Millions of federal student loan borrowers face uncertainty – or rather, even more uncertainty — after last week’s presidential election.

President Biden will leave office with much of his student loan program tied up in court — and Donald Trump has been actively hostile to the kind of widespread student loan forgiveness that Biden has championed.

Additionally, millions of borrowers aren’t even sure how much their monthly repayments will be because they are enrolled in a repayment plan that is legally at risk, raising big questions about if or when they might see their loan costs increase.

What should borrowers know? Here’s an overview of the situation.

Trump to inherit legal battle over President Biden’s SAVE plan

Biden’s biggest effort to cancel his loan was rejected by the Supreme Courtwho ruled that such a broad — and expensive — pardon plan was beyond its legal authority.

Since then, the Biden administration has floated several other student loan proposals. But this legal question, whether the president has the power to broadly cancel student debt, has held up all efforts.

“Most fifth-graders taking their first government course know that…Congress is supposed to spend the money,” says Michael Brickman, an assistant research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), who worked on higher education policy during the first term of the Trump administration.

So far, the courts have largely agreed – with an important test still to come.

Biden’s signature student loan repayment plan, the Savings on Value Education (SAVE) plan, reduced borrowers’ monthly payments (to just $0) while also preventing interest from increasing what they must. He even suggests a new fast track to loan forgiveness for borrowers with lower balances.

But the price of SAVE (about $455 billion over 10 years, according to one estimate) — and the fact that the Biden administration used the rulemaking process to essentially bypass Congress — has opened SAVE to the same legal criticism that upended Biden’s first major pardon speech.

Republican attorneys general also challenged the legality of SAVE, and the courts were skeptical enough to freeze most of the plan.

For months, 8 million borrowers enrolled in SAVE have been in a sort of limbo, without being asked to make payments while the courts slowly decide whether the plan is legal. If ultimately deemed legal, the Trump administration could simply phase it out. And if SAVE is overturned, only a sympathetic Department of Education would appeal.

If the SAVE plan disappears, it’s unclear how the Trump administration will handle all of these borrowers. Other repayment plans that take into account the borrower’s income and include the promise of forgiveness also find themselves in legal limbo at various stages.

There is at least one exception. An older income-driven repayment plan, known as IBR, has not been challenged and still offers limited loan forgiveness. The IBR was created by Congress; only Congress can change or end it (stay tuned for that line to reappear!).

But borrowers should know: SAVE’s generous terms (which Republicans consider to be SO generous, they are illegal) are the reason why the monthly payments were often much lower than those of previous plans. Ending SAVE would mean a return to higher payments.

“The Trump administration is going to have to pay back these 8 million people,” says Persis Yu of the Student Borrower Protection Center, which advocates for debt relief. “And it’s completely unclear what path these 8 million people can afford. will follow. have once (the current payment pause) expire.”

AEI’s Brickman acknowledges that the path away from SAVE would be complicated, although he believes the courts will leave the Trump administration no choice.

“The next administration will have to realize that these programs are probably not legal and determine where these students belong,” Brickman said.

Trump will also inherit two unfinished student loan proposals

Biden’s second attempt at broad loan forgiveness, often called Plan B, is a lesser effort, at least compared to the plan that the Supreme Court defeated. However, it is estimated at around $150 billion. This would, among other things, cancel the debts of borrowers with older loans and wipe out accrued interest for the millions of people who owe more than they borrowed.

Plan B was opposed by Republican state attorneys general and paused by the courts in September, before the rule can be completed, let alone deployed. It’s unclear when we should expect a final legal decision.

Another Biden proposal would be grant loan forgiveness to people in serious financial difficultysuch as those caring for a loved one or struggling with high childcare costs.

This proposed rule is still under development and has not yet been challenged in court. It was also open to public comments, giving borrowers a chance ““It’s important that borrowers tell this administration – and the next – what student loans are doing to them.”

The Plan B court battle — or the hardship proposal’s rulemaking process — is unlikely to end before Inauguration Day, meaning the Trump administration will likely decide the fate of both .

And while there’s no way to know for sure how the next administration will handle these ongoing efforts, Trump has made it clear that he doesn’t like the idea of ​​broad loan forgiveness, making it’s hard to imagine his administration moving forward with either.

What if Trump tried to shut down the Department of Education?

Yes, in a interview on XTrump told Elon Musk that, if elected, “I want to close the Department of Education and bring education back to the states.”

Can he do this? Not the president, no. The department was created by Congress; only Congress can put an end to it (he told you it would reappear!).

What matters most for our purposes (speaking of student loans!) is that no one, not even conservative Republicans behind Project 2025are calling for an end to the federal student loan program, no matter what happens to the Department of Education.

What Project 2025 recommends is that Congress “turn over” the student loan program “to a new state corporation,” with the Treasury Department handling collections and defaults. The idea being to make the student loan program a sort of island independent of the political whims of any administration.

President Trump disavowed the 2025 plan, even though it included the contribution of his followers.

President Biden was able to cancel some borrowers’ student loans – can this be reversed?

Despite all the lawsuits, Biden still provided loan forgiveness to about 5 million Americans, and Brickman says it’s “unclear” whether that relief could be clawed back.

“I don’t think it can be ruled out if the loans were canceled illegally,” Brickman says, “but that’s certainly more difficult than loans not yet canceled.”

Many sources interviewed by NPR all agreed: Recovering already paid off loans would be difficult, not only politically but also operationally.

Biden’s successes on loan forgiveness are due in large part to expanding access to pre-existing programs approved by Congress – programs that, for example, offer forgiveness to people who work for 10 years in the public service or who suffer from a serious disability.

Can those should the programs be stopped?

During his first term, Trump attempted to eliminate the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, but he failed to do so. Congress created PSLF, and only Congress can end it (I did it again!).

As Republicans seek control of Congress, lawmakers could it is conceivable to vote to end public service loan forgiveness, although it is not clear that there is enough desire to do so.

It is more likely that this is some sort of check on the increased generosity of the PSLF.

You see, the Biden administration used the regulatory process to significantly increase access to PSLFwhich makes it easier to obtain and receive forgiveness. But, like many of Biden’s efforts, these changes could be reversed by the incoming Trump administration.

Does the public want loan forgiveness?

As the U.S. Department of Education prepares for a dramatic shift in its curriculum, it’s worth thinking feedback on a surveyof June, which attempted to capture how Americans feel about having their loans forgiven.

The poll, conducted by the Associated Press and the University of Chicago, found that overall, 39 percent of adults think it is extremely or very important that the U.S. government provide student loan relief. More adults — 51% — believe the government should relieve medical debt.

Democrats (58%) were much more likely than independents (44%) or Republicans (15%) to support student loan relief, meaning that after the election and with Republican ascendancy in Washington, Borrowers will have to get used to a new normal. and new priorities.

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