Student Loan Wage Garnishment

The Trump administration has announced that taxpayers with delinquent student loan accounts will once again see their wages garnished to repay the amounts owed. The announcement comes after a five-year pause on collection efforts on delinquent student loan accounts. The Department of Education announced that, starting May 5, student loan borrowers who have not paid their loans for at least 270 days could see blocked federal benefits, including payments from Social Security, and even wage garnishment in order to repay their loans. Student borrowers who are in default will be given 30 days’ notice before their wages are garnished, according to Trump administration officials. The government can garnish up to 15% of the delinquent student loan borrower’s wages.

We asked two professors and authors of ALM’s Tax Facts with opposing political viewpoints to share their opinions about Trump’s decision to begin garnishing the wages of student borrowers who have not made their required payments.

Below is a summary of the debate that ensued between the two professors.