Chaos Looms as $1.5 Trillion Student-Loan Pause Abruptly Ends

Some 28 million US borrowers will soon need to start payments on federal student debt after a three-year pause. Loan servicers, consumer advocates and lawmakers are warning that the system is ill equipped to handle the deluge.

Some companies that administer the loans have slashed staff this year, even as they work to shore up computer systems and train workers before the deadline to resume payments in October for the first time since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. About 6.4 million borrowers, including some who left school during the pause, still lack a repayment plan, according to the Education Department.