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Episodes from The College Investor Audio Show
Education Department Says 10 Million FAFSA Forms Complete
The U.S. Department of Education announced that more than 10 million Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms for the 2026-27 academic year have been completed and processed this application cycle.That represents a 17% increase over the number of applications completed at this point during the previous year and a 487% jump compared to two years ago, when the Biden Administration’s botched rollout of a redesigned FAFSA form left millions of families waiting months for processing.The Department credited the improvement to what it called "the earliest FAFSA launch in history".
What Are Ghost Students? Financial Aid Fraud Explained
Across the country, colleges are discovering that their enrollment rolls are full of students who don’t actually exist. They’re called “ghost students”—fabricated or stolen identities used by scammers to enroll in college courses, trigger federal financial aid disbursements, and then vanish with the money.The fraud has grown so large that the U.S. Department of Education says it prevented more than $1 billion in attempted student aid theft in 2025 alone. And the problem is getting worse.
Dept. of Education To Downsize Headquarters And Move Buildings
The U.S. Department of Education announced Thursday that it will move out of its longtime headquarters in Washington, D.C., downsizing to a smaller building. The agency will relocate to a smaller federal office one block away, a move that underscores how much the department has shrunk under the Trump administration’s push to dismantle it.The LBJ building, which sits at 400 Maryland Avenue SW, is now approximately 70% vacant following a reduction in force that cut nearly half of the department’s workforce.The move is targeted for August 2026.
SAVE Plan Forbearance Ending: What To Know
The Department of Education is going to begin contacting the more than 7 million borrowers enrolled in the now-defunct SAVE student loan repayment plan, directing them to choose a new repayment plan. The first emails are reminders, followed by formal notices.Starting July 1, loan servicers will issue formal 90-day notices requiring borrowers to switch or be automatically placed on the standard repayment plan. That means the effective end date of the SAVE forbearance will likely be September 30, 2026.The Washington Post first reported that the Education Department would begin emailing SAVE borrowers on Friday to encourage them...
A Parent's Guide to College Applications: From Essays to Financial Aid
College applications present students with a challenging and time-consuming project — perhaps the largest they have faced in their lives. As a parent, you can help your child manage the process, but you can also hurt their chances if you make the wrong moves.Here’s a collection of college admissions secrets that can help you craft the ideal college list, get your child into schools they love, and choose one that you’ll be able to afford.
What's The Difference Between Prepaid Tuition And 529 Plans?
The main difference between a prepaid tuition plan and 529 plan is that prepaid tuition plans allow you to lock in tuition credits at today's prices.Prepaid tuition plans and 529 college savings plans are specialized savings accounts used for future college costs. Prepaid tuition plans act like defined benefit plans, while 529 plans act like defined contribution plans.There are other significant similarities and differences between them. Get the details for each to figure out which plan makes more sense for your college needs.
200,000 Borrowers Await Ninth Circuit Ruling on $12 Billion Student Loan Settlement
A federal appeals court heard arguments on Friday over whether the Education Department can further delay a court-approved settlement that promises loan discharges, payment refunds, and credit report corrections to more than 200,000 student loan borrowers who say they were defrauded by their colleges.The case, Sweet v. McMahon, has been working through the courts since 2019 (as a result, the case has changed names a few times: Sweet v. DeVos and Sweet v. Cardona). The settlement, valued at up to $12 billion, set firm deadlines for the Department to process borrower defense to repayment applications. The Department has missed...
Treasury Department Takes Over Student Loan Collections From Dept Of Education
The Department of Education and the U.S. Treasury Department announced a new interagency agreement on March 19, 2026, that will shift operational control of defaulted federal student loan collections from Education to Treasury. This comes as nearly 7.7 million student loan borrowers holding $180 billion in student loans are in default.The move, which the administration has branded the “Federal Student Assistance Partnership,” marks a big step forward in dismantling the Education Department in what officials described as the equivalent of the “fifth-largest commercial bank in the United States.”Under the agreement, Treasury will immediately take over collecting on defau...
Low-Earning Degrees Will Soon Lose Access to Federal Student Loans
Hundreds of thousands of college students are enrolled in degree and certificate programs that, under new federal law, may soon be cut off from federal student loans. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, requires colleges to prove their programs actually improve graduates’ earning power, and those that don't risk losing access to federal student loan programs.The framework, informally called “Do No Harm,” sets a new standard: if a program’s graduates earn less than comparable workers who never attended college at all, the program can no longer receive federal loan funding.The Department of Educatio...
$180 Billion in Student Loans Are Now in Default, New Federal Data Shows
Federal Student Aid released its latest quarterly data update, and the numbers paint a stark picture: 7.7 million borrowers with $180 billion in outstanding federal student loans are now in default as of December 2025.The quarter ending in December marked the first time many borrower accounts could the threshold for default following the end of the pandemic-era payment pause and the subsequent on-ramp protection period.While the number is large, FSA noted that it mirrors the default count from December 2019, when 7.7 million recipients with approximately $168 billion in federal student loans were in default. The $12 billion increase in...
8 Last-Minute Tax Reminders For 2026
The tax deadline is almost here! Here are some last minute tax reminders if you're still working on filing your taxes.Although it might not be the most enjoyable financial task, it's a necessary obligation that we each undertake every year. And if you use great tax software, filing taxes doesn’t take as much time as you may dread.But tax filing time isn’t only about filing returns. There are things you can do today to help you save money on your tax bill, and help you save time on filing.Here...
Student Loan IDR Backlog Drops To Record Low, But PSLF Buyback Issues Remain
The Department of Education’s income-driven repayment application backlog has dropped to its lowest point on record, according to a new court filing submitted March 16 (PDF File).But that progress is overshadowed by a continued delays on IDR loan forgiveness and a growing queue of public servants waiting for PSLF buyback decisions.The data comes from the latest status report filed in American Federation of Teachers v. U.S. Department of Education, a federal lawsuit spearheaded by the teacher's union that requires the Department to provide monthly updates on its loan servicing operations.