Biden pushes new student loan repayment plan as bills loom for tens of millions
Biden pushes new student loan repayment plan as bills loom for tens of millions
The effort to boost enrollment in the income-driven repayment program comes as student loan payments resume for the first time since March 2020.
President Joe Biden on Tuesday launched a promotional blitz for his new program that helps student loan borrowers repay their debt, just weeks before millions of Americans are set to receive a loan bill for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic.
The Biden administration is mobilizing to convince borrowers across the country to sign up for the new income-driven repayment program — dubbed the “SAVE plan” — which caps interest accrual and lowers the monthly payment amount for many borrowers.
“It’s the most affordable student loan plan ever,” Biden said in a video released by the White House on Tuesday, describing the program as a major reform to a student loan system “that hurt borrowers for much too long.”
“If you’re eligible for the SAVE Plan, sign up now so you can lower your monthly payments in advance of payments resuming this fall,” Biden said.
Honestly whatever on the whole repayment thing cause I'm poor and fucked no matter what so... Meh.
But seriously can we fucking stop pretending the poverty line is real or even close to where they say it is? When every single benefits package and plan talks about a 200% increase from base poverty line or $20,000 over the base poverty limit for approval it just means poverty is much more common and a lot more expensive than we want to admit but it would freak out hundreds of thousands to realize just how poor they actually are.
Rip off the bandaid of bullshit poverty line adjustments and just be honest that the average American is low class now.
This article doesn’t really say what the SAVE plan does so I’m reposting this here.
…the SAVE plan is coming in July 2024 to replace REPAYE, with some parts rolling out this summer and all the details here.
The department says that under the old plan, borrowers repaid $10,956 for every $10,000 they borrowed. Under the new plan, they would pay back just $6,121.
It’s more technical than direct forgiveness but will change income-based plans in the following ways according to this NPR article:
Starting Summer 2023:
- floor for protected income rising from 150% to 225% of poverty line
- no interest while payments are being made
Starting Summer 2024:
- payments now based on 5% rather than 10% of borrowers’ remaining income
- those who borrow $12,000 or less can gain full forgiveness in 10 years rather than 20 (with each additional $1000 adding another year so $13,000=11 years etc.)
It’s a start, hopefully someone sees this and saves some money.
Also want to add that these changes are not subject to Congressional approval. They could be repealed (impossible with a Dem Senate + Presidential veto) or they could be struck down by SCOTUS, but this is all being performed via powers given by the Higher Education Act and are generally on much firmer legal ground than the loan forgiveness plan SCOTUS scuttled.
Unfortunately, this new plan seems like it'll increase my payments from about $200/mo to over $900/mo. The calculator says the $900/mo plan comes with an offer of $0 in forgiveness (and says so directly). Even if I keep the $200/mo plan and won't be fully paid off until 2046 or something (vs 2027 at $900/mo), it still offers me $0 in forgiveness.
I still have $36k in loans and have been paying them off since 2005. I've already paid more than I've owed, due to interest. I used to be poor, but not really anymore; that kinda happens over 20 years. I suppose I can be happy everyone else, but this doesn't mean squat for folks like me.
My payments went from ~ $350 to $29 a month. This is such a relief.
Saw an article earlier today that over 60% of borrowers are planning to boycott repayment. I still haven't setup an account since my loan got transferred to a new servicer. Seriously considering making them come garnish my wages or something. If enough people do it, the system will almost certainly collapse. I can't imagine all the servicers trying to go through the garnishment process with that many people.