Payment history is the biggest factor in your score, as lenders evaluate whether you pay bills on time. Lower credit utilization signals less risk, while a longer credit history builds trust with lenders.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act includes the largest overhaul to the federal student aid system in decades, limiting loan repayment and debt forgiveness options for borrowers.
As the Federal student aid portfolio soars to nearly $1.7 trillion and with nearly a quarter of student loan borrowers in default, Americans know that the Department of Education has failed to effectively manage and deliver these critical programs. By leveraging Treasury's world-renowned expertise in finance and economic policy, we are confident that American students, borrowers, and taxpayers will finally have functioning programs after decades of mismanagement.
David Robinson, who completed a one-year postgraduate diploma in adult nursing, was informed that his course was ineligible for maintenance loans, requiring repayment at an accelerated rate.
With roughly nine million student borrowers in default, the Treasury Department will "assume operational responsibility for collecting" on those loans, the Education Department announced Thursday. The move is ED's latest effort to render itself obsolete as part of the Trump administration's plan to eliminate the department. This is the 10th interagency agreement it has signed to share with or spin off functions to other federal agencies.
Delinquency rates across mortgages, credit cards, auto loans and student debt have climbed to their highest levels in nearly a decade, reaching 4.8% of outstanding household debt in the fourth quarter. While headline numbers remain within long-term historical ranges, a closer look reveals where stress is building: lower-income ZIP codes, younger borrowers, and markets experiencing slowing or declining home values.
In general, students across all income brackets are paying less for college, adjusted for inflation, than they did six years ago at all types of institutions. In some cases, those drops were especially high, including for low- and middle-income students at the nation's wealthiest private colleges; their average net price dropped 28.1 percent and 30.8 percent, respectively.
While overall more people are choosing college, there are important shifts happening in where students are going and where they're not. Enrollment at private four-year colleges is down. Fewer people are enrolled in master's degree programs. But enrollment is up at four-year public universities and at community colleges. There, it's driven by students choosing short-term credentials tied to the workforce.
