New data is out on the scope of staffing cuts at the Department of Education — and their impact on student-loan borrowers.
The office of Federal Student Aid, which oversees the $1.7 trillion student-loan portfolio, lost 40% of its staff during the DOGE era in early 2025, according to a new inspector general report released Tuesday.
It offers the clearest picture yet of how deeply the loss of nearly 1,600 staffers at the Department of Education in early 2025 affects borrower-facing and oversight functions.
Some of the hardest hit offices include those that oversaw servicers and lenders, as well as efforts to collect eligibility and financial analysis data for schools participating in FSA programs. The Government Accountability Office found in a March report that FSA stopped assessing servicers' call quality and billing accuracy due to staffing cuts, leaving borrowers at risk of receiving incorrect payment information.
The report also found that offices with half or fewer of their staff remaining include those that managed FSA's customer website, the mobile aid application, IT services for all FSA systems, and risk assessment for FSA programs.
Borrowers rely on the student aid website to apply for repayment plans and get information on changes to their accounts. Glitches in the system can affect a borrower's ability to contact their servicer or make timely payments.
The data was released after a March 2025 request from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who said on Tuesday that she "fought for this report because Americans deserve to know what Donald Trump is doing to gut education in this country."
In response to the inspector general's findings, Philip Rosenfelt, the department's deputy general counsel, said in a letter included in the report that litigation surrounding the staffing cuts limited the information that the department could provide.
The Education Department disputed the report, saying in a statement that it looked only at the immediate aftermath of the staffing cuts and didn't account for later changes, including a court order returning some employees to work. Press Secretary Ellen Keast said the report "demonstrates how effective the Trump Administration is," as it has implemented sweeping reforms with "nearly half the staff."
The report comes just over a week before Trump's sweeping student-loan overhaul takes effect on July 1, including new repayment plans and borrowing caps. Borrowers have already reported administrative errors as they prepare for their payments, including incorrect payment projections, which they said are making it difficult to budget for expected higher payments.
The staffing cuts were part of a DOGE-led effort to slash the federal workforce and improve efficiency. It also came alongside the Trump administration's goal to dismantle the Education Department altogether. The administration has already taken steps to work toward that goal by announcing partnerships with other agencies, including a plan to transfer the management of federal student loans to the Treasury.
This story has been updated with further comment from the Department of Education.
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