Defaulted on student loans, rehabilitation ineligible.. what now?

Between 2023-2025 I went through one of the worst stretches of my life. My mom passed away, my dog needed a $12K emergency surgery, & I had a miscarriage. A lot of things fell through the cracks financially while I was just trying to survive.

I had previously done loan rehabilitation years ago after falling behind during the COVID payment restart, so when I tried to apply again in January I got a letter back saying I’m ineligible since you can only do it once. That door is closed.

My loans are showing as transferred/closed with a $0 balance on my credit report but on the Fed Student Loan site clearly show I’m currently in default. The payment history shows I went 90-180 days late in early 2025 before they closed out. Original balances were $3,130 and $2,370.

From what I’ve read, consolidation seems to be my only real path out at this point. My main concerns are the default notation staying on my credit report since consolidation doesn’t remove it like rehabilitation does, whether IBR is a safer bet than SAVE right now given all the court chaos, and whether the current DOE situation changes anything about my options or timeline.

Has anyone navigated consolidation out of default recently? Especially curious if anyone dealt with this post-COVID restart default situation. Not looking to dodge the debt, just trying to understand my best path forward before garnishment becomes a real possibility.