Americans are defaulting on their student loan debt at a record pace: Delinquent federal student loan debt jumped +$12.2 billion in Q1 2026, to $171.4 billion, an all-time high. This has officially surpassed the $166.8 billion peak recorded in Q4 2019. At the same time, the proportion of seriously delinquent loans rose +0.7 percentage points, to 10.3%, the highest since Q1 2020. This comes as 2.6 million borrowers defaulted in Q1 2026, followed by ~1.0 million in Q4 2025. The average borrower entering default is now nearly 40 years old, up from 36.4 before the 2020 pandemic. The US student loan crisis is intensifying.(The Kobeissi Letter)