The number of borrowers in default nearly doubled between September 2025 and March 2026, with 878,000 Texans in default on $19.7 billion in federal student loans.
Of Texas borrowers who started to repay loans between January 2020 and May 2025, about 276,000 were at least three months late on payments as of May 2026, according to federal data. That means about one in five Texas borrowers in that cohort were delinquent on their loans.
The recently released data shows a surge in borrowers falling behind on their loans after a yearslong pandemic-related freeze, during which the federal government made major changes to student loan policies and borrowers got out of the habit of paying. Families are also grappling with rising costs in a stressed economy.
The delinquency rate in the Dallas-Fort Worth area is similar to the statewide rate — nearly 21%, according to student aid data analyzed by the Associated Press and The Dallas Morning News.
Borrowers in default, or at least nine months late on payments, can face severe financial consequences, including wage garnishment. Less severe delinquency can decrease credit scores.
How well an institution prepares borrowers for the job market also ties into nonpayment rates, experts told The News.
“For a number of people, they had borrowed to attend places that were not actually benefiting them,” said Dominique Baker, associate professor of education and public policy at the University of Delaware. “And they were still struggling.”
Nonpayment rates generally vary by school type: for-profit, private nonprofit and public.
Across Texas, about 39% of analyzed borrowers who attended private for-profit schools were at least 90 days delinquent on their student loans, according to federal data. That was nearly double the rate of private nonprofit and public schools.
In parts of North Texas, the gap between those school types is not as uniformly clear.
In Tarrant County, for-profit schools had a nearly 40% non-payment rate compared with 13% and 16% nonpayment rates for nonprofit and public schools, respectively. In Dallas County, however, nonprofit schools actually took the lead in nonpayment rates, at about 26%. Both public and for-profit schools had nonpayment rates of about 20%.
The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.
The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, Judy and Jim Gibbs, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Ron Steinhart, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks, and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.