Natasha Stephens voted for President Donald Trump, and she said she’s overall happy with his work so far — except for his actions on student debt.
“It is disappointing that it feels like we’re just getting left behind,” Stephens, 35, told Business Insider. “It feels like they’re just going to leave everybody to either pay it or suffer.”
Stephens is enrolled in the SAVE plan, which a federal court recently paused pending a final court decision. It was established by former President Joe Biden in 2023 and intended to give student-loan borrowers cheaper monthly payments with a shorter timeline for loan forgiveness.
Under the SAVE plan, Stephens owed $0 monthly based on her income level. If SAVE goes away, she said she cannot afford higher payments while also financially supporting her two children.
“If we didn’t have our family support helping us with the kids and food and stuff like that, we would not be making it every month,” Stephens said. “We’d be losing our house and everything, so we can’t even imagine to start paying on those loans yet.”
BI heard from dozens of student-loan borrowers over the past few weeks who said they’re worried about the SAVE plan being eliminated and are concerned with facing potentially higher monthly payments. While the legal fate of the plan is still in limbo, borrowers are stuck wondering when they’ll have to resume repayment — and how much the bill will be.
Due to the legal challenges seeking to block the plan, January guidance from the Education Department said that borrowers enrolled in SAVE will make payments “no earlier” than December. Interest is not accruing on their balances during this time.
After the recent court decision keeping SAVE paused, acting undersecretary of education, James Bergeron, told BI in a statement that the ruling “is good news for hardworking American taxpayers and the rule of law.”
“The Department of Education is currently working to ensure borrowers understand existing repayment alternatives allowed under the law,” Bergeron said.
Stephens said she doesn’t see it that way — and hopes the Trump administration prioritizes relief for student-loan borrowers.
“I think that it helped a lot of people,” she said, referring to the SAVE plan, “and it’s really heartbreaking that it just ended with nothing.”
‘It’s going to be very scary’
Mike Rendino, 51, accrued student debt in his 30s when he went back to school to advance his career. When his job relocated and he couldn’t move, he found himself out of work and deferred his loans. But interest continued to accumulate during those few years.
Enrolling in SAVE allowed Rendino to pay $160 each month — which he felt was affordable. Now, however, he no longer feels confident with his payoff plan, which he said is projected to be just under $1,000 a month without SAVE.
“It’s going to be very scary to figure this out,” Rendino said.
“This program is literally allowing me to fulfill my financial obligations back to the government for those federal loans,” he said, adding that “it’s not that I don’t want to repay it, it’s that I just cannot afford to pay the kind of money that they want.”
Brigitte Knudson, 56, is also struggling with SAVE’s uncertain fate. While Knudson said she’s still been making payments during this time to take advantage of the 0% interest rate, she’s prepared to push off her retirement to afford potentially higher monthly payments.
“Every extra dollar that I get is going to pay down this loan because I know there’s going to be no forgiveness,” Knudson said. “Just tell me what the bottom line is, and I can plan for that.”
The GOP plan for student-loan borrowers
If a court ends up permanently striking down the SAVE plan, it’s unlikely the Trump administration will create something similar to replace it. That’s because Republicans have argued that SAVE is an overreach of the education secretary’s authority by allowing for expanded opportunities for relief.
Rather, some Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation to streamline income-driven repayment plans. GOP control over both Congress and the White House could ease that legislation into passage.
A memo compiled by House Republicans in January suggested repealing SAVE and proposed other measures like expanding the Pell Grant for low-income students and providing more options for borrowers who default on their loans.
The College Cost Reduction Act, introduced by Rep. Virginia Foxx, proposed capping certain forms of financial aid and limiting the education secretary’s ability to implement new repayment and relief plans, like SAVE, in the future.
Some borrowers enrolled in SAVE, though, are concerned those alternatives would not be sufficient. Rendino, an independent voter who said he previously supported some Republican policies, said the way the GOP has approached student-loan issues may be enough to turn him away from the party altogether — especially if SAVE ultimately gets struck down.
“This is crucial to be able to have affordable payments like this for the foreseeable future,” Rendinso said. “It’s the only way a lot of us are going to survive and be able to keep the economy going.”
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