The end of the Save on A Valuable Education plan has 7.5 million students in limbo when it comes to paying back their student loans.
On March 27, the SAVE plan was ruled “unlawful”, and the plan ended. SAVE enrollees will have 90 days to select a new plan.
The primary reason the plan was ended was the excessive cost to operate, according to the U.S. Department of Education. The plan cost taxpayers an estimated $34.2 billion per year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
In replacement of the SAVE plan are three other types of payment options. The first is an Income-Driven Payment Plan. The IDR Plan determines your monthly payments based on your income and family size, with payments capped at 10-15% of your discretionary income.
Income-Based Repayment Plans, Income-Contingent Repayment Plans and Pay As You Earn Repayment plans are types of IDRs.
The second, the Repayment Assistance Plan, a new type of IDR, helps to prevent low-income borrowers’ debt from growing even as they make payments. Payments on this plan are based on the borrower’s Adjusted Gross Income rather than discretionary income.
The third is a Tiered Standard Plan. Depending on your outstanding loan balance, you’ll have either 10, 15, 20 or 25 years to pay back in a fixed repayment plan. For borrowers with a large amount of debt, this plan provides a longer repayment window.
For URI, there is concern about the impact on enrollment, but the impact is not immediate, according to Director of Financial Aid Victoria McNeil.
“I don’t think it’s going to be an immediate enrollment issue, but it’s definitely part of the broader affordability conversation,” McNeil said. “[Affordability] is something that we are always concerned about for our students and for our parents who are borrowing loans.”
The situation is something that is being monitored closely, according to McNeil.
“I’d say that we’re paying attention to how these changes might affect borrowing behavior,” McNeil said. “I expect that the actual changes to enrollment might be more indirect, but we do want to make sure that we’re conveying what various loan options exist for students so that they can understand and make informed borrowing decisions at the beginning.”
Moving forward, URI Financial Aid will be acting as a helping hand as students navigate these changes, according to McNeil.
“Financial Aid will be working with students more on serving as a resource to connect students with the proper resources,” McNeil said. “For example, the place where students will really be interacting with these repayment plans is when they’re finished. What we can do is help them understand who to contact if you need assistance with any of these.”
The changes create more tension on an already pressing issue for university officials, according to an interview with University President Marc Parlange.
“This is a tough time,” Parlange said. “I’m quite concerned about some of the changes that are coming out of the Big Beautiful Bill in terms of support that families have needed for scholarship support. … We’re going to stick to our mission, to our values, to what makes URI, URI, but there are going to be challenges. The federal loans programs for students that are in need are going to be hurtful and impactful for us come this July.”
As the university moves forward through the changes, officials are preparing to support students in any way they can, according to Parlange. While the road will be bumpy, the university will do everything in their power to ensure students feel supported.
