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President Donald Trump’s administration doesn’t want you to ask for forgiveness — it wants you to ask for loan repayment options.
On Friday, the Department of Education announced it is expanding its ombudsman’s office, which typically handled student-loan borrower complaints, to also focus on consumer education and ensure that borrowers “are better equipped to make careful borrowing decisions and responsibly manage their federal student loan debt,” the press release said.
This comes after Federal Student Aid moved its button to submit a complaint on its website to the bottom of the page under a “site feedback” button, which some lawmakers have said is difficult to navigate and deters borrowers from reporting issues.
“Unlike the previous Administration’s focus on loan forgiveness, the Trump Administration is taking action to implement meaningful and necessary enhancements to the way student loans are serviced to better serve borrowers and American taxpayers,” James Bergeron, acting head of Federal Student Aid, said in a statement.
While Trump opposed Biden’s debt relief efforts before taking office, this latest step marks his administration’s increased focus on ensuring borrowers pay back their loans rather than relying on loan forgiveness programs.
The department is also soliciting feedback on the creation of a new “common manual” intended to serve as a centralized place for servicing and debt collection practices. The press release said it would allow for consistent borrower communications and customer service, while allowing the department to take enforcement actions over servicers.
Trump’s administration gutted the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau earlier this year, which previously conducted oversight on student-loan servicers.
Student-loan borrowers and stakeholders can provide feedback on the common manual for 30 days beginning on September 8 in the Federal Register. The department said it plans to complete the manual by July 1, 2026, the same timeframe that repayment changes from Trump’s “big beautiful” spending law are set to go into effect.
The law eliminated existing income-driven repayment plans and replaced them with two options: a standard repayment plan and a new Repayment Assistance Plan that allows for loan forgiveness after 30 years.
It’s less generous than former President Joe Biden’s SAVE plan, which Trump’s law eliminated. SAVE allowed for cheaper monthly payments and forgiveness after as few as 10 years. The Department of Education also restarted interest charges on SAVE borrowers’ accounts on August 1 in an attempt to encourage repayment.
Borrowers in default are also once again facing the consequences of falling behind on payments — Trump restarted collections on defaulted loans after a five-year pause. It means that borrowers are subject to negative credit reporting and wage garnishment, which the department says will happen later this summer.
Student-loan borrowers, including some who voted for Trump, have raised the alarm on the repayment changes.
“I did vote for Trump,” Mary Smith, who is enrolled in the SAVE plan, said. “I am a Trump supporter, but there are a couple of things I don’t really agree with, and this is one of them.”
Do you have a story to share about student-loan repayment? Reach out to this reporter at [email protected].
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