In 2026, student loan forgiveness counts as income again for millions of borrowers—and no, this isn’t an accident. The temporary federal tax exclusion that shielded canceled student debt from being taxed expired, and lawmakers chose not to extend it. According…

The federal student loan portfolio sits at roughly $1.6 trillion, spread across about 43 million borrowers as of 2024. That’s not a typo. When we talk about student loan debt by generation, we’re talking about a system that’s been systematically…