Institutions Report Recent Increase in Borrower Defense to Repayment Claims
Jill Desjean
March 30, 2026
NASFAA members have reported receiving an increase in the number of borrower defense to repayment (BDR) claims over the past several weeks, leading to questions about the reason for the sudden uptick, whether more claims will follow and how many to expect, and whether and how schools should respond given the fact there are a number of different regulations governing borrower defense claims.
As a reminder, BDR is a long-existing, but previously rarely-used, provision of the Higher Education Act (HEA) that enables students who have experienced certain types of institutional misconduct to have their federal student loans forgiven.
Below are some of the most common questions NASFAA has been hearing from member institutions.
