What to know as the government begins collections on defaulted student debt

Betsy Mayotte, president of the Institute of Student Loan Advisors (TISLA), says the return of loan collection was inevitable and that the Trump administration isn’t creating new policy — just restoring old policy.

“They were always going to start collecting these defaulted loans again — it was just a matter of when the switch was going to get flipped,” she says. “The Department of Education has a requirement to collect on these debts; they’re owed to the U.S. taxpayer.”