Next year, the Trump administration will begin seizing wages from individuals who defaulted on their student loans, the Education Department revealed.
Roughly 1,000 individuals who defaulted on their loans will face wage garnishments beginning the week of Jan. 7, 2026.
“We expect the first notices to be sent to approximately 1,000 defaulted borrowers the week of January 7,” an Education Department spokesperson told The Post.
“The notices will increase in scale on a month-to-month basis.”
The missives will give borrowers a 30-day heads-up about the plans to garnish wages.
The Department of Education is authorized to seize up to 15% of a borrower’s after-tax income until the defaulted student loans are paid off or some other remedy has been reached.
Wage garnishments for defaulted student loan debt had been on pause since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Under the Higher Education Act of 1965 and the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996, the Federal Student Aid agency is required to carry out collection activities for defaulted loans.
Borrowers are required by law to have been given sufficient notice on their defaulted loans before the seizures can begin.
Back in May, the Trump administration revived the policy of taking Social Security benefits and tax refunds to pay for defaulted student loans and initially planned to resume wage garnishments over the summer.
An estimated 5.3 million individuals with student loans haven’t made payments on $117 billion worth of debt in nearly a year, per the latest available data, which is current as of June 30.
The sharp uptick in delinquencies comes amid the conclusion of a 12-month on-ramp period intended to ease individuals with student loans back into repayment following the COVID-19 pause that carried on for about three years.
President Trump implemented a moratorium on student loan payments in 2020 during the thick of the pandemic.
Former President Joe Biden re-upped that moratorium multiple times amid pressure from his liberal base and permitted individuals with defaulted student loans to benefit from the “fresh start” program, sparing them from the seizure of their Social Security benefits, tax refunds, and wages.
Biden also unsuccessfully tried to forgive student loan debt en masse, but was shot down by the courts.
“The Biden Administration misled borrowers: the executive branch does not have the constitutional authority to wipe debt away, nor do the loan balances simply disappear,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon chided.
