Close to nine million people missed the first student loan payment they were supposed to make after the pandemic pause ended this fall, the Department of Education said Friday.

That amounts to about 40% of the 22 million people who had student loan payments due in October. The nearly nine million borrowers had not made their payments by well into November.

For comparison, less than 26% of borrowers missed their payment in October 2019, before the pandemic pause went into effect.

[They’re not paying because they keep expecting Biden to make good on his promise of loan forgiveness. I’m actually surprised at how high the *compliance* rate was under these conditions. — Ed]