Eliza Haverstock, Nald Wallet
President Donald Trump has vowed to dismantle the US education sector, which oversees financial aid for federal students. There are reports that members of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team have access to financial aid data, including personal information from millions of students enrolled in the Federal Student Aid Program.
These developments can sound student loan borrowers alarms. But for now, there is no need to make any dramatic changes to your student loans.
“We must engage in processes that exist now. There is no guidance to suggest that we should do things in different ways,” dismantle racial and economic barriers in the American education system. .
Education spokesman Madison Biederman declined to comment on whether Musk and Doji had access to the financial aid dataset, as reported in the Washington Post. She directed Nerdwallet in a January 20 executive order that would allow Doge teams to install in federal agencies within 30 days.
Borrowers have no control over what President Trump is trying to do to the student loan or education department. But you can now take these steps to protect yourself.
Download your loan information
It takes a few minutes to screenshot. Alternatively, download all the information from your dusttantaid.gov account. Having a paper mark with payment and loan status can help protect you in case of problems occur on the education department website or in the event that the servicer commits an error.
“Some data has disappeared from different (government) sites, and the entire web page no longer exists,” says Del Pilar. More than 8,000 government pages have been removed over the past week, according to The New York Times.
For borrowers, this is “always a good practice anyway,” and is the Chief Advisor and Co-Founder of Student Defense, a policy research, litigation and advocacy group aimed at promoting student protection and access to higher education. One Daniel Seibel says: “To play safely and make sure they have documents that may require roads…
Screen grab something that validates past payments, such as the number of eligible payments made against public service loan exemptions (PSLF) or income-driven repayments (IDR) allowances, says Del Pilar. I say it. Print these records if possible. Using them, you can file a student loan complaint if you encounter issues that the servicer cannot resolve.
Borrowers must also download the full repayment history. To do this, click on “My Aid” at the bottom right of the dusttantaid.gov dashboard. Next, click on the blue “Download My Aid Data” button in the top right corner.
Here’s what you should download:
If you are registered with an IDR plan. The new payment count tracker appears on the right side of the dashboard for the module called “IDR End of Payment Of Payment Period.” Click here to see “View IDR Progress” for more information. If you are not currently registered with the IDR plan. Click the Show Details button in the center of the dashboard. This will display the loan details on the page. On the right you will see a module labeled “I’m interested in IDR plans.” Click (More) to scroll down. You will see a tracker module that explains how many eligible payments you have made so far, as well as how many payments remain on the various IDR plans. If your PSLF is going well. Screenshots information about your payment history progressing towards forgiveness through the government’s PSLF help tool.
“As a consumer of all kinds of financial products, we need to be as informed as possible. Beth Akers, a senior fellow focusing on the economics of higher education at the center, American Enterprise Institute, said: I’m in the right think tank.
“That’s not necessarily because I believe there’s a reason to think that this intervention is happening now, that’s going to destroy the data, but because I think it’s always a good habit,” she says.
Change your password and monitor your credits
The nature of Doge’s access to reported financial aid datasets remains unknown, but it may still be cautious.
“I don’t know what data was accessed, but I don’t know what intent it is,” says Del Pilar. “If there is a data breach that occurs against an account you have, we recommend that you take the steps you take.” (Biederman, a spokesman for the Education Department, also states that “data breach” is also a data breach. He says there was no concern about the violation.)
On February 7, Student Defense joined the University of California Student Association and the Public Citizen Litigation Group, suing the education department to share confidential student data with DOGE. The lawsuit alleges that it violated the Privacy Act of 1974, which makes the inappropriate disclosure and misuse of sensitive personal and financial information illegal.
Akers says the previous presidential administration has appointed temporary government workers like Musk and Doge, and he says he is not concerned about additional security concerns about Doge’s student aid data.
“The idea that government officials can access this data seems appropriate for me,” Akers says.
However, to be safe, Del Pilar suggests changing your password on dusttainid.gov and student loan servicer accounts and monitoring your credit reports and other financial accounts for suspicious activity and credit inquiries. If something is wrong, he says, “I highly recommend placing security or security freezes or fraud alerts in your credit report.”
I’ll pay as usual
If your loan is in good condition, continue paying monthly once they are due and follow existing regulations.
Don’t try to implement a new student loan repayment process because no new processes are defined, says Del Pilar.
Student loan forgiveness programs such as PSLF and IDR forgiveness are written in the law and require legislative actions to change or eliminate them. Although Trump opposed forgiveness of loans, these programs have historically had bipartisan support. Former Republican President George W. Bush signed the law with the PSLF in 2007.
But the new relief program implemented by former President Joe Biden is likely off the table, Akers said. These include Save repayment plans, temporary PSLF exemptions, and one-time IDR exemptions.
“When you take out the loan and you’re hoping to pay it back then, and that’s probably where we’re going back,” she says.
If you need it, please provide information and get help
Servicers should inform you of specific changes to your student loan status. Make sure your contact information is up to date with your student loan servicer account.
If you need help with student loans, call the servicer. If that doesn’t solve your problem, Del Pilar will suggest you contact your state’s Student Loan Ombudsman office or the Attorney General.
Borrower advocacy nonprofits, such as the National Consumer Law Center’s Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project, the Student Borrower Protection Center, and the Student Loan Advisor Institute, also provide reliable information and assistance to borrowers.
(Historically, if there are serious student loan complaints or issues, the Consumer Financial Protection Agency and the Student Loan Ombudsman Office of the Education Division have been two other important resources. However, these agencies have Both are under threat.)
What will the future of the education sector be?
President Trump was able to sign the intended executive order to the education sector in the coming days. However, he does not have legal authority to completely dissolve the department.
“That’s certainly something we can’t do without Congress, and in our view, an executive order to close the department is unconstitutional,” Zibel says. Closing departments could negatively affect low-income students, federal work research programs, student loan repayment processes, and Pell Grants and other grants for the ability of students to take away their loans in the first place. He says.
Even if the White House can’t close the department, it can still starve funds and try to cripple their ability to function properly, says Del Pilar.
If the education sector is completely closed, the government is likely to prioritize moving to the Federal Office of Student Aid’s Mobility Treasury or the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Akers said.
Until then, it’s mainly business as usual for your student loans. Rather than speculating about what will happen in the government, make your personal financial decisions with the information before you today.
“I really don’t know what the administration is actually going to do,” says Zibel.
