Opportunities Exist to Strengthen Accountability in Higher Education - Statement

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Bintang

GAO testimony before the U.S. House Committee on Education and Workforce examines how staffing reductions affected the Department of Education’s oversight of student loan servicers. It reports Education halted quarterly accuracy and call-quality assessments in February 2025 due to insufficient staff, after earlier assessments found many servicers missed accuracy standards and faced financial penalties. GAO recommends reassessing accuracy and call quality and notes other GAO recommendations remain only partly implemented.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages14

Reading Time35 min

AccessFree to download

What GAO Found

Student Loan Servicer Performance on Accuracy Metric

Why GAO Did This Study

What GAO Recommends

United States Government Accountability Office | | Testimony
Before the Committee on Education and Workforce, House of Representatives | | --- | --- | For Release on Delivery Expected at 10:15 a. m. ET Thursday, March 26, 2026 DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Opportunities Exist to Strengthen Accountability in Higher Education Statement of Melissa Emrey-Arras, Director, Education, Workforce, and Income Security Highlights GAO-26-109069 DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Opportunities Exist to Strengthen Accountability in Higher Education March 2026 A testimony before the Committee on Education and Workforce, House of Representatives For more information, [contact: Melissa Emrey-Arras at](contact: Melissa Emrey-Arras at EmreyArrasM@gao.gov)[ EmreyArrasM@gao.gov](contact: Melissa Emrey-Arras at EmreyArrasM@gao.gov) What GAO Found In March 2026, GAO reported on the impact of recent staffing reductions on the Department of Education’s oversight of its student loan servicers. In February 2025, Education stopped assessing student loan servicers on accuracy and call quality due to lack of staff capacity, according to Education officials. Prior to discontinuing these quarterly assessments, Education assessed servicers on these metrics for two quarters. These assessments were intended to measure whether servicers were (1) keeping complete and accurate records for borrowersand (2) providing borrowers good customer service. The decision to stop these assessments occurred shortly after the administration began issuing presidential directives and guidance on downsizing the federal workforce in January 2025. Education reported that between January and December 2025, the number of staff at its Office of Federal Student Aid ( FSA) decreased from 1,433 to 777. Prior to FSA discontinuing this oversight, most servicers did not meet the performance standards for accuracy and faced corresponding financial penalties of about $850,000 . FSA continued to assess servicer performance on the other performance metrics, which it characterized as less labor intensive to monitor. Student Loan Servicer Performance on Accuracy Metric In March 2026, GAO recommended that Education assess servicer accuracy and call quality. Education disagreed, stating that it uses other methods to assess servicer performance. GAO maintains these other methods are not effective substitutes. Moreover, GAO maintains these two assessments are important to protect borrowers and help the government avoid overpaying servicers for poor performance. GAO also made other recommendations in prior work to help Education strengthen accountability. For example, implementing GAO’s 2019 recommendations to improve verification of borrower income and family size information could help reduce the risk of fraud and error in certain repayment plans and potentially save over $2 billion. Similarly, implementing GAO’s 2017 recommendation to update the formula for measuring colleges’ financial condition could help protect taxpayers against the financial risk of college closures. Finally, implementing GAO’s 2016 recommendation to improve tracking of borrower complaints could help Education better track trends and ensure the program effectively meets borrower needs. Education has taken some steps to address these recommendations; however, the agency needs to do more to implement them and strengthen accountability in higher education. Why GAO Did This Study In fiscal year 2025, about 10.5 million students received over $131 billion in federal student aid to help them pursue higher education. Education is responsible for maintaining accountability and protecting the federal investment in higher education. Education’s responsibilities include overseeing colleges, federal student aid, and the servicers that help administer the student loan program. Education’s responsibilities have grown substantially in recent years based on changes to the size and complexity of the federal student loa

FAQs

Why did the Department of Education stop assessing servicer accuracy and call quality?

In February 2025, Education stopped due to lack of staff capacity, according to Education officials. GAO notes the assessments had been used for two quarters before being discontinued.

How did staffing reductions affect the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA)?

Between January and December 2025, the number of FSA staff decreased from 1,433 to 777. The testimony links the decision to stop assessments to the beginning of directives to downsize the federal workforce in January 2025.

What did GAO recommend regarding servicer performance?

GAO recommended Education assess servicer accuracy and call quality in March 2026. Education disagreed, stating it uses other methods, and GAO maintained those methods are not effective substitutes.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Bintang