FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NOVEMBER 5, 2026
MEDIA CONTACT
Student Defense Publishes “Oversight Curriculum” for 120th Congress to Protect Students
Washington, D.C. — Student Defense today released its “2027 Congressional Oversight Curriculum,” a comprehensive guide to help the 120th Congress hold the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) and the U.S. Department of Education (ED) accountable. With a new Congress taking shape,, the guide provides lawmakers with a roadmap to restore effective oversight and strengthen protections for students and student loan borrowers nationwide.
The guide calls for Congress to make ED’s “management of the $1.64 trillion federal student loan portfolio and its oversight of colleges a top priority.” It establishes 10 topics Student Defense believes Congressional committees should focus on in January 2027, all which are related to recent ED actions and decisions:
Efforts to Dismantle the Office of FSA
Failure to Conduct Enforcement and Oversight of Predatory Colleges
Illegal Refusals to Grant Closed School Loan Discharges
Mismanagement of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program
Restarting Involuntary Collections Without Fixing the Wage Garnishment Program
Failures in Transferring Borrowers Into New Repayment Plans
Refusal to Collect Over $1 Billion in Liabilities Owed by Colleges
Withholding Promised Borrower Defense Relief and Misreporting Cancelled Debt
Collapse of Servicer Oversight and the Student Loan Ombudsman
Unexamined Use of Artificial Intelligence to Administer FSA
Each topic includes the following sections to help lawmakers identify the critical questions they should be asking, the policies they should be scrutinizing, and the actions needed to restore accountability:
The problem: what the Department is doing or failing to do
Why it matters: the legal duty at stake and who is harmed
Questions for the Secretary and FSA leadership: for hearings, QFRs and letters.
Documents to request: records to demand by letter or, if necessary, subpoena.
“Congress has a responsibility to ensure the Department of Education is working for students and borrowers, not against them. The incoming Congress has an opportunity to bring much-needed scrutiny and accountability to the Department,” said Aaron Ament, Student Defense President. “This curriculum provides a roadmap to examine ED’s actions, identify its shortcomings, and restore critical protections for students and borrowers. We look forward to seeing Congress make meaningful oversight of ED a priority, recognizing that its decisions will shape opportunities for current students and generations to come.”
Read the full curriculum here.
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About Student Defense
The National Student Legal Defense Network (“Student Defense”) is a non-profit organization that works, through litigation and advocacy, to advance students' rights to educational opportunity and to ensure that higher education provides a launching point for economic mobility.
