About 22.3% of people with student loans in Texas are now in default, meaning they’re nine months or more behind on their payments, the Associated Press found in a nationwide analysis.
Around 9.5 million U.S. student-loan borrowers, or more than 1 in 5, are in default, and many of those fell behind on payments as a pandemic-era federal waiver on student loan payments came to an end, the news service found. The U.S. hit its previous record of 8 million borrowers in default during December 2019.
The number of borrowers nationwide in default on student loans increased by more than 4.2 million from April 2025 to March 2026, the AP found in its analysis.
The consequences of being in default can damage people’s credit and force them into collections, according to the AP. The government also has legal authority to garnish wages and even withhold tax benefits or Social Security payments, Dallas public media station KERA reports.
The AP also warned that another tidal wave of defaults could be building. Millions who took out student loans now face increased monthly payments as the government ends what the SAVE plan, a program the news service calls the “most affordable income-driven repayment option.”
Sign Up for SA Current newsletters.
Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed
