Let's talk about my friend.

Before we begin, he's aware that the TOP was not in effect this year; he wants advice going forward.

So my friend was dumb, on several occasions, as a young man. First, he took a couple of semesters at a pop-up college before realizing the major was a waste. Later, he went to a community college... sort of. More like he took the money, never went to class, and used the money to raise his first kid. Neither the fed not the local higher education association were very pleased, and most formal educational options became closed to him. To make matters worse, he aged out as a ward of the state, which means he got the full available amount of federal aide each semester, without cosigners or limitations.

Fast forward 18 years. He's the breadwinner to a disabled wife and 3 kids in an economy that seems actively hostile to single-income lower-class homes. The government knows where he is and how much he makes due to active welfare benefits. If the DoED wanted to find him and seek out their money, he doesn't see any reason they wouldn't or couldn't. However, even before the TOP was suspended for this purpose, they were still sporadic about taking his tax returns. He knew he owed, and didn't count on the return coming each year, but it has, and they haven't taken it in at least ten years.

Curiosity is gnawing at him, tho. He knows he could call the TOP at any point and find out what they say he owes, but he worries that might cause them to come looking for it, and as stated before, he's not hard to find.

What are his options here, and what is the likelihood of his suspicion that his interest will somehow spur theirs?

Edited for DOE/DoED disambiguation. My bad.