US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon will speak at a press conference hosted by House Democrats outside the US Education Headquarters in Washington, DC on April 2, 2025 (Photo: Shauneen Miranda/States Newsroom)

Washington – US Department of Education On Monday, he said he would resume his May 5th collection for default federal student loans.

After a pause in the early weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic, agents have not been collected on default loans for more than five years. More than five million borrowers are in federal student loan defaults, with only 38% of borrowers being up to date with payments, the department said.

“U.S. taxpayers will no longer be forced to act as collateral for irresponsible student loan policies,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. statement Monday.

During last year’s presidential election, President Donald Trump criticized his predecessor and successor, President Joe Biden, for his efforts to erase student debt. McMahon resumed its line of attack on Monday, accusing Biden of unfairly raising expectations of borrowers’ forgiveness.

“The Biden administration misunderstood the borrowers. The administration has no constitutional authority to wipe out debts, and the loan balances simply won’t go away. Thousands of billions have already been handed over to taxpayers,” McMahon said.

She said, “From now on, the Ministry of Education will work with the Ministry of Finance to take responsibility for the student loan program and rescue it according to the law, which means helping borrowers return to repayment.

The agency said the Federal Student Aid Agency will resume its Treasury Offset Program, which is administered by the U.S. Treasury Department, on May 5.

The Education Department statement said all default borrowers will receive emails over the next two weeks. “We will make these developments aware and encourage you to contact default solutions to sign up for monthly payments, income-driven repayment plans or to sign up for loan rehabilitation.”

The department said the Federal Student Aid Agency will “send necessary notices to begin decorating administrative wages” later this summer.

More than 42.7 million borrowers are in debt to their students more than $1.6 trillion, according to the department.

The administration claims that “instead of protecting responsible taxpayers, the Biden-Harris administration has placed them on hooks for irresponsible loans and pushed its federal student loan portfolio towards the fiscal cliff.”