“The office of Federal Student Aid is responsible for directly managing or overseeing an outstanding federal student loan portfolio comprised of billions of dollars in Title IV loans and representing millions of borrowers. This federal student loan portfolio includes Direct Loans, Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL), and Perkins Loans with outstanding balances. The reports here provide information about the federal student loan portfolio…”

• See also HuffPo article by Shahien Nasiripour: “About 51 percent of Americans with student loans made directly by the Education Department, known as Direct Loans, have either fallen behind or are not making expected payments, according to data on the $686 billion portfolio. Borrowers who aren’t making expected payments for reasons that include temporary financial hardship or a return to school are included in the tally. Not included are borrowers not expected to pay back their loans because they’ve either never left school, or are less than six months out of school. The figures are based on dollar amounts, rather than the number of borrowers.”