教育部已经移动到终止前总统乔·拜登最受欢迎的学生贷款减免计划之一——影响数百万美国人——通过周二与密苏里州的联合解决方案。
悬而未决的协议结束了一个有价值的教育或“储蓄”计划的储蓄，这是超过700万学生贷款借款人的家。这标志着特朗普政府收回拜登时代政策的努力取得了重大胜利，包括拜登为取消学生贷款债务所做的大量努力。
特朗普政府教育部的官员几个月来一直谴责这些政策，他们表示，政府正在通过结束学生贷款豁免的“欺骗性计划”来纠正错误。
拜登政府吹捧该计划包括每小时收入16美元或更少的任何人的零支付，降低数百万借款人的月供，以及保护正在支付月供的借款人免受利息失控的影响。
教育部副部长尼古拉斯·肯特说:“法律很明确:如果你借了钱，你就必须偿还。”教育部长琳达·麦克马洪在周二的一份新闻稿中说。“由于密苏里州和其他州反对这种令人震惊的联邦过度行为，美国纳税人现在可以放心，他们将不再被迫作为非法和不负责任的学生贷款政策的抵押品。”
在最高法院于2023年否决了拜登此前的签名债务减免计划后，拜登政府推出了储蓄计划，称之为有史以来最实惠的支付计划。
储蓄是几个收入驱动还款计划之一，根据收入和家庭规模计算还款规模，旨在随着疫情时代停顿的结束，放松了还款程序。
包括密苏里州在内的几个共和党领导的州就该计划起诉了拜登政府，联邦上诉法院在2024年阻止了该计划。
周二的声明将标志着这些诉讼的结束。
麦克马洪直言不讳地批评学生贷款减免，他说政府将不再允许美国纳税人承担债务不是他们自己的。
“拜登政府的非法储蓄计划将在十年内花费纳税人超过3420亿美元，其中许多人没有上过大学或已经偿还了学生贷款，”麦克马洪说在X上的一篇帖子中写道。“我们不会容忍的。”
她的机构已经准备好了该部门表示，联邦学生援助(FSA)办公室将为目前注册的借款人提供支持，帮助他们选择新的“合法还款计划”。
该部门表示，借款人将有有限的时间来寻找新的付款计划。然而，该部门表示，FSA的贷款模拟器工具将估计每月还款，确定还款资格，并选择最适合这些借款人需求和目标的新计划。
一些学生贷款支持者担心提议的协议会给借款人带来混乱。
“700多万登记在SAVE的借款人将面临更高的月还贷额，并可能失去几个月的贷款豁免进展，”联邦政策副总裁米歇尔·赞皮尼说&在学院入学协会进行宣传&成功(TICAS)在一份声明中写道。
保护借款人副执行董事兼管理顾问Persis Yu表示，此举剥夺了借款人最负担得起的还款计划，这将有助于数百万人继续贷款，同时保持在他们头上的屋顶。
“这种解决方案是纯粹的投降-它远远超出了诉讼或第八巡回法庭的要求，”余在一份声明中写道，美国广播公司新闻。“真实的情况是，右翼势力不断推高背负学生债务的劳动者的成本。”
和解的消息是特朗普的标志性的国内政策议程，一个美丽的大法案，包括终止所有当前学生贷款偿还计划的条款-如保存和其他收入驱动的还款计划-2026年7月1日或之后发放的贷款。
根据该法案，这些计划将被两个独立的还款计划取代:标准还款计划和还款援助计划(RAP)，一个新的基于收入的还款计划将于2026年7月1日出台。
Trump administration moves to end major student loan forgiveness plan: 'We won't tolerate it'
The Department of Educationhas moved to terminateone of former President Joe Biden's most popular student loan forgiveness plans -- impacting millions of Americans -- through a proposed joint settlement with the state of Missouri on Tuesday.
The pending agreement ends the Saving on a Valuable Education or "SAVE" plan, which is home to over 7 million student loan borrowers. It marks a major victory for the Trump administration's efforts to claw back Biden-era policies, including Biden's numerous efforts to implement student loan debt cancellation.
Officials in the Trump administration's Education Department, who've decried those policies for months, suggested that the administration is righting a wrong by ending the "deceptive scheme" of student loan forgiveness.
The Biden administration touted the plan for including $0 payments for anyone making $16 an hour or less, lowering monthly payments for millions of borrowers, and protecting borrowers from runaway interest if they are making their monthly payments.
"The law is clear: if you take out a loan, you must pay it back," Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kentsaid in a release from Secretary of Education Linda McMahon's department on Tuesday. "Thanks to the State of Missouri and other states fighting against this egregious federal overreach, American taxpayers can now rest assured they will no longer be forced to serve as collateral for illegal and irresponsible student loan policies."
The Biden administration launched the SAVE Plan, which it dubbed the most affordable payment plan ever, after the Supreme Court struck down Biden's previous signature debt relief program in 2023.
SAVE was one of several income driven repayment (IDR) plans, which calculate payment size based on income and family size, aimed ateasing the repayment process as a pandemic-era pause ended.
Several Republican-led states, including Missouri, sued the Biden administration over the plan, and a federal appeals court blocked the program in 2024.
The announcement on Tuesday would mark an end to those lawsuits.
McMahon, a vocal critic of student loan forgiveness, has said the administration will no longer allow American taxpayers to take on debtsthat are not their own.
"The Biden Administration's illegal SAVE Plan would have cost taxpayers, many of whom did not attend college or already repaid their student loans, more than $342 billion over ten years," McMahonwrote in a post on X. "We won't tolerate it."
Her agency's already saddledFederal Student Aid (FSA) Office will provide support to borrowers currently enrolled in selecting a new, "legal repayment plan," the department said.
The department said borrowers will have a limited time to find a new payment plan. However, FSA's Loan Simulator tool will estimate monthly payments, determine repayment eligibility and select a new plan that best fits those borrowers' needs and goals, the department said.
Some student loan advocates worry the proposed agreement unleashes chaos on borrowers.
"The 7+ million borrowers enrolled in SAVE will face higher monthly loan payments -- and may lose out on months of progress toward loan forgiveness," Michele Zampini, associate vice president of federal policy&advocacy at The Institute for College Access&Success (TICAS) wrote in a statement.
Protect Borrowers Deputy Executive Director and Managing Counsel Persis Yu said the move strips borrowers of the most affordable repayment plan that would help millions to stay on track with their loans while keeping a roof over their head.
"This settlement is pure capitulation--it goes much further than the suit or the 8th Circuit order requires," Yu wrote in a statement to ABC News. "The real story here is the unrelenting, right-wing push to jack up costs on working people with student debt."
The news of the settlement comes as Trump'ssignature domestic policy agenda, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, included a provision to terminate all current student loan repayment plans --such as SAVEand other income-driven repayment plans -- for loans disbursed on or after July 1, 2026.
Under that bill, the plans will be replaced with two separate repayment plans: a standard repayment plan and the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP), a new income-based repayment plan coming July 1, 2026.
