DENVER — Opportunities for student loan forgiveness and even some repayment plans could dry up as Trump takes office.
President-elect Donald Trump has been critical of student loan forgiveness and relief programs. In his 2021 budget, he proposed eliminating the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and the borrower defense to repayment.
It’s unlikely his administration will defend current programs like the SAVE Plan in court. Those plans could be eliminated when he takes office.
“He may want to pass legislation to ban them through Congress because in order to get his tax cuts passed, he'll probably need to use what's called a budget reconciliation bill, which is required to cut the budget deficit through either cutting costs or increasing revenues or a combination,” said student loan expert Mark Kantrowitz.
The Biden administration said it had forgiven $175 billion in student loans for 4.8 million borrowers. Americans still owe $1.74 trillion.
“Borrowers are most concerned that President Trump might revoke the loan forgiveness that they have already received. They're concerned that he will do something to restore the debt that was already forgiven, and that just will not happen,” Kantrowitz said.
Kantrowitz said borrowers close to the end of achieving forgiveness should consider switching to a different income-driven repayment plan to achieve forgiveness sooner. All other borrowers can expect a higher monthly payment if the SAVE Plan is eliminated.
Any major changes to student loans under the Trump administration would likely affect only new borrowers.
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