Starting Monday, millions of student loan borrowers in default will receive notices about being sent to collections.

The move comes after the Department of Education announced last month that it wants to protect U.S. taxpayers “from shouldering the cost of federal student loans that borrowers willingly undertook to finance their postsecondary education.” 

“American taxpayers will no longer be forced to serve as collateral for irresponsible student loan policies,” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement. “The Biden Administration misled borrowers: the executive branch does not have the constitutional authority to wipe debt away, nor do the loan balances simply disappear.” 

The Department of Education said its “Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) will resume collections of its defaulted federal student loan portfolio on Monday, May 5th,” after it temporarily suspended student loan payments in March 2020, which was when the COVID-19 pandemic began.

“Today, 42.7 million borrowers owe more than $1.6 trillion in student debt,” according to the Department. “More than 5 million borrowers have not made a monthly payment in over 360 days and sit in default — many for more than 7 years — and 4 million borrowers are in late-stage delinquency (91-180 days). As a result, there could be almost 10 million borrowers in default in a few months.” 

“All borrowers in default will receive email communications from FSA … urging them to contact the Default Resolution Group to make a monthly payment, enroll in an income-driven repayment plan, or sign up for loan rehabilitation,” the Department added. “Later this summer, FSA will send required notices beginning administrative wage garnishment.” 

A pause in student loan payments that began during the pandemic officially ended in 2023, but the Biden administration extended the penalty-free period through the 2024 election, as the former president pursued various loan-forgiveness initiatives, according to The Wall Street Journal.

“While Congress mandated that student and parent borrowers begin to repay their student loans in October 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration refused to lift the collections pause and kept borrowers in a confusing limbo. The previous Administration failed to process applications for borrowers who applied for income-driven repayment and continued to push misguided ‘on-ramps’ and illegal loan forgiveness schemes to win points with borrowers and mask rising delinquency and default rates,” the Department of Education said. 

Potential penalties for those in default include the withholding of federal benefits such as tax returns and social security checks, The Wall Street Journal reported.