After five years, the free ride is officially over for students who borrowed money to attend colleges and universities.

On Monday, millions of student loan borrowers in default will begin receiving notices from the Department of Education as federal efforts to recoup the money resume. 

The notices will ask the borrowers to make monthly payments or enroll in income-driven repayment plans. If they don’t, in the summer they’ll receive notices from the Office of Federal Student Aid informing them that their wages are being garnished.

“American taxpayers will no longer be forced to serve as collateral for irresponsible student loan policies,” the education secretary, Linda McMahon, said in a statement. “The Biden Administration misled borrowers: the executive branch does not have the constitutional authority to wipe debt away, nor do the loan balances simply disappear.”

The Department of Education cited a growing concern over unpaid federal loans since collections were paused in March 2020 due to the Covid pandemic. 

“Today, 42.7 million borrowers owe more than $1.6 trillion in student debt,” the department said in a statement. “More than 5 million borrowers have not made a monthly payment in over 360 days and sit in default — many for more than 7 years — and 4 million borrowers are in late-stage delinquency (91-180 days). As a result, there could be almost 10 million borrowers in default in a few months.”

The FSA announced that borrowers in default will receive email notifications urging them to take action, including by contacting the Default Resolution Group to set up monthly payments, enrolling in income-driven repayment plans, or opting for loan rehabilitation. 

The pause on federal student loan payments officially ended in 2023. However, the Biden administration extended the pause through the 2024 election as the president sought to implement loan forgiveness plans despite rulings from the Supreme Court that such efforts were illegal.

Critics of the pause — which cost taxpayers an estimated $225 billion over the course of five years — have accused the Biden administration of creating uncertainty for borrowers.

“While Congress mandated that student and parent borrowers begin to repay their student loans in October 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration refused to lift the collections pause and kept borrowers in a confusing limbo,” the Department of Education said. “The previous Administration failed to process applications for borrowers who applied for income-driven repayment and continued to push misguided ‘on-ramps’ and illegal loan forgiveness schemes to win points with borrowers and mask rising delinquency and default rates.”

The crackdown on delinquent borrowers could have significant consequences. Borrowers who remain in default may face penalties such as the withholding of federal benefits, including tax refunds and Social Security checks, according to the Wall Street Journal.