Donald Trump’s student loan repayment requirements overhaul starts this week, with fewer repayment options, tighter borrowing limits, and higher interest rates for millions of borrowers. The changes also end the Biden-era SAVE Plan for more than 7 million people.
Come Wednesday, the system will streamline further. Federal Student Aid will move from the Education Department to the Treasury Department as the administration puts the new rules into place.
Trump’s big, beautiful bill
Trump signed Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” into law and set the overhaul in motion. The White House says the changes are part of a broader effort to make loans be repaid and to pressure colleges to lower tuition.
Those changes arrive against a large borrower base. In the first quarter of 2026, almost 43 million student borrowers carried nearly $1.7 trillion in loans, and an additional 2.6 million student loan borrowers fell into default for nonpayment.
Lori Correa in North Carolina
Lori Correa, a student borrower in North Carolina, said her monthly payments could rise from $150 to $713 under one of the new plans. She earns about $60,000 a year as a real estate agent’s personal assistant and still owes roughly $200,000.
“I would have hoped that I would be making a decent living on the education that I paid such a dear price for,” she said. “But I was sold a dream. It feels like now, if you are a normal, average person just trying to make it, you’re not going to.”
Becca Craig in Kansas City
Becca Craig, a wealth adviser with Focus Partners Wealth, said in Kansas City, Missouri, that borrowers are already trying to get ahead of the changes. “There is a real sense of urgency and almost fear around what’s to come,” she said.
The new repayment formulas are designed to leave borrowers with fewer paths to choose from and larger bills in some cases, especially for lower-income borrowers. For people already in SAVE, the practical next step is to review the new payment terms as the shift begins this week, because the old option is ending and the new structure is taking its place.
