The IRS will garnish wages for student loans.
On the other hand, a study conducted by the Department of Education, run by Education Secretary John King Jr, makes a lot of sense. and is hardly malicious at all. Department of Education wanting to know the effectiveness of their FAFSA loan program (and why or why not people are able to pay those loans back) is definitely a good thing.
Besides, all the loans are being handled by Sallie Mae (a private company with some Government support). So its Sallie Mae who is officially on the hook with regards to collections and such. The Department of Education is rather removed from the whole finances thing, as far as I'm aware.
So basically, you can assume a malicious force if the IRS or maybe even Sallie Mae began to conduct this sort of investigation. But the Department of Education? Collections isn't their thing. They're likely interested in the state of education, college readiness and the like.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government-sponsored_enterpris...
It didn't become private until 2004, and wasn't expected to be private until 2008.
It is much more than a private company with some Government support.
A lot of misunderstanding here. Education department doesn't have any enforcement arm as far as I'm aware. Understanding why students are defaulting on loans is 100% in the realm of what the education department SHOULD be doing.