The Trump administration is delaying its plans to withhold pay from student loan borrowers who default on their payments, backing off a measure that threatened to deliver a financial blow to millions of Americans.

The U.S. Department of Education is intensifying its collection of unpaid student loans in 2026, which will disproportionately affect Black borrowers who are more likely to take out student loans and owe more than white graduates.

The federal government on Monday will resume collecting defaulted student loan payments from millions of people for the first time since the start of the pandemic, officials said. The Trump administration said it would collect the debt through a Treasury ...