Federal Student Aid (FSA) has posted a series of updates to its data center, the centralized online source for information about FSA programs and operations.
This update refreshes more than 70 quarterly application, disbursement, and loan portfolio reports to include data through March 31, 2026. It also provides updated data on forgiveness and discharge programs such as borrower defense to repayment and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, as well as information about Title IV institutions subject to heightened cash monitoring. Lastly, it refreshes the nonpayment rate data which helps Title IV institutions in understanding the delinquency and default risks associated with their borrowers.
Key Findings in the Quarterly Reports
FSA proactively posts these reports to the FSA Data Center to help ensure consistency, increase accountability and transparency, and establish self-service opportunities for interested stakeholders. While not exhaustive, the information below provides a snapshot of key findings in our most recent set of reports.
Outstanding Loan Portfolio Overview
Today, the outstanding federal student loan portfolio includes 42.6 million recipients with federal student loans totaling $1.7 trillion, which represents a nearly four percent dollar increase from March 2025. The Direct Loan portfolio is more than 90 percent of the outstanding loan portfolio, while the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) portfolio represents nine percent, and Perkins Loans comprise less than one-sixth of one percent. The federally managed portfolio—which includes FFEL and Perkins Program loans owned by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and Direct Loans—is now more than $1.64 trillion, representing more than 95 percent of the total portfolio.
Focus on the Federally Managed Portfolio
ED is directly responsible for managing 40.9 million recipient accounts with outstanding loans totaling more than $1.64 trillion across the Direct Loan and ED-held FFEL portfolio.
Last quarter (between October and December 2025) was the first time that many borrowers’ accounts could potentially fall into default (e.g. at least 360 days delinquent), following the payment pause. This quarter, the cumulative number of borrowers in default increased by approximately 1.3 million borrowers. As a result, approximately nine million borrowers with $220 billion in outstanding federal student loans are in default, representing more than 13 percent of the total $1.64 trillion federally managed portfolio as of March 2026.
More than 17.2 million recipients, or about 42 percent of the 40.9 million recipients, have at least one loan in a current repayment or delinquency status. These loans total approximately $633 billion (or about 39 percent) of the total $1.64 trillion portfolio.
As of March 2026, 8.4 million recipients (or about one-fifth of recipients) with approximately $485 billion in federal student loans have at least one loan in a forbearance status. This represents a slight decrease since December 2025 as some borrowers enrolled in the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan began transitioning out of forbearance. This number has continued to decrease since March 2026 as more SAVE borrowers exit forbearance, which will be reflected in the next quarterly report.
Almost 3.6 million recipients (or nine percent of recipients) have at least one loan in deferment, totaling $157 billion. Since most deferments are education-related, it is not unusual for many of these borrowers to also have at least one loan in an in-school status. More than 14 percent of recipients have a loan in an in-school status, while three percent of recipients have a loan in grace. Collectively, the balances across in-school and in-grace statuses represent more than eight percent of Direct Loan and ED-held FFEL outstanding balances.
Delinquencies in the Federally Managed Servicing Portfolio
Although many delinquent borrowers’ accounts have already transferred into default following the end of the payment pause, many borrowers remain at risk of entering default in the coming months. The March 2026 reports show that more than 80 percent of ED-serviced recipients with loans in active repayment are current (on time or less than 31 days delinquent) on their federal student loan payments. Active repayment considers only those whose loans are in a repayment status and excludes borrowers in other statuses that would not require a monthly payment. However, this means that 20 percent of recipients, or about 3.5 million recipients, are more than 30 days delinquent on their accounts. This includes approximately 1.4 million recipients in late-stage delinquency who are at risk of defaulting in the next six months.
By total dollar balance, the active repayment 31+ delinquency rate is 15.5 percent by total dollar balance, compared to 12.7 percent in December 2019, the last quarter prior to the payment pause. December 2019 was at the tail end of a multi-year decline in delinquency rates, primarily due to increasing portfolio quality and potentially due–in a lesser way—to an improving economy.
Nonpayment Rates by Institution
In July 2025, ED first posted nonpayment rate data, which provides the percentage of Direct Loan borrowers, on an institutional basis, who entered repayment between January 2020 and May 2025 and whose federal student loans were more than 90 days delinquent. ED initially updated this data in February 2026, and this release includes updated data on this cohort of borrowers as of May 2026. The newly released nonpayment rate data shows that approximately 2,000 institutions have nonpayment rates at or exceeding 25 percent, an increase of approximately 200 institutions since the February 2026 report. Though the nonpayment rate differs from the official cohort default rate (CDR) calculation, the nonpayment rate may be a more reliable indicator of how current borrowers are managing repayment until the CDR calculation is no longer affected by the COVID-19 pandemic-related flexibilities.
Income-Driven Repayment Usage
Approximately 13 million Direct Loan and ED-serviced FFEL borrowers in repayment, deferment, or forbearance statuses are enrolled in an income-driven repayment (IDR) plan. This includes SAVE borrowers who remained in nonpayment status as of March 2026. In terms of borrowers, approximately 44 percent of the ED-serviced repayment plan population is in an IDR plan (based on unduplicated borrowers in repayment, deferment, and forbearance).
Over the last year, the total of ED-serviced (Direct Loan + ED-serviced FFEL) balances in IDR plans has increased from $728 billion to $784 billion. In terms of dollars (total balance), 62 percent of the ED-serviced (Direct Loan servicing + ED-serviced FFEL) repayment plan universe is in an IDR plan, an increase from 55 percent in March 2025. The increase is due, in part, to borrowers moving to default in recent months.
Key Items to Note While Reviewing These Reports
To accurately interpret the data, please note the following:
- While student loans are traditionally highly cyclical in nature, recent data is not comparable to prior periods due to the three-and-a-half-year payment pause coupled with the implementation of programs such as the on-ramp and Fresh Start.
- In the portfolio reports, recipient counts are based at the loan level. For that reason, recipients may be counted multiple times across varying loan statuses. For example, a recipient with one loan in deferment and one loan in forbearance would be counted once in each category. A recipient with two loans in the same status would be counted only once in that category.
- Active repayment includes all current and delinquent borrowers whose accounts are currently serviced by federal loan servicers. Borrowers with loans in a grace, in-school, deferment, forbearance, bankruptcy, or disability status are not expected to make payments and are not included in this calculation.
- In the loan and grant reports, the first worksheet of the workbook shows the number of recipients and disbursements for the specified quarter, while the second tab shows the cumulative, award-year-to-date activity. The second worksheet of the award year’s fourth quarter report will show data for the full award year. Since the information is reported by specific loan type or grant program, a unique grant or loan recipient count is not available by school. Please note that since loan and grant reports are generally run shortly after the quarter’s end, initial runs often underreport activity because of institutions’ reporting delays and activity that occurs for the award year after the report run date (for example, summer disbursements).
The FSA Data Center was launched in 2009 to increase government transparency by proactively posting useful information for businesses, institutions, the media, and individuals.
Access the data center here.
SOURCE: (GENERAL-26-38) Federal Student Aid Posts Updated Reports to FSA Data Center