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As the FCC (News - Alert) continues its crackdown on violators of the Telecommunications Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), some are starting to push back.

Case in point: A trade group known as the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals, or ACA, is pushing for the right to make auto-dialed calls to those in arrears on their student loan payments. And with an estimated $1.2 Trillion (News - Alert) in outstanding student loans, they have a point.

According to a recent report on the ACA website, the Obama Administration’s 2016 Budget Proposal includes an amendment to federal law that would allow the use of auto-dialers for contacting student loan borrowers about repayment and options to help if they are in default on their loan. That’s according to a report from the U.S. Department of Education released earlier this month.

“If servicers are able to contact a borrower, they have a much better chance at helping that borrower resolve a delinquency or default,” according to the Dept. of Ed report, “Strengthening the Student Loan System to Better Protect All Borrowers.”

The ACA adds that federal student loans are still the main source of borrowing in the U.S. despite grants, tax credits and student loan reform options created by the administration to lower that amount.

The problem is the FCC.

The Education Department wants Congress to “change the [TCPA] to ensure that servicers can contact borrowers using modern technology and help them get into the right repayment plan and avoid the consequences of default or [to] resolve their default.”

But over the summer the FCC reaffirmed its stand on the law’s “protections against unwanted robocalls, encouraging pro-consumer uses of robocall technology and responding to a number of requests for clarity from businesses and other callers.”

Not ready to just sit back and take it, ACA International, several member companies and other organizations filed suit against the FCC since its Declaratory Ruling and Order, and asked for a judicial review of the FCC ruling.

It looks like this battle is just beginning.