Student loan borrowers appear to be safe from a potential flood of robocalls that consumer advocates once feared were imminent.

The Federal Communications Commission released a rule Thursday limiting the number of robocalls companies collecting debt on behalf of the government can make to borrowers without their permission. In issuing the new rule, the FCC was implementing a controversial directive Congress tucked into the federal budget bill last year, which created an exception to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act — a 1990s-era law that prohibits companies from robo-calling consumers’ cell phones without their permission — for companies collecting debt on behalf of the federal government. That would mean that those with student loan debt could receive robocalls on their mobile phones, without their express permission, related to their outstanding federal student loans.

Consumer advocates and senators, including Massachusetts Democrat Elizabeth Warren, had warned that the exception could unleash a barrage of robocalls on student loan borrowers. Even when it was technically illegal for student loan servicers to robocall borrowers without their permission, borrowers accused them regularly in lawsuits of excessive calls that bordered on harassment. Robocalls are also the largest category of complaints made by consumers to the Federal Trade Commission.

Borrower advocates commended the FCC and said the new rule ensures that student loan companies don’t have expanded authority to nag borrowers. “We are very pleased that the commission has seen fit to protect consumers from robo calls in the collection of federal debt,” said Margot Saunders, an of-counsel attorney at the National Consumer Law Center, who has advocated for limits on robocalls. “It’s unusual that I’m praising a government agency issuance so much, but it’s really good.”

On the other hand, servicers, or the private companies that collect student loan debt on behalf of the federal government, weren’t so happy with the FCC’s limits. The firms and the Department of Education have argued that many student loan borrowers may be struggling in part because they’re not aware of their options. The government provides borrowers with a variety of repayment programs that allow them to pay off their debt, according to their incomes, but data indicates that many borrowers who could benefit aren’t taking advantage of them.

Providing servicers with the ability to robodial borrowers without their permission could help the companies reach borrowers on the verge of defaulting to provide them with information about programs that could help them stay current on their payments, according to the servicers and the feds.

Under the rule released Thursday, servicers can only call borrowers three times per month without their permission and borrowers have the right to revoke their permission to be called at any time. In addition, servicers can only call the debtor or someone else who is responsible for the debt, so they can’t call family and friends in an effort to collect. The new rule also limits the timing of the calls; servicers can only call robodial borrowers without their permission if their delinquent or at “imminent risk” of delinquency, which the rule defines as within 30 days of missing an important deadline that could affect the timing or amount of payments due.

James Bergeron, the president of the National Council of Higher Education Loan Resources, an industry trade group representing student loan servicers and debt collectors, criticized the limits, saying in a statement they will “provide virtually no benefit to the millions of student loan debtors struggling to repay their loans.”

“We are disappointed that the Federal Communications Commission decided to place arbitrary restrictions on a servicer’s or collector’s ability to have meaningful conversations with delinquent and defaulted borrowers,” he said in the statement.

Navient, one of the nation’s largest student loan servicers, echoed that sentiment in a statement. “It appears the FCC has let down at-risk student loan borrowers by placing barriers between them and ways to hear about their options to avoid delinquency and default,” the company said.

The rule still may leave room for servicers to eventually make more than three calls. The FCC stated in the rule that federal agencies can apply for a waiver seeking a different limit on the number of calls. In the past, Department officials have been critical of the three call limit; Ted Mitchell, the undersecretary of Education, wrote in a letter to the FCC that three calls per month, per delinquency “would not afford borrowers sufficient opportunity to be presented with options to establish more reasonable payment amounts and avoid default.” The Department didn’t immediately indicate whether they’d apply for a waiver, but in a statement, Department spokeswoman Kelly Leon, said “we can only help borrowers avoid default — and the harm it can do to their finances — if we can reach them.”

“We appreciate that the FCC is seeking to protect consumers and we look forward to working with them to help borrowers avoid the harmful consequences of default,” she said in the statement.