{"id":478,"date":"2026-07-23T09:37:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T09:37:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=478"},"modified":"2026-07-23T09:37:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T09:37:41","slug":"student-loan-borrowers-beware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=478","title":{"rendered":"Student Loan Borrowers Beware"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

This piece is part of our Trump\u2019s Beautiful Disaster series about the consequences of the mammoth budget law, one year later. You can see all stories in this piece\u00a0here.<\/em><\/p>\n

July 1 marked the beginning of two significant yet distinct shifts in student loan repayment. The first encompasses sweeping statutory changes to the federal student loan system that Congress set into motion when it passed Trump\u2019s One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year. This structural overhaul involves consolidating many existing repayment plans into just two, markedly less affordable ones: the Repayment Assistance Plan and Tiered Standard Plan. It also imposes new borrowing caps, some of which are significantly lower than the average cost of particular degrees, and it eliminates Direct PLUS Loans, which have allowed graduate and professional students to borrow up to the full cost of attendance, \u201cminus any estimated financial aid\u201d they receive each academic year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Locked-Out Refinery Workers Say BP Is Trying to \u2018Starve Us,\u2019 Crush Union<\/a><\/p>\n

That\u2019s only a taste of what\u2019s in store for borrowers in the months and years to come, as even more statutory changes are set to take effect next year. Among them are new restrictions on future deferment and forbearance options, as well as revised loan rehabilitation rules. Borrowers facing financial hardship will have fewer avenues to temporarily pause payments, or to recover after a default. Consequently, those borrowers may have a harder time avoiding delinquency, not to mention the increasingly unscrupulous web of government contractors that come to collect on defaulted loans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read: Student debtors are under attack on all sides. Government contractors make their life miserable, and financial predators are poised to capitalize.<\/code><\/pre>\n
\u201cTaking money away from people that are right on the edge of financial destitution to repay a student loan\u2026 is just bad public policy,\u201d Mike Pierce, executive director at Protect Borrowers, said in an interview. \u201cIt\u2019s also bad for the student loan system and for the government because they\u2019re going to spend money on private contractors chasing $10 payments from people that don\u2019t have any money.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The second shift is the sunset of the Biden-era Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan. With its generous terms and monthly payments as low as $0, the income-driven student loan repayment program was meant to build on the Biden administration\u2019s efforts to \u201cfix the broken student loan system,\u201d one that has left countless borrowers stranded with debt they simply cannot afford. More than a dozen Republican-led states sued the then-president and his Education Department in a bid to strike it down. As my colleague David Dayen reported, a three-judge panel of the Eighth Circuit did just that in March\u2014without any hearing on the merits of the program.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the time of its inception, the SAVE plan replaced the Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE) plan. Many of the benefits available to borrowers enrolled in REPAYE were expanded by SAVE, but those benefits are few and far between under the Repayment Assistance Plan and the Tiered Standard Plan, as both generally require higher monthly payments. An estimated 7 million borrowers are enrolled in SAVE. Student loan servicers started notifying those borrowers this month that they will need to transition to one of the two new repayment plans. Upon receiving said notifications, which are being administered in tranches, borrowers have 90 days to make the transition.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But since the Education Department never formally repealed REPAYE, it technically remains on the books, at least until July 1, 2028. That\u2019s what the plaintiffs have argued in Havens v. U.S. Department of Education<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If their legal challenge is successful, the millions of borrowers being kicked off of SAVE would be able to enroll in REPAYE during the current transition period, meaning they wouldn\u2019t be forced onto one of the new plans unless the Education Department formally repeals REPAYE through APA rulemaking procedures rather than by way of administrative fiat. The ongoing litigation has since been expedited due to the compressed timetable. Trump\u2019s Education Department is working to dismiss the case.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As Havens <\/em>proceeds, debtor advocates have advised SAVE borrowers, namely those whose loans are in forbearance, against prematurely transitioning to one of the new repayment plans. \u201cWe\u2019re still waiting to see what happens to the people that just sit still,\u201d Pierce told the Prospect<\/em>, \u201cbut it does seem like just sitting still is a viable option for people that don\u2019t have any other choice.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Read: Court demands that student loan borrowers pay more<\/code><\/pre>\n
CONCURRENT WITH THE ROLLOUT<\/strong> of these sweeping changes to the federal student loan system, the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators was commemorating its 60th anniversary at a four-day conference in National Harbor, Maryland.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Multiple private student loan lenders could be counted among its sponsors, with Ascent and MOHELA laying claim to gold sponsorships, and Earnest and SoFi sparing no expense to secure their status as platinum sponsors.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Read more The Israel Issue Flips<\/a><\/p>\n
Seven years after the Federal Trade Commission ordered it to pay a settlement for deceiving debtors about how much they could save by refinancing their student loans, SoFi was named an event sponsor at one of the event\u2019s lounges. The lounge was outfitted with gold-plated glass archways, miniature champagne bottles filled with M&Ms, and specialty National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators 60th anniversary flutes. But the real cherry on top was the woman in a silver sequin dress, handing out glasses of champagne while dangling from a chandelier.\u00a0(Photos provided by anonymous attendee.)<\/p>\n
Private student loan lenders stand to make out well in the aftermath of the Education Department\u2019s changes. With new student loan programs unaffordable and in some cases inadequate, borrowers will be forced to turn to the private market.<\/p>\n
For one attendee who spoke to the Prospect<\/em> on condition of anonymity, the presence of student loan lenders \u201cin every facet of the event\u201d was not only emblematic of their historically cozy relationship with university administrations, but that sense of capture seemed to seep into some of the panels themselves. At one such panel, panelists discussing the student loan lender market seemed to be resigned to its projected expansion, which they shrugged off as an apparent inevitability, according to the attendee.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s almost as if they\u2019ve forgotten what happened before,\u201d the attendee said. \u201cThey\u2019re inviting the same kind of scrutiny that led Congress to act.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators president and CEO Melanie Storey disagreed with that characterization. \u201cProviding education about private lending is not an endorsement of private lenders; it is part of ensuring that financial aid administrators can help students make informed decisions based on the options available to them,\u201d she said in an emailed statement to the Prospect<\/em>. \u201cSponsors do not influence NASFAA\u2019s educational programming, speaker selection, policy positions, or advocacy priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n
In response to a series of conflict of interest scandals involving lenders and college financial aid offices, Congress did indeed act to regulate the private student loan market more than 20 years ago, by banning gifts to financial aid officers, requiring colleges to adopt lender codes of conduct, restricting preferred lender arrangements, forcing disclosure of lender relationships, and largely prohibiting lender staffing of financial aid offices.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While private student loan lenders and collections agencies alike rejoice, student loan borrowers face a chaotic transition. Roughly 40 percent of Americans, a disproportionate amount of them low-income students and students of color, are effectively \u201clocked out of the traditional private student loan market,\u201d according to a Protect Borrowers analysis: \u201cThe changes Congress made in the [One Big Beautiful Bill Act] will force our most vulnerable students to either give up on higher education or take on even more expensive, predatory forms of debt to pay for college.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nearly two-thirds of Pell Grant recipients cannot qualify for a private student loan made by a traditional student lender.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Trump White House has a vision for who in America gets to access the American dream,\u201d Pierce of Protect Borrowers told the Prospect<\/em>. \u201cYou see the fingerprints of that really dark vision for who wins and who loses in Donald Trump\u2019s economy all across the Big Beautiful Bill, but especially when you look at what happens to people who no longer have access to federal student loans.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Read more Michigan Auto Engineer Marries Progressivism and Business Sense<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Trump\u2019s overhaul of the federal student loan system is now underway. It seems to have inadvertently expedited a legal challenge to his alleged shadow repeal of a repayment plan established more than a decade ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":477,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[149],"tags":[232],"class_list":["post-478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education-in-america","tag-tagged-education-department-higher-education-student-debt-trumps-beautiful-disaster"],"yoast_head":"\nStudent Loan Borrowers Beware - Frontier Housing Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=478\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Student Loan Borrowers Beware - Frontier Housing Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"President Trump\u2019s overhaul of the federal student loan system is now underway. It seems to have inadvertently expedited a legal challenge to his alleged shadow repeal of a repayment plan established more than a decade ago.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=478\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Frontier Housing Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-23T09:37:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=478#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=478\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13a8c63a4bd3b73600b541c1532fc247\"},\"headline\":\"Student Loan Borrowers Beware\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-23T09:37:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=478\"},\"wordCount\":1365,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=478#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/06a5083ae0d14be00ffe16237b822dee.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"Tagged: Education Department,\u00a0higher education,\u00a0student debt,\u00a0Trump\u2019s Beautiful Disaster\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Education in America\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=478#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=478\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=478\",\"name\":\"Student Loan Borrowers Beware - Frontier Housing Report\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=478#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=478#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/06a5083ae0d14be00ffe16237b822dee.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-23T09:37:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13a8c63a4bd3b73600b541c1532fc247\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=478#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=478\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=478#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/06a5083ae0d14be00ffe16237b822dee.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/06a5083ae0d14be00ffe16237b822dee.webp\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1920},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=478#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Student Loan Borrowers Beware\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Frontier Housing Report\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13a8c63a4bd3b73600b541c1532fc247\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Student Loan Borrowers Beware - Frontier Housing Report","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=478","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Student Loan Borrowers Beware - Frontier Housing Report","og_description":"President Trump\u2019s overhaul of the federal student loan system is now underway. It seems to have inadvertently expedited a legal challenge to his alleged shadow repeal of a repayment plan established more than a decade ago.","og_url":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=478","og_site_name":"Frontier Housing Report","article_published_time":"2026-07-23T09:37:41+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=478#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=478"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/#\/schema\/person\/13a8c63a4bd3b73600b541c1532fc247"},"headline":"Student Loan Borrowers Beware","datePublished":"2026-07-23T09:37:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=478"},"wordCount":1365,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=478#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/06a5083ae0d14be00ffe16237b822dee.webp","keywords":["Tagged: Education Department,\u00a0higher education,\u00a0student debt,\u00a0Trump\u2019s Beautiful Disaster"],"articleSection":["Education in America"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=478#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=478","url":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=478","name":"Student Loan Borrowers Beware - Frontier Housing Report","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=478#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=478#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/06a5083ae0d14be00ffe16237b822dee.webp","datePublished":"2026-07-23T09:37:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/#\/schema\/person\/13a8c63a4bd3b73600b541c1532fc247"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=478#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=478"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=478#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/06a5083ae0d14be00ffe16237b822dee.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/06a5083ae0d14be00ffe16237b822dee.webp","width":2560,"height":1920},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=478#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Student Loan Borrowers Beware"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/","name":"Frontier Housing Report","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/#\/schema\/person\/13a8c63a4bd3b73600b541c1532fc247","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com"],"url":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}