The American Enterprise Institute, AEI, recently published an analysis of the latest federal student loan data: In addition to the 5.5 million borrowers who are currently in default, another 3.7 million are more than 270 days late on their payments and on the edge of default. Another 2.7 million borrowers are in the earlier stages of delinquency. In all, some 12 million borrowers are worryingly behind.
Transcript:
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
There’s big news today for millions of federal student loan borrowers. The U.S. Department of Education says it’s reached a proposed settlement. It would end a Biden-era repayment plan that has been tied up in the courts for more than a year. NPR’s Cory Turner has been following the story and joins us now. Hi, Cory.
CORY TURNER, BYLINE: Hello.
DETROW: Before we get to the news of the settlement, remind us what this repayment plan was and why it ended up in court.
TURNER: Yeah. It’s the Saving on a Valuable Education plan, but it’s better known as SAVE. It was the most flexible and generous of all the income-driven repayment plans. It promised fast-tracked loan forgiveness, monthly payments as low as $0 for low-income borrowers. But it turns out, Scott, it was so generous that Republican state attorneys general sued the Biden administration, arguing in court it was too generous and that if Congress had wanted to create a plan like this, it would have.
And so SAVE has been in legal limbo ever since. Now though, you know, President Trump’s Education Department agrees with those Republican AGs, and so they appear to have cut a deal. Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent said in a statement announcing the proposed settlement today, quote, “American taxpayers can now rest assured they will no longer be forced to serve as collateral for illegal and irresponsible student loan policies.”
DETROW: There’s probably a lot of people listening who are enrolled in the SAVE plan. What do they need to know?
TURNER: Well, they’re in good company. There are about 7 million borrowers still in SAVE. So this agreement is a big deal, pending court approval. It’s also worth saying many of these borrowers haven’t had to make payments in years because of the legal limbo I just mentioned, during which they didn’t have to make payments. But that followed on the heels of the long pandemic payment pause. Not only, though, is this going to be a financial stretch for many borrowers, it’s going to be a huge logistical challenge for the servicing companies that manage the federal student loan portfolio.
I was talking earlier today with Scott Buchanan. He’s head of the Student Loan Servicing Alliance, and he told me it’s going to be bumpy. That was his word. He said SAVE borrowers are going to have a ton of questions. They will need a ton of handholding to get back into repayment. And part of the problem here is the options available to them are a little murky. Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act created two new repayment plans, but they’re not going to roll out till July, which is too late for the purposes of SAVE borrowers now. Meanwhile, borrower advocates were sounding in the alarm today. Here’s Persis Yu with the group Protect Borrowers.
PERSIS YU: The reality is, is that the SAVE plan was created because the other plans were unaffordable for millions of borrowers. So many borrowers are going to be in the difficult spot of making this decision about whether or not to stay current on their loans or feed their families and keep a roof over their head.
TURNER: And Scott, this settlement lands at a time when millions of other borrowers are already way behind on their loan payments.
DETROW: Yeah. Do we have a sense of what exactly is going on there?
TURNER: Yeah. According to the latest tranche of data from the Education Department, some 12 million borrowers are either really behind on their payments or already in default. That’s at least a quarter of all federal student loan borrowers. And everybody I talk to on both sides of the aisle here say this is a crisis. And now we’re talking about how to get these 7 million SAVE borrowers, many of whom are low-income, back into repayment. This is going to be an incredible test for the department and obviously for these borrowers. And my best advice right now to these borrowers is to go to studentaid.gov and start reading up on the other repayment plans out there so you know what your options are.
DETROW: That is NPR education correspondent Cory Turner. Thank you so much.
TURNER: You’re welcome.
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