William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program – School no longer authorised to confirm in-school status but I’m still studying

Hi everyone,I could really use some help from anyone with experience with US federal student aid.

I'm a US citizen who has been living and studying in Australia since I was 15 (now 30) thanks to my family moving overseas. I borrowed to pay for my Masters and then subsequently undertook a PhD. My degree is technically a three year degree and was therefore meant to end in October 2025, but I've extended my candidature twice by 6 months (pretty standard in Australia). The problem is that my university stopped participating in the loan program, so they can no longer confirm my in-school status for the purposes of deferment. Now I'm a graduate student in a very stressful period trying to finish up my PhD and on a very low income expected to start repaying my loan.

Has anyone else encountered this or a similar problem and can you give me any advice about how I could deal with this?

I'm extremely stressed about it all and the American bureaucracy is foreign and confusing to me since I've spent my whole adolescence in Australia. Any help at all would be so greatly appreciated.