Student loan borrower advocacy groups continue to call on the Trump administration to pause student loans in the face payment spikes and widespread loan servicing failures. Now, as President Trump tells Americans that his administration will send out $5,000 checks if Republicans manage to hold onto Congress following the midterm elections, some groups are saying that pausing student loan payments would be a better use of the government’s resources.

The growing calls for some sort of pause on student loans come as borrowers are struggling to navigate changing repayment plan options, errors by loan servicers, and mismanagement by the Education Department. Meanwhile, the Trump administration appears to be growing more concerned about the possibility of Democrats retaking Congress this November. Here’s the latest.

Federal Student Loans Are Experiencing Significant Upheaval

Borrowers with federal student loans are experiencing unprecedented upheaval. The One Big, Beautiful Bill Act that President Trump signed into law last year after passage by congressional Republicans, and related actions by the Trump-led Education Department to resolve ongoing legal challenges, are fundamentally altering federals student loan repayment. Millions of borrowers are currently being kicked off of the SAVE plan as they reach their 90-day deadlines to switch repayment programs, while other affordable repayment plans like PAYE will be terminated in 2028. As a result, many borrowers are seeing their monthly payments jump.

“Payment going from $524 to $1,700, how are we supposed to absorb this?” asked on Reddit user on a forum for student loans last week. “I felt like I had been given a gift, a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders and that the universe was finally supporting me for having paid so much interest and loan payments over all of these years. And then this administration changed it all.”

Meanwhile, student loan borrowers, advocacy groups, and elected officials have been increasingly sounding the alarm about widespread errors by loan servicers and mismanagement by the Education Department. Borrowers are reporting that they have been erroneously marked as delinquent on their student loans or had legitimately-earned student loan forgiveness credit suddenly rescinded with no explanation. Others haven’t been able to enroll in repayment plans that they should have qualified for, while still others have had their monthly payments miscalculated. Borrowers have also indicated it is difficult or impossible to get these issues resolved due to long call hold times and lack of any accountability.

Some advocacy groups and elected officials have blamed the Trump administration for instituting major DOGE-led staffing cuts at the Education Department last year. The Government Accountability Office released a report earlier this year criticizing the department for diminishing a unit that was tasked with monitoring and overseeing student loan servicers. The department disputed these findings.

It is in this context that some advocacy organizations are calling for a pause on student loan payments.

“The scale of the problems borrowers are facing has become even harder to ignore,” said the Student Debt Crisis Center in a blast email last week. “Many borrowers are just trying to navigate confusing and constantly changing rules while trying to figure out how to afford their next payment. Meanwhile, nearly 10 million Americans have already fallen behind on their payments.”

“Borrowers deserve relief from this uncertainty,” the SDCC continued. “It’s time to pause federal student loan payments and interest. This is not what we were promised. We all deserve better than systemic failures, affordability challenges, and widespread confusion.”

Groups Say Trump Should Pause Student Loans In Lieu Of Sending $5,000 Checks

As polls increasingly suggest that Democrats are poised to take back at least one chamber of Congress in the upcoming midterm elections, President Trump has promised again to send every adult U.S. citizen a check for $5,000 if Republicans maintain control of the House and Senate. But some advocacy groups say the president should instead pause payments on student loans.

“If Republicans win the House of Representatives and the Senate in the 2026 Midterm Elections, I’m going to give all adult citizens in the United States of America, $5,000!” said President Trump in a statement posted on X on Saturday. “Thank you for your attention to this matter, and I look forward to signing those checks!”

“Pause student loans right now,” responded the Debt Collective, a national debtor’s union that advocates for student loan borrowers on X. “Show us you’re serious.”

Critics have countered that the President’s proposal is a gimmick that is unlikely to ever happen. Legal scholars have noted that President Trump would not be able to unilaterally send out $5,000 checks to Americans, as such an action would require legislation passed by Congress. That legislation is by no means guaranteed to pass, even if Republicans maintain control of the House and Senate.

“This $5,000 ‘Trump Dividend’ promise was first made in Sept. 2026,” reads a “community note” appended to President Trump’s statement on X. “Similar prior DOGE and tariff check pledges have not been paid out. It would cost ~$1.2 trillion and require congressional approval.”

Unlike $5,000 checks, however, a presidential administration (via the Secretary of Education) does have the power to pause federal student loan payments under certain circumstances, such as a national emergency. In fact, President Trump exercised that authority and paused student loans through executive action during his first term in March 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Congress subsequently passed legislation to codify and extend that relief for another six months. But President Trump, and subsequently President Biden, wound up using that executive authority to extend the pause on student loans several more times.

Other Groups Call For Other Relief For Student Loans

Not all borrower advocacy groups are necessarily on board with pausing student loan payments. But other coalitions are calling for relief for borrowers, as well.

Last month, a group of state student loan ombudspersons sent a letter to the Education Department calling for a pause on the forced transition of student loans out of the SAVE plan, citing widespread loan servicing problems and skyrocketing payments. Separately, a broad coalition of nearly 90 organizations including labor groups, civil rights nonprofits, and financial advocacy organizations, called for emergency congressional hearings to shine more of a light on the widespread issues that are currently impacting federal student loans as borrowers struggle to navigate the recent legislative reforms and higher monthly payments.