All Issues

Student Loans

As the cost of financing the higher education system falls increasingly on students, student loan debt has risen at alarming rates. Although student debt is a problem that crosses class and racial lines, low-income and Black students are much more likely to borrow, to borrow more, and to struggle with repayment. Relief options are confusing, servicing is often poor, and borrowers pay the price.

Key Topics

Federal Student Loans

Improving the federal student loan system on which millions rely.

Predatory For-Profit Schools

Stopping predatory for-profit colleges from harming students.

Private Student Loans & ISAs

Protecting borrowers against abusive private student loan and income-share agreement practices.

Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project

NCLC’s Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project is a resource for borrowers, their families, and advocates representing student loan borrowers.

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Featured

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Next Avenue: Student Loan Debt Haunts Many Retirees

May 12, 2025

Comment to Department of Education re: Intent to Establish Rulemaking Committee on IDR and PSLF

May 5, 2025

The New York Times: Tips for Navigating the ‘Chaotic System’ of Student Loan Repayments

May 2, 2025

House Republicans Propose Major Cuts to Student Loan and Pell Grant Programs 

April 30, 2025

Protect Students and Taxpayers Send School Accountability Priorities Letter to Congress

April 10, 2025

Letter to Members of Congress to Protect Protections and Relief Programs for Student Loan Borrower

April 8, 2025

Proposals to Alter Student Loan Repayment Would Worsen Crisis of Older Adults Struggling with Student Debt

April 7, 2025

Repay or Die Trying: Proposal to Eliminate Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) Plans Threatens to Swell Ranks of Older Adults Struggling with Student Debt

April 4, 2025

Congress Must Preserve Protections for Student Loan Borrowers Whose Schools Closed or Defrauded Them

April 3, 2025

Comments & Letters

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Comment to Department of Education re: Intent to Establish Rulemaking Committee on IDR and PSLF

May 5, 2025

Protect Students and Taxpayers Send School Accountability Priorities Letter to Congress

April 10, 2025

Letter to Members of Congress to Protect Protections and Relief Programs for Student Loan Borrower

April 8, 2025

Coalition Letter Urging Congress to Protect Pell Grants from Cuts

February 26, 2025

Coalition Letter to Congress Opposing Diverting Resources from Education to Other Areas in Reconciliation

February 19, 2025

Opposition to HR 6951, the College Cost Reduction Act

December 2, 2024

Legal Aid Comments on Proposed Rules on Financial Hardship-based Student Debt Relief

December 2, 2024

Group Letter to Sec. Cardona Requesting Extension of Borrower Protections in Light of SAVE Litigation

August 29, 2024

Legal Aid Comments on Proposed Student Debt Relief Rule

May 17, 2024

Reports

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Student Loan Toolkit

May 20, 2024

New Federal Student Loan Servicing Contracts, New Promises: Will it Make a Difference for Borrowers?

February 15, 2024

Examining the States’ Role in Protecting Online College Students from Predatory Practices

January 24, 2024

Collection At All Costs: Examining the Intersection of Mass Incarceration and the Student Debt Crisis

July 12, 2022

Disproportionately Impacted: Closing the Racial Wealth Gap through Student Loan Cancellation, Payment Reforms, and Investment in College Affordability

June 8, 2022

How States Can Help Students Harmed by Higher Education Fraud

January 12, 2021

Report: Road to Relief – Supporting Federal Student Loan Borrowers During the Covid-19 Crisis and Beyond

November 17, 2020

Voices of Despair: How Seizing the EITC is Leaving Student Loan Borrowers Homeless and Hopeless During a Pandemic

November 10, 2020

Gainful Employment: A Civil Rights Perspective

October 1, 2019

Issue Briefs

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Repay or Die Trying: Proposal to Eliminate Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) Plans Threatens to Swell Ranks of Older Adults Struggling with Student Debt

April 4, 2025

Borrower Defense: What Will Happen to Students in Debt Because They Were Scammed by Their School if the 2022 Rule is Rescinded?

March 31, 2025

Left Out to Dry: Proposals to Streamline Student Loan Repayment Eliminate Affordable Pathways for Parent Borrowers

March 31, 2025

Debt Without a Degree: Preserving Protections for Students When Schools Close

March 17, 2025

2025 Consumer Protection Federal Priorities

October 21, 2024

The Growing Impact of Student Loan Debt on Older Adults

September 19, 2024

Delivering Distress to Borrowers in Default

October 11, 2023

Chapter Summary on Helping Older Borrowers Navigate the Changing Federal Student Loan System

March 31, 2023

Get Up to $20,000 of Your Student Loans Canceled

October 20, 2022

Testimony

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Testimony: Protecting Students and Taxpayers – Improving the Closed School Discharge Process

October 21, 2021

Testimony of Persis Yu regarding Protecting Student Loan Borrowers and the Economy in Upcoming Transitions

July 27, 2021

A $1.5 Trillion Crisis: Protecting Student Borrowers and Holding Student Loan Servicers Accountable

September 10, 2019

Press Releases & News

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Next Avenue: Student Loan Debt Haunts Many Retirees

May 12, 2025

The New York Times: Tips for Navigating the ‘Chaotic System’ of Student Loan Repayments

May 2, 2025

House Republicans Propose Major Cuts to Student Loan and Pell Grant Programs 

April 30, 2025

Proposals to Alter Student Loan Repayment Would Worsen Crisis of Older Adults Struggling with Student Debt

April 7, 2025

Congress Must Preserve Protections for Student Loan Borrowers Whose Schools Closed or Defrauded Them

April 3, 2025

Shutting Down the Department of Education Threatens Students and Working Families Who Rely on Federal Student Aid

March 20, 2025

CNBC: What the Department of Education layoffs could mean for student loan borrowers: ‘This will only make things worse,’ activist says

March 13, 2025

NBC News: Some student loan payments skyrocket as millions of income-based payment plans halted

March 13, 2025

CNBC: Yes, you still have to pay your student loans if the Department of Education is eliminated, legal expert says—what borrowers should know

February 21, 2025

Amicus Briefs

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Amicus Brief: Missouri v. Biden (8th Cir.) (Brief in Support of Student Loan IDR Rules)

August 26, 2024

Brief in Biden v. Nebraska & Brown v. U.S. Department of Education

January 11, 2023

Amicus Brief in NYLAG v. DeVos

July 24, 2020

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