Education Department Updates Joint Student Loan Form
Published Date: 6/30/2026
Notice
Summary
The Department of Education is updating the form people use to split their joint student loan. This change affects borrowers with joint consolidation loans and aims to make the process clearer and easier. You’ve got until July 30, 2026, to share your thoughts, and about 20,000 folks use this form each year.
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 1 costs, 1 mixed.
OBBBA changes affect loans from July 1, 2026
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed July 4, 2025, changed Sections 455(d), 455(e), 455(g), and 455(q) to affect the terms, conditions, and borrowers' rights and responsibilities for Direct Loans (including consolidation loans) received on or after July 1, 2026. The Department is revising the form to align with those statutory changes.
Updated form to split joint loans
The Department of Education is revising the Joint Consolidation Loan Separation Application to make the process of splitting a joint consolidation loan clearer and easier. About 19,773 people use this form each year and the revision is meant to align the form with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act changes.
Must apply to separate joint consolidation loans
If you are a co-borrower on a joint consolidation loan and want to separate it into one or more individual Direct Consolidation Loans, you must apply to the U.S. Department of Education using the Joint Consolidation Loan Separation Application. The Higher Education Act, as amended by the Joint Consolidation Loan Separation Act, requires borrowers to submit this application.
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