Before federal student loan repayment paused in spring 2020, nearly 20 percent of borrowers—8 million Americans—were in default due to failure to make payments, while the overall total of outstanding student debt reached $1.5 trillion. To facilitate a new era of student loan repayment marked by a lower risk of defaulting, the U.S. Department of Education debuted the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan in August 2023, whose benefits were scheduled for phase-in over the following year.
A little over a year later, SAVE finds itself under threat on several fronts. Legal action has placed the program under scrutiny from the courts, and borrowers who enrolled in SAVE have been placed in forbearance. Meanwhile,…
