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.

The National Consumer Law Center’s Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project is a resource for borrowers, their families, and advocates representing student loan borrowers.

Featured

Recent Resources

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Student Loan Borrower Assistance: What Borrowers Need to Know About the New Time-Limited Fresh Start Initiative

March 21, 2023

Coalition Letter to U.S. Department of Education Regarding its Examination of Bundled Services and an Incentive Compensation Loophole

March 16, 2023

USA Today: “As lawsuits pile up, Democrats make fresh push for student loan forgiveness”

March 7, 2023

Defending Student Loan Cancellation

February 28, 2023

NCLC Advocates Attend SCOTUS Arguments, Rally in Support of Student Debt Cancellation

February 28, 2023

Group Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights Comment to the Department of Education on Proposed Student Loan Income-Driven Repayment Rule

February 10, 2023

Op-Ed in The Hill: Ending the black hole that’s devouring student loan payments

January 18, 2023

2023 Consumer Protection Federal Priorities

January 13, 2023

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

January 11, 2023

Comments & Letters

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Coalition Letter to U.S. Department of Education Regarding its Examination of Bundled Services and an Incentive Compensation Loophole

March 16, 2023

Group Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights Comment to the Department of Education on Proposed Student Loan Income-Driven Repayment Rule

February 10, 2023

Letter to California DFPI Regarding Proposed Changes to Regulations Under the Student Loan Servicing Act

October 28, 2022

Group Letter on the Implementation of Joint Consolidation Separation Act

October 12, 2022

Coalition Letter to the U.S. Department of Education Regarding Public Service Loan Forgiveness Waiver & Income-Driven Repayment Adjustment

July 22, 2022

Coalition Letter to President Biden Regarding Public Service Loan Forgiveness Waiver and Income-Driven Repayment Adjustment

July 21, 2022

Coalition Letter to President Biden Regarding Extending the Pause on Student Loan Payments

June 30, 2022

Group Letter Calling on President Biden to Cancel Federal Student Debt Immediately Via Executive action

May 27, 2022

Coalition Letter to Department of Education Regarding the Creation of an IDR Restoration Project

April 7, 2022

Reports

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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

Voices of Despair: Student Borrowers Trapped in Poverty When the Government Seizes Their Earned Income Tax Credit (2018)

March 13, 2018

Pushed into Poverty: How Student Loan Collections Threaten the Financial Security of Older Americans 

May 9, 2017

Pounding Student Loan Borrowers: The Heavy Cost of the Government’s Partnership with Debt Collection Agencies

September 17, 2014

Issue Briefs

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2023 Consumer Protection Federal Priorities

January 13, 2023

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

October 20, 2022

2022 Consumer Protection Federal Priorities

February 18, 2022

Joint Memo: Recommendation to Prohibit Offset of Refundable Tax Credits that Support Low-Income Workers and Families

February 10, 2022

Restoring the Promise of Income-Driven Repayment: An IDR Waiver Program Proposal

January 11, 2022

Delivering on the Child Tax Credit: Protect Payments from Government Offset

September 15, 2021

Almost Two in Three Navient Borrowers Making Payments During COVID-19 Federal Student Loan Payment Pause Are Underwater

August 1, 2021

Education Department’s Decades-Old Debt Trap: How the Mismanagement of Income-Driven Repayment Locked Millions in Debt

March 1, 2021

2021 Student Loan Federal Priorities

December 1, 2020

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

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NCLC Advocates Attend SCOTUS Arguments, Rally in Support of Student Debt Cancellation

February 28, 2023

Proposed Changes to Income-Driven Repayment Improve Student Loan Affordability, But Problems Remain

January 10, 2023

Federal Student Loan Payment Pause Extension a Critical Step to Protect Borrowers Pending Resolution of the Lawsuits Against Cancellation 

November 22, 2022

Advocates Cautiously Optimistic About Administration’s Plan to Improve Student Loan Bankruptcy 

November 17, 2022

New U.S. Department of Education Regulations Will Make It Easier For Borrowers Harmed By Their School To Obtain Relief

October 31, 2022

Congress Passes Joint Consolidation Loan Separation Act to Relieve Divorced Spouses of Shared Student Loan Debt

September 22, 2022

Statements on Department of Education Granting Debt Relief to 79,000 Former Students of For-Profit Westwood College 

August 30, 2022

President Biden’s Order Canceling Federal Student Loan Debt Will Bring Transformational Relief to Millions

August 24, 2022

Department of Education Provides Long Overdue Debt Relief to ITT Tech, Kaplan Students

August 16, 2022

Amicus Briefs

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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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