Many student loan borrowers are receiving unwelcome messages about their higher education indebtedness, and most of the blame, if not all of it, is attributable to them — their shoulders alone.

Lack of attention or mere irresponsibility is coming back to haunt them, in a way that, for many, will take years to resolve, if not more than a decade.

Information about these borrowers’ current predicament needs to filter down to the new “class” of borrowers — members of high schools’ Class of 2025 — who will be starting their studies at colleges and universities in the fall.

Not all learning derives from a classroom. Realities outside of classrooms are important learning tools as well.

For the existing borrowers on whom this editorial is focused, it is true that the coronavirus pandemic was — and remains — a culprit in what can be described as their current financial distress. However, remaining is the fact that the borrowers themselves — many who errantly were counting on a free financial ride regarding their repayment responsibility that didn’t in the end materialize — have only themselves to blame.

A headline in the Feb. 28 edition of the Wall Street Journal summed up their plight as follows:

“Student borrowers are hit by steep declines in credit scores.”

Here is a “capsule” of what happened, based on that Feb. 28 Journal article:

“Americans with student loans are waking up to the reality that skipping payments comes with consequences again,” began the Journal’s report.

“The pandemic-era relief on federal student loans ended in October, starting the 90-day clock people have to make payments before their credit scores take a hit,” the report continues. “That time is up, and borrowers are feeling the pain.”

According to an analysis of government data by credit-score provider VantageScore, about 43% of borrowers who owe payments on federal student loans haven’t resumed making them. That translates into more than 9 million people who are at risk of a serious drop in their credit score.

The consequences of late payments and nonpayments are sobering, especially for people contemplating major purchases such as a new home or vehicle. A serious credit-score drop, the Journal pointed out, could have ripple effects, putting home ownership or a new vehicle out of reach for many late-payers.

During the pandemic, many student borrowers became nonchalant about their repayment obligation when it appeared that their loans might be canceled.

The Biden administration tried to cancel a swath of loans — a plan we repeatedly noted was at best deeply flawed — but the Supreme Court tossed out that idea, putting payments back on track to resume. That was scheduled to happen in September 2023, but the administration decided to give borrowers another year before reporting delinquencies to credit bureaus.

Borrowers late in making payments have raised a number of issues that they said set themselves up for their failure to make payments, but it ultimately is the borrowers’ responsibility to keep up with developments affecting their loans and payments.

The delinquent borrowers in question are destined never to forget that.