Student loan expert explains U.S. House's vote to repeal forgiveness and repayment programs
Massive delays and uncertainty about where certain payment plans stand are causing anxiety for some student loan borrowers. And early Thursday morning, the U.S. House voted to repeal several student loan forgiveness and repayment programs.
KDKA Consumer Investigator Meghan Schiller talked to a student loan expert to help borrowers make sense of it all.
On Thursday, House Republicans passed what President Trump calls his "one big beautiful bill," and it includes sweeping changes to student loan forgiveness and repayment.
What changes would be made to student loans?
It's still early, but it's a step towards what the future might look like for those in debt after pursuing higher education. A total overhaul of income-driven repayment plans, a new repayment assistance plan and new caps on borrowing are all on the table following an early morning vote.
"There's a lot of details that are still to come, so I wouldn't panic quite yet, but people do need to be thinking about, 'what do I need to do with my budget if my payment is going to increase?'" said Amy Lins, the VP of customer success at Money Management International.
Lins says there could be big changes.
The legislation looks to repeal the Income-Contingent Repayment plan, Pay As You Earn plan and Saving On a Valuable Education, or "SAVE," plan. It would also automatically move borrowers into a modified version of the income-based repayment plan, which may result in higher payments, according to the Student Borrower Protection Center. And it would create a new income-driven plan called the Repayment Assistance Plan, or "RAP."
"It's looking like 360 payments. So, a little more like a mortgage, right?" said Lins.
"So, it's a longer period. Instead of 20 years or 25 years, now it's a 30-year repayment period."
What should borrowers do?
Lins encourages everyone with student loan debt to rely on the loan simulator calculator at studentaid.gov to inform your decisions.
"You got to really start to kind of go into beast mode, right? Go into that beast mode of like, 'OK, how do I increase my income? How do I decrease my expenses? What is my drop-dead number on what I can pay? Do I have to tweak my lifestyle? Do I have to start thinking about economizing?'" said Lins.
The bill also looks to prohibit the Department of Education from enacting any new broad student loan forgiveness programs using regulatory action, like former President Biden tried to do.
Nothing is final yet. All eyes now turn to the Senate.
