A conservative think tank’s plan for a potential second Trump administration could drive up student loan payments for millions of borrowers, according to a new analysis from the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank.
The analysis centers on the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, which outlines a bold conservative policy agenda for various governmental agencies, including proposals to overhaul the student loan system. The Education Department chapter of Project 2025 calls for rolling back the Biden administration’s new income-driven repayment plan known as Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE; ending the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program; and abolishing the Education Department.
“A sweeping new agenda from the Heritage Foundation called Project 2025 serves as an authoritarian road map to implement destructive new policies, including a new student loan repayment plan that would force student loan borrowers to shell out thousands more each year in payments,” the Center for American Progress report states.
Under SAVE, which started to take effect last summer, borrowers have lower monthly payments and can access loan forgiveness sooner, depending on how much they initially took out in loans. So far, more than eight million Americans are enrolled in SAVE. Phasing out SAVE and replacing it with one new plan that has less flexible repayment terms could increase annual payments by more than $2,700 for some borrowers, according to the analysis. (Parts of SAVE were blocked Monday evening by two federal judges.)
“Creating affordable repayment options is essential to ensuring student loan borrowers do not have to choose between making on-time payments and meeting their basic needs,” the report says. “Instead of alleviating the burden imposed by student loans, Project 2025 would make monthly loan payments a financial anchor for millions, push more borrowers into default, and force others to pay in perpetuity.”
