The Trump administration says it is cutting student loan interest. Not everyone qualifies.

The Education Department on Thursday said it is temporarily cutting interest rates for some federal student loan borrowers, a move aimed at easing repayment costs as delinquencies climb to their highest level in six years.

The reduction – a temporary shave of 1 percentage point from borrowing costs — comes as 10.3% of student loans were delinquent during the first quarter, representing the highest share in six years and a twenty-fold spike since mid-2024, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.