Student Loans: Big Changes on the Horizon

The Republican Party has a new plan for federal student loans. They want to make big changes to how students borrow and repay money for college. This plan aims to simplify the repayment process and cut federal spending by over $330 billion. The goal is to help pay for extended tax cuts. The plan includes a new "Repayment Assistance Plan. " This would replace the current income-contingent loan repayment options. It would also end the Grad PLUS loan program and set strict limits on Parent PLUS loans. Colleges and universities would have to reimburse the federal government for a share of the debt when their students fail to repay their loans. The plan also includes changes to Pell Grants. These grants help low-income students pay for college. Republicans want to increase the definition of full-time college attendance to 30 credit hours per year. They also want to require that Pell students be enrolled at least halftime, or 15 credit hours per year, to qualify for any Pell award at all. This could result in a significant cut in aid for many Pell recipients. However, Republicans want to expand access to Pell Grants for students who attend short-term workforce-training programs. The plan would also end the Grad PLUS loan program for graduate school borrowers. It would also end subsidized loans for undergraduate borrowers. These loans cover interest on the loans while the borrower is still enrolled in school. Republicans also want to cap the total amount a student can borrow each year based on the median cost of attendance for students enrolled in the same program of study nationally. There would also be new borrowing caps, or "aggregate limits, " for undergraduates, graduate students, and professional programs. The Parent PLUS loan program would see big changes too. Parent PLUS has been controversial because it comes with a higher interest rate than traditional federal loans. It has led to nagging debts for many older borrowers. But it has also been an important tool for many families of color who lack generational wealth to put their children through college. Republicans want an aggregate limit of $50, 000 on Parent PLUS borrowing. They will require students to take out the maximum available unsubsidized loans before families can fill in the remaining gap with Parent PLUS. One novel proposal in the Republican plan would change the fundamental terms colleges and universities agree to when they participate in the federal loan program. It would require schools to reimburse the federal government for a percentage of the loans their students fail to repay. This percentage would be based on the total price the institution charges students for a program of study and the value-added earnings of students after they graduate. The change would also include penalties to schools for late or missed payments that could culminate in a college losing access to the federal student loan program altogether. While Republicans push for new accountability from schools, they are also ending older provisions to protect borrowers when their school suddenly closes or if they believe they were enticed to enroll with false promises about potential work or earnings.