In the fourth quarter of 2024, 43% of all federal student loans were actively being repaid. The other 57% fell into the following categories: (1) 33% were in forbearance, which means that payments have been temporarily suspended or reduced because of financial hardship; (2) 9% were in deferment, which means that payments have been postponed for reasons such as “returning to school, military service, or economic hardship”; (3) 8% were in default; (4) 7% were for people still in school; (5) 2% were in a grace period; and (6) 0.4% were not being repaid for other reasons.