GAO tells House committee cuts at Education hampered student‑loan oversight; members press for answers
Loading...
Summary
GAO testified that the Department of Education halted key assessments of student‑loan servicers after a 46% staff reduction at the Office of Federal Student Aid, and members raised concerns about transferring defaulted loans to Treasury and the cost of OCR staffing changes.
Melissa Emery Aras, director of the Education, Workforce and Income Security team at the Government Accountability Office, told the committee GAO found that Education stopped assessing student‑loan‑servicer accuracy and call quality in February 2025 because of staff shortages. "We reported ... education stopped assessing student loan servicers on accuracy and call quality due to lack of staff capacity," she said.
GAO told members the Office of Federal Student Aid lost roughly 46% of its staff between January and December 2025, a decline of about 656 employees, and that the department had stopped tracking two performance metrics intended to ensure borrowers get accurate information. Aras said implementing prior GAO recommendations — including better verification of borrower income and family size, updated financial condition metrics for colleges, and improved tracking of borrower complaints — could strengthen accountability and protect borrowers and taxpayers.
Members of both parties connected those staffing cuts to rising delinquency and default figures. Rep. Joe Courtney and others cited 2025 delinquencies and defaults and asked how shifting a portfolio of defaulted loans to the Treasury Department might affect borrower service and oversight. GAO said it had not been briefed on the operational details of any transfer and could not assess how Treasury would manage borrower-facing work.
Separately, members noted GAO reporting that the Education Department cut roughly half the staff in the Office for Civil Rights, closed seven regional offices and spent an estimated $28.5 million to $38 million paying employees on administrative leave from March to December 2025. GAO testified that during a review period OCR received more than 9,000 complaints and opened over 600 investigations while reporting that about 7,000 complaints were resolved and roughly 90% of those resolutions were dismissals.
Members asked for follow-up documentation and inserted GAO reports and related news articles into the hearing record. Several members said they expect further oversight of the staffing changes, the planned transfer of defaulted loans to Treasury, and the department's ability to implement prior GAO recommendations.
The hearing record remains open for 14 days for additional material and follow-up questions to GAO and the Department of Education.
