ED is Woefully Unprepared to Return Student Loan Borrowers to Repayment
June 27, 2023
WASHINGTON – Today, Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Ranking Member Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), grilled Education Secretary Miguel Cardona for his department’s lack of preparedness to handle millions of student loan borrowers returning to repayment. The lawmakers are demanding a briefing and documents from Cardona regarding the administration’s plan to transition borrowers back to repayment.
In the letter, Foxx and Cassidy write: “Sixty days after June 30, 2023, the return to repayment for student loans will begin for 43 million borrowers. The Department has been on notice for nearly two and a half years that it would need to develop a plan for a smooth transition to repayment. … You have failed to provide us any evidence of any communication between the Department and loan servicers as of the date of this letter.”
The letter continues: “Mr. Secretary, the success or failure of the return to repayment sits squarely on your shoulders. … In addition, the committees are concerned about recent reports in the press that students are being encouraged not to make payments on their student loans once the return to repayment has begun.”
