With three weeks left till the July 1st OBBBA implementation deadline, this week a number of the most authoritative voices on what’s subsequent spoke to us on our podcast. Schooling Secretary Nicholas Kent defined to Robert precisely what debtors, dad and mom and faculties must know, together with clear solutions to questions which were obscure for months. There’s additionally an necessary new Congressional Analysis Service report on the Treasury takeover, a quiet however significant improve to the FAFSA, and follow-up on cybersecurity revelations that also stay unresolved.
This week, June 12, 2026, we’re supplying you with a fast have a look at an important tales shaping larger training and pupil finance.
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Schooling Deputy Secretary Nicholas Kent joins the College Investor Podcast to debate adjustments to pupil loans coming July 1. A brand new CRS report particulars the Treasury Division’s takeover of $179 billion in defaulted federal pupil loans. The FAFSA now shows SAI and Pell Grant eligibility in actual time instantly after submission. Months after the Canvas hack, college students stay the most important cybersecurity hyperlink in larger training.
1. Schooling Undersecretary Nicholas Kent joins the College Investor Podcast
This week Robert sat down with Schooling Underneath Secretary Nicholas Kent. Kent is the highest federal coverage official overseeing larger training, profession training, technical training, grownup training and the $1.7 trillion federal pupil support portfolio. With lower than three weeks till July 1st, that is probably the most authoritative interview ever revealed about what’s truly going to occur. Your entire episode could be discovered right here.
Kent defined how the One Huge Lovely Invoice Act will simplify the federal pupil support system, lowering greater than 40 reimbursement and withdrawal choices to simply two new plans beginning July 1.
He defined precisely what SAVE debtors must do now, how the 90-day transition clock works, and why the brand new Compensation Help Plan (RAP) is designed to make sure that on-time funds all the time scale back your steadiness. That is in sharp distinction to how SAVE and IBR end in damaging amortization.
He additionally mentioned New Graduate and Mum or dad Plus borrowing limits, making the administration’s argument that these limits are designed to place downward stress on larger training prices. Kent pointed to early examples of faculties which have already responded, together with the College of California, Irvine’s Paul Merage College of Enterprise, which lowered MBA tuition by as much as 38% to match the brand new cap.
➡️ Affect: Should you’re a borrower, dad or mum, or present pupil making an attempt to navigate the July 1st adjustments, this can be a must-listen. Importantly, Kent frames this coverage as a deliberate value stress device. It reveals how the federal government intends to measure success, which influences how sturdy enforcement will probably be in opposition to every company.
His readability concerning the 90-day transition interval, particularly for SAVE debtors, confirms what we have been telling our readers for months: Should you do not select your subsequent plan earlier than it expires, you will be robotically positioned. Hearken to your complete episode and share it with somebody in your life who’s confused about what July 1st truly means.
2. New CRS report: Treasury plans to take over $179 billion defaulted mortgage portfolio
On June 9, the Congressional Analysis Service launched an up to date report detailing the Division of Schooling’s switch of repayments for defaulted federal pupil loans to the Treasury Division’s Fiscal Service.
As of December 31, 2025, ED’s default portfolio consisted of loans from roughly 7.8 million debtors (roughly 18% of all federal pupil mortgage debtors) with $179 billion in debt. The report describes how the Treasury will get better these loans by administrative payroll garnishments, monetary offset packages, and referrals to the U.S. Division of Justice.
Probably the most worrying particulars of the CRS report are buried throughout the evaluation. The Ministry of Finance’s Fiscal Affairs Bureau lowered its workforce by roughly 40% between September 2024 and February 2026. The report notes that the Treasury Division might must outsource sure facets of cross-service features to deal with the extra quantity. This might imply extra friction, extra errors, and longer decision instances for debtors making an attempt to emerge from default.
Debtors also needs to be aware that in June 2025, ED suspended Social Safety profit offsets indefinitely, however that suspension could also be revoked underneath the brand new construction.
➡️ Affect: If left as default, the window of alternative to behave in your phrases closes rapidly. The Treasury Division’s involuntary assortment instruments are administrative, so a court docket order will not be required to garnish as much as 15% of your disposable paycheck or garnish your tax refund.
The 2 finest methods to get out of default are mortgage rehabilitation (9 on-time funds, relying in your earnings, which additionally removes the default mark out of your credit score report) or direct consolidation (quicker, however the default stays in your credit score). Considerations concerning the capacity to handle CRS reporting counsel that decision timelines will worsen earlier than they get higher, so you must act now somewhat than await discover.
3. FAFSA now shows SAI and Pell grant eligibility in actual time after submission
In a quietly important improve, Federal Scholar Help introduced on June 1 that college students can now see their Scholar Help Index (SAI), Pell Grant eligibility, feedback and denial codes as quickly as they submit their 2026-27 FAFSA, with out having to attend days or even weeks for processed outcomes. College students also can view their outcomes immediately and make as much as 4 revisions, with the fifth revision triggering a 24-hour maintain till outcomes are returned.
➡️ Affect: If college students haven’t but filed the 2026-27 FAFSA, the federal deadline is June 30, 2027, however many state and college deadlines have already handed. The actual-time outcomes improve is necessary as a result of it permits households to match support provides and run value eventualities immediately. That is particularly useful for highschool seniors to verify early.
For households with youthful college students or these contemplating reconsideration with corrections, the 4 corrections immediately rule successfully transforms the FAFSA into an interactive planning device. File early and use immediate suggestions to make smarter borrowing and college choice choices.
4. College students stay the most important cybersecurity weak spot in larger training
Following final month’s protection of the Canvas hack, during which the ShinyHunters group stole 275 million consumer knowledge from Teacher and compelled hundreds of faculties offline throughout finals week, Inside Increased Ed reported this week that college students stay the primary vulnerability level for faculty cybersecurity.
This sample is well-known and consists of phishing emails disguised as monetary support notifications, faux course registration hyperlinks, malicious “scholarship” attachments, and pretend login pages that harvest credentials concentrating on college students’ .edu e-mail accounts.
What makes this story significantly related immediately is the convergence of three traits. First, although Teacher paid the ransom, the Canvas compromised knowledge nonetheless exists. This implies there may very well be a surge in phishing makes an attempt utilizing real course particulars.
Second, with summer season support funds underway on hundreds of campuses, college students are receiving extra professional monetary support emails than standard, making it tough to identify faux emails.
Third, the rollout of OBBBA led to a flood of professional “mortgage phrases altering” communications from servicers and faculties. That is full fraud protection.
➡️ Affect: Deal with any emails that point out pupil loans, monetary support, course registration, or Canvas accounts with a excessive diploma of suspicion now.
Don’t click on on hyperlinks in monetary support emails. As a substitute, log in on to StudentAid.gov, your faculty’s portal, or your servicer’s website. Allow multi-factor authentication on all accounts that provide multi-factor authentication (at the very least .edu e-mail, StudentAid.gov, banks, and college portals).
Use a password supervisor to keep away from reusing the identical passwords throughout accounts. Additionally, in the event you’re requested to “confirm” your SSN, date of start, or banking info by way of e-mail, it is a rip-off. Precise monetary support places of work don’t ask for such info by way of e-mail.
