Black and Hispanic or Latino student loan borrowers are more likely to have difficulty repaying their loans than their White peers, according to a significant body of research. Both populations of borrowers are also more likely than their White peers to face barriers to completing degrees and have a higher chance than their White peers of experiencing financial difficulty that can put them at risk of falling behind on payments and having their loans end up in default. Default, which occurs after 270 days of nonpayment, often triggers severe economic consequences for borrowers, such as seizure of tax refunds, wage garnishments, high fees, and a decline in creditworthiness. To better understand the underlying factors that influence these disparate outcomes, including how borrowers' repayment patterns could be affected by economic and educational barriers such as racial discrimination, The Pew Charitable Trusts conducted a representative survey of 1,609 student loan borrowers who first received undergraduate loans between 1998 and 2018, as well as a review of academic literature on the topic of student loan repayment and race. This report draws on those analyses and also builds upon Pew's previous research on student loan repayment issues, which includes surveys and interviews with researchers, regulators, loan servicers, and borrowers. Pew's research aims to provide insight into the significant repayment barriers that Black and Hispanic or Latino borrowers face and to bolster existing research on an array of factors that appear to have a significant impact on default rates varying by race and ethnicity. Key findings include: (1) the repayment system does not work effectively for a large number of participants, as evidenced by much higher default and redefault rates for Black and Hispanic or Latino borrowers than for White borrowers; (2) the repayment difficulties that many Black and Hispanic or Latino borrowers encounter may be partly explained both by heavy financial burdens and by educational circumstances; and (3) current repayment options designed to help borrowers struggling with loan repayment have had limited success, and may be underused. With millions of borrowers having recently reentered the collections system for the first time in several years, and new defaults set to begin occurring as early as summer 2025, targeted changes to student loan default rules and requirements are provided in order for policymakers to immediately attend to this issue.