Katrina Harris, a single mother in Oklahoma City, takes on contract jobs on the side to afford her student loan payments.
Harris went to school for her bachelor's, master's and doctorate of pharmacy. Now, she owes the U.S. Department of Education more than $200,000. The salary from her six-figure job is still not enough to comfortably cover her student loan payment each month.
When student loan payments resumed after the pandemic-era freeze, the number of borrowers in default grew by about 4.2 million nationwide, according to the Associated Press. Some borrowers went from having suspended accrued interest and monthly payments to owing a higher monthly payment than they did pre-pandemic.
Borrowers who missed payments for nine months entered into default. In Oklahoma, about 24% of borrowers defaulted.
Harris was able to continue paying her loan servicer, Mohela, but changes to her payment plan complicated things. She was originally enrolled in the SAVE plan, which before July 1 was widely considered the most affordable income-driven federal loan repayment plan. She owed about $350 monthly.
As the Department of Education started phasing out the SAVE plan, Harris enrolled in a different income-based plan. After recertifying her income, Harris' payment tripled. She had to set aside about $950 per month, an amount she said is not easy to afford among other expenses.
"I have more credit card debt, and it's harder to keep up with payments on everything else," Harris said. "My daughter recently turned 16, so my auto insurance just went up another $250 a month as well, and it's just a struggle, even though I have a six-figure income, with all of the bills, with utilities, and her activities, and being a single parent; it's hard to stay afloat."
The department requires new loan borrowers or recently consolidated loan borrowers to choose between the Repayment Assistance Plan and the Tiered Standard repayment plan to simplify the loan repayment system. The Tiered Standard plan offers fixed monthly payments for terms starting at 10 years, while the monthly payment for the Repayment Assistance Plan is 1%-10% of the borrower's income, depending on the amount they earn.
Starting July 1, loan servicers began sending out 90-day notices for SAVE enrollees, urging them to enroll in a new payment plan. The Income-Based Repayment plan will remain available for borrowers who took out loans before July 1, but the PAYE and Income-Contingent Repayment plans will be phased out by July 1, 2028.
If the SAVE borrower doesn't choose a new plan in 90 days, the loan servicer will transition the borrower into a new plan. Harris recertified her income for the Income-Based Repayment plan, and while her application is still being processed, she is in forbearance. She is hoping her payment will decrease under the new plan.
Marty Miller, a real estate agent in Pryor, said he has been moved into a new plan by his servicer before. The loan payment calculator on the federal aid website showed Miller's payments will be about $2,000 per month under his latest plan. He said he feels as though he will never be able to retire as he owes more than $260,000 and has accrued $80,000 in interest.
Miller said it's enough to break his family financially while raising three girls.
Consequences of default
Miller and Harris are not the only Oklahomans searching for relief. The Oklahoma College Assistance Program, created by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, focuses on helping families and students plan for and pay for college through federal student aid and other resources. The Oklahoma College Assistance Program has seen a slight uptick in borrowers calling to seek resources for loan repayment or loan forgiveness since repayment began, Angela Caddell, associate vice chancellor for communications, said in a written statement.
Although it takes nine months for a loan to default, borrowers can start experiencing consequences after 90 days. A loan is considered delinquent after one missed payment, and if it remains delinquent after 90 days, missed payments are reported to national credit reporting agencies.
Oklahoma's student loan delinquency rate fell by about 5% from the previous quarter, but the decline was among the smallest in the country, ranking Oklahoma 47th. About 12% of Oklahoma student loans remained in delinquency in the first quarter of 2026, according to a WalletHub analysis of TransUnion data.
"Most people are not going to pay because they can't," said Jacque Abron, a moderator for Student Loan Justice. "They just can't because they're going to take care of their families first. It causes a lot of hardships, and it causes homelessness. It causes people distress."
For borrowers who are turning to credit card companies to cover expenses on top of their loan payments, delinquency is a real concern. Once a borrower's credit score is affected, applying for credit cards and purchasing a home or car can become harder.
"If that (lower loan payments) were the case, then I would be able to pay off my credit card debt," Harris said. "I would be able to pay off my car, and I would probably be able to more easily afford the competitive dance and pom that my daughter is in."
Borrowers who are delinquent, but not in default, can make arrangements with their loan servicer, such as changing repayment plans or requesting a temporary pause in payments. But once the loan defaults, additional financial challenges can arise.
The full unpaid balance and interest can become immediately due, tax refunds or federal benefit payments may be withheld, wages may be garnished and borrowers can lose access to deferment, forbearance, repayment plan options, loan forgiveness eligibility and additional federal student aid, Caddell said.
Wage garnishment was set to continue in January, but the Trump administration paused the penalty while the new repayment plans become more established, according to AP. There is not yet a confirmed date for when the department will resume involuntary collections, including withholding tax refunds, Social Security collections, and more.
"If you're getting $200 or $300 taken out of your $1,500-a-month Social Security check, that's a lot, and that could be the difference between eating and not eating," said Alan Collinge, founder of Student Loan Justice. "It can be the difference between being able to afford medication or not afford medication. It's putting seniors into destitution."
Limited options
Borrowers who have defaulted on loans have few options.
For federal loans, consolidation can help borrowers avoid default, but they can consolidate only once without taking out another loan.
Student loans are dischargeable through bankruptcy, but the U.S. Department of Justice has set a higher bar forstudent loan cases. Those who wish to discharge loans must prove in a separate adversary proceeding that paying their student loans would impose an undue hardship.
The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which forgives borrowers who make 120 monthly payments while working for a qualifying government entity or nonprofit employer, is one way borrowers can be relieved of their student loan debt.
Harris works for a university that qualifies for the program and has made 77 of the 120 payments, but she's noticed her payment count has changed a few times. The financial aid website recently had a banner stating that the counts were off and that they were working to fix them.
In late August, in a statement toThe College Investor, the department said there were countercode errors resulting from changes made during the Biden Administration. The uncertainty regarding whether certain payments will continue to count remains another worry for Harris and other borrowers.
"People are losing sleep at night over their student loans," Collinge said. "People are very worried that they're going to have their wages garnished, that they're going to lose their job if they have public employment. There's a lot of powers that the Department of Education has over the citizens that could really make this a very brutal year and even further down the road."
Oklahoma Watch, at oklahomawatch.org, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that covers public-policy issues facing the state.
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