Struggling student loan borrowers get screwed before Christmas

The Trump administration will officially begin garnishing wages from people who default on their student loans, the Department of Education announced on Tuesday—a move that could impact millions of Americans.

According to a report from CNN, the Department of Education will direct employers in January to begin withholding employees’ income if they have not made payments on their federal student loans for 270 days. The garnishment will begin with 1,000 borrowers in default, and will gradually increase, the Department of Education told CNN in a statement.

The DOE first announced in April that it planned to resume student loan collection, ending the pause that was started in March 2020 during the pandemic and extended by former President Joe Biden. 

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At the time of the announcement, more than 5.3 million borrowers were in default, with another 4 million in late-stage delinquency by being between 91 to 180 days late on payments. 

That means the Trump administration, ahead of the holidays, just told as many as 9 million people—who are already struggling with the high cost of living that Trump has failed to address—that their lives are about to get even harder.

This is just the latest way the Trump administration is screwing over student loan borrowers.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced it is ending the Saving on a Valuable Education program, which lowered student loan payments and ultimately forgave loans of less than $12,000 after a decade. In November, Trump also modified the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program to arbitrarily decide who is no longer eligible for loan forgiveness.

Of course, Biden had worked to bring relief to the millions of student loan borrowers, but was blocked by the conservative justices on the Supreme Court from doing so. 

During the 2024 election, then Vice President Kamala Harris had warned voters that student loan debt relief initiatives would be in danger if Trump was elected. But millions of young voters ignored the warning and voted for Trump anyway.

Now that he’s in office, Harris’ warnings are coming true. 

It’s no wonder that Trump’s approval with younger voters is plummeting.
An Economist/YouGov poll released Tuesday found just 26% of Americans aged 18 to 29 approve of the way Trump is handling his job. Among Americans aged 30 to 44, his approval is not much better at a dismal 36%.