Minnesota | 772,600 | $27.5 billion | $35,600 | 125,000 | 16.2% |
| Mississippi | 456,300 | $17.8 billion | $39,000 | 129,000 | 28.3% |
| Missouri | 826,500 | $30.6 billion | $37,000 | 174,000 | 21.1% |
| Montana | 126,400 | $4.5 billion | $35,600 | 25,000 | 19.8% |
| Nebraska | 243,500 | $8.2 billion | $33,700 | 43,000 | 17.7% |
| Nevada | 367,900 | $13.2 billion | $35,900 | 93,000 | 25.3% |
| New Hampshire | 187,700 | $6.8 billion | $36,200 | 29,000 | 15.5% |
| New Jersey | 1,235,500 | $48.4 billion | $39,200 | 222,000 | 18.0% |
| New Mexico | 226,000 | $8.0 billion | $35,400 | 60,000 | 26.5% |
| New York | 2,456,600 | $99.9 billion | $40,700 | 493,000 | 20.1% |
| North Carolina | 1,379,300 | $55.8 billion | $40,500 | 296,000 | 21.5% |
| North Dakota | 88,400 | $2.7 billion | $30,500 | 16,000 | 18.1% |
| Ohio | 1,770,800 | $64.3 billion | $36,300 | 429,000 | 24.2% |
| Oklahoma | 510,700 | $17.1 billion | $33,500 | 126,000 | 24.7% |
| Oregon | 526,600 | $20.8 billion | $39,500 | 111,000 | 21.1% |
| Pennsylvania | 1,853,900 | $69.6 billion | $37,500 | 369,000 | 19.9% |
| Rhode Island | 149,700 | $5.1 billion | $34,100 | 28,000 | 18.7% |
| South Carolina | 782,300 | $31.4 billion | $40,100 | 182,000 | 23.3% |
| South Dakota | 116,700 | $3.7 billion | $31,700 | 20,000 | 17.1% |
| Tennessee | 894,900 | $34.6 billion | $38,700 | 196,000 | 21.9% |
| Texas | 3,949,800 | $138.3 billion | $35,000 | 878,000 | 22.2% |
| Utah | 313,300 | $11.1 billion | $35,400 | 48,000 | 15.3% |
| Vermont | 74,800 | $2.9 billion | $38,800 | 12,000 | 16.0% |
| Virginia | 1,085,500 | $45.5 billion | $41,900 | 191,000 | 17.6% |
| Washington | 776,100 | $29.6 billion | $38,100 | 130,000 | 16.8% |
| West Virginia | 228,300 | $7.7 billion | $33,700 | 57,000 | 25.0% |
| Wisconsin | 709,100 | $24.0 billion | $33,800 | 108,000 | 15.2% |
| Wyoming | 54,800 | $1.8 billion | $32,800 | 12,000 | 21.9% |
| All borrowers (incl. territories and unreported addresses) | 44,762,600 | $1,696.3 billion | $37,900 | 9,012,000 | 20.1% |
*Share in default is a DWS calculation: defaulted borrowers from FSA's March 2026 default-by-location report (Direct Loans and Department-held FFEL loans) divided by all federal borrowers with that address. The two reports cover slightly different loans, so treat the share as an approximation. About 1,953,300 borrowers, mostly with commercially held FFEL or Perkins loans, have no address on file with FSA; they are in the total row but not in any state.
The New York Fed's per-person figures divide by everyone with a credit report, borrower or not. On that basis student debt comes to about $5,600 per person nationally, and NJ is highest among the 11 states it breaks out, at $6,800.
The 2026 Policy Timeline
Four changes shaped student debt this year: the end of SAVE, a new repayment plan, tighter borrowing limits and a pause in forced collections while defaults climbed.
| Date | What changed | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 1, 2026 | The federal tax exclusion for forgiven student debt, which covered 2021 through 2025, expired. Balances forgiven under income-driven plans can count as taxable income again; Public Service Loan Forgiveness stays tax-free. | Internal Revenue Code §108(f)(5) |
| Jan 16, 2026 | The Education Department delayed involuntary collections, including Administrative Wage Garnishment and the Treasury Offset Program, while it carried out the 2025 law. It has not announced a restart date. | U.S. Department of Education |
| Mar 10, 2026 | A federal court order ended the SAVE plan. Borrowers enrolled in it have to move to another plan. | StudentAid.gov |
| Mar 19, 2026 | The Education and Treasury departments announced the Federal Student Assistance Partnership. Collection of defaulted loans is the first job moving to Treasury. | Education Department, Treasury |
| Jul 1, 2026 | The Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) and the Tiered Standard plan opened; new loans, including new consolidation loans, can be repaid only under those two. New limits: Grad PLUS closed to new borrowers, graduate students capped at $20,500 a year and $100,000 in total, professional students at $50,000 and $200,000, Parent PLUS at $20,000 a year and $65,000 per student, and a $257,500 lifetime maximum. | Public Law 119-21 |
| Jul 2026 | Servicers began sending SAVE borrowers notices that give them about 90 days to choose a new plan. | StudentAid.gov |
| Next | FSA's next portfolio update, with data through September 30, 2026, should be the first to show RAP enrollment. The New York Fed's third-quarter report is expected in early November. | FSA Data Center |
What a Payment Looks Like Under RAP
The Riveras are a single parent with one child. The parent has an adjusted gross income of $48,000 and owes $37,900 in federal Direct Loans at 6.5%, close to the average federal balance. Here is the monthly payment under the Repayment Assistance Plan's formula and under a 10-year fixed schedule:
| Payment plan | Monthly payment | Interest charged in year one | Balance after 12 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) | $110 | $2,446 ($1,126 of it waived) | $37,300 |
| 10-year fixed schedule | $430 | $2,382 | $35,117 |
RAP starts from 4% of the $48,000 AGI, which is $1,920 a year or $160 a month, then subtracts $50 for the child, for $110. That doesn't cover the roughly $205 of interest the loan charges each month. Under RAP, though, unpaid interest on an on-time payment is waived, and when a payment reduces principal by less than $50 the Department adds the difference, so the balance still falls to $37,300 after a year. The 10-year schedule costs about $430 a month and brings the balance down to $35,117. RAP forgives what is left only after 360 qualifying payments, or 30 years. (Illustrative: interest is simplified to monthly compounding, and actual servicer calculations can differ.)
RAP bases payments on adjusted gross income, not on how much you owe, so a borrower with a large balance and a modest income can pay far less than a fixed schedule would require, at the cost of a much longer repayment period. If you're weighing plans, our student loan forgiveness guide explains which programs still forgive balances, and the latest Wire report on SAVE, RAP and collections covers the rules as they stand this fall.
- Defaulted balances doubled. Federally managed defaults rose from 5.3 million recipients ($116.6 billion) in June 2025 to 9.3 million ($234.1 billion) in June 2026.
- New delinquencies peaked, then eased. The share of balances newly 90+ days late hit 16.19% in Q4 2025 and fell to 7.83% by Q2 2026.
- SAVE ended and RAP began. A March 10 court order ended SAVE, which still listed 6.52 million recipients on June 30; RAP opened July 1.
- Collections paused as Treasury steps in. Involuntary collections have been on hold since January 16, and on March 19 Treasury agreed to take over collection of defaulted loans.
- Borrowing limits tightened. From July 1, Grad PLUS closed to new borrowers and new annual and lifetime caps apply.
Using and Citing These Numbers
Some notes before you quote a figure. FSA's status counts are loan-level, so a person with loans in two statuses can be counted twice, and its repayment-plan counts leave out loans in default, in school or in their grace period. FSA reports a loan as defaulted after 360 days without payment. The New York Fed's student loan figures come from a 1% sample of Equifax credit reports and include private loans. Shares marked as DWS calculations divide one published figure by another, and every input is linked below. The underlying files are FSA's portfolio reports and the New York Fed's data workbook.
Next updates: the New York Fed's third-quarter report is expected in early November 2026, and FSA's next quarterly portfolio update will carry data through September 30. For related figures on the same basis, see our credit card debt statistics and inflation and cost-of-living statistics.
If this, then that
- If you're behind but not yet in default → call your servicer before the 270-day mark; switching plans or a short forbearance is far easier to arrange than getting out of default.
- If your loans are already in default → use the pause in forced collections to rehabilitate (nine on-time monthly payments within ten months) or consolidate; the 2025 law gives borrowers a second chance at rehabilitation.
- If you were in SAVE → choose a new plan before the deadline on your servicer's notice; if you do nothing, you can end up on a standard plan with a much higher payment.
- If you're close to income-driven forgiveness → estimate the tax on the forgiven balance now, since the exclusion ended after 2025; Public Service Loan Forgiveness is still tax-free.
- If you owe Parent PLUS loans → don't count on RAP, because those loans are excluded; check which plans remain open to you before you consolidate.
Mistakes to avoid
- Treating the New York Fed's $1.651 trillion and FSA's $1.72 trillion as rival answers. One counts all student loans on credit reports; the other counts federal loans in the government's own records.
- Reading the 10.6% delinquency figure as the share of borrowers in default. It is the share of balances 90 or more days past due.
- Adding up FSA's recipient counts across loan statuses or programs. The counts are loan-level, so people with several loans appear more than once.
- Assuming forced collections are gone for good. They were delayed, not canceled, and defaults still reach credit reports.
- Consolidating without checking the rules. A consolidation loan made on or after July 1, 2026 can be repaid only under RAP or the Tiered Standard plan.