by Jeffrey R. Young, The Hechinger Report
April 30, 2026
A teacher in Wisconsin recently got a call with an intriguing offer: a promise to have 80 percent of her federal student loans forgiven — for a fee. The teacher, Lauren, owes about $60,000 in debt more than a decade after graduation, so she was more than happy to hear the company out.
Lauren said she pressed the caller for details about how the offer would work. The agent abruptly hung up.
Lauren said she receives calls like this about once a week these days, from companies purporting they can help erase her student debt. (She requested her full name not be used out of fear of getting targeted by more scams.) “They always claim that they’re with some federal agency,”…