A new inspector general report showed the extent of staffing cuts at the Department of Education.
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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.
