Education Department has a backlog of 27,000 complaints about student loans

Date:

August 8, 2025

A key office in the Department of Education responsible for fielding grievances about student loans has a backlog of more than 27,000 complaints after losing nearly two-thirds of its staff.

The department revealed the pileup in a July 21 letter to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., according to a copy provided to NBC News. The Federal Student Aid ombudsman office receives hundreds of complaints a week, related to problems with student loan processing, repayments and financial aid scams.

The office closed just over 1,100 complaints in May, the most recent month with available data, and Warren wrote in a letter to Education Secretary Linda McMahon on Wednesday that this pace made her concerned that the backlog will continue to grow.

The Always-On Insight and Networking Platform for Superintendents and Their Teams

AI-driven insights peer-to-peer collaboration and more build exclusively fot K-12 Superintendents and thier leaders

Learn More

Built for the uniqueness of the superintendent role and their supporting team.Most platforms treat all K–12 leaders the same. DA+ recognizes that superintendents face a unique level of pressure, complexity, visibility, and responsibility—and gives them a space designed specifically for the demands of the top job.

A community where you don’t have to explain the context.Skip the backstory. DA+ understands the job, the politics, the stakes, and the pace.

Your decisions shape communities.Find the tools and peer insight to make them with confidence here.

Leadership tailored to the realities of running a district.From board relations to budgets, crisis response to community trust—DA+ focuses on the challenges only superintendents navigate each day.

Built for superintendents.Powered by superintendents. Trusted by superintendents. If you run a district, you belong here.

Education Department has a backlog of 27,000 complaints about student loans

The Always-On Insight and Networking Platform for Superintendents and Their Teams

Related Articles

‘Cognitive surrender’: Are college students who use AI really learning?

Friendship is built over time, through ordinary moments—I teach lonely college students to notice them

How to raise president pay without damaging campus morale