PBS News Hour

GEOFF BENNETT: Student loan borrowers might find some relief under the new Biden administration's income-driven repayment plan.

Launched this week, the SAVE plan, which stands for Saving on a Valuable Education, could benefit borrowers, with the potential for lower or no monthly payments.

But there are questions about who will benefit from the plan and who it leaves out.

For answers, let's turn to Cory Turner, education correspondent for NPR.

Cory, it is always great to speak with you.

So, what is different about this planned, and what should borrowers know about it?

CORY TURNER, NPR: Yes, I mean, as you said, it's an income-based repayment plan, which we have had some version of for roughly the last 30 years.

This is by far more generous than any plan we have ever seen before.

And it's not because of one change or two changes the Biden administration is making.

It's a handful of changes.

So monthly payments are going to be slashed.

For undergrad borrowers, ultimately, they will be cut roughly in half.

We will also see roughly a million more borrowers, low-income borrowers, qualify for a zero dollar monthly payment.

So, those are a couple of big changes.

There's another big one that borrowers are going to feel, which is for folks making those low payments are even a zero dollar monthly payment, in the past, on previous plans, interest kept accumulating.

That won't happen on this plan.

Any interest that's not covered by your monthly payment, the government is going to forgive month after month.

And one more big change, again, in the past, plans have had a sort of countdown to forgiveness overall, 25 years for graduate borrowers, 20 years for undergraduate borrowers making payments.

This plan includes a 10-year countdown for forgiveness for borrowers with smaller loans, like community college borrowers who take out $12,000 or less.

GEOFF BENNETT: Why does the White House think that this plan will hold up, when the previous plan to cancel up to $20,000 of student loan debt was overturned by the Supreme Court?

CORY TURNER: Well, it is interesting.

And I have heard from lots of folks, well, this must be a replacement for this plan.

This is plan B. Interestingly, President Biden actually announced this income-driven repayment plan on the same day, at the same news conference that he announced the other plan that the court has since struck down.

I think, Geoff, to answer your question, the legality of this income-driven repayment plan is just clearer than what the Biden administration proposed with its previous sort of outright student loan forgiveness plan.

This authority, the education secretary's authority to create an income-based repayment plan was delegated to the secretary by an act of Congress back in the early '90s.

And the language in the law is fairly clear.

Now, obviously, there are -- there are lots of folks, Republicans, especially, who are really not happy about this plan, and they say it is to generous.

GEOFF BENNETT: Borrowers could be forgiven if they're a bit confused by all of this back-and-forth about what plans are current and which ones have been overturned.

CORY TURNER: Yes.

GEOFF BENNETT: Bottom line, what should people expect as they sign up?

I mean, what are what are the qualifications they have to meet in terms of family size or income level?

CORY TURNER: It's pretty quick.

Once folks get enrolled, they should get a fairly quick sense of what their monthly payment will look like.

And for folks who enrolled in the previous income-based repayment plan, they should roll over into this new plan, and they can expect -- they can expect it to be in effect when repayment starts in October.

And there are a few of the things that I mentioned that won't actually go into effect for one more year.

So, I believe the countdown to forgiveness for borrowers with $12,000 or less, the cutting undergraduate borrowers' monthly payments and half, those are sort of grant -- or tapered in.

But several of these benefits will kick in immediately.

GEOFF BENNETT: In preparing to speak with you, Cory, I looked up the numbers.

And between 1980 and 2020, the average price of tuition fees and room and board for an undergraduate degree increased nearly 170 percent.

Are there any broad conversations happening either, whether in Congress or in the administration, about how to rein in tuition costs?

CORY TURNER: That's usually the first question I asked policymakers and folks at the Ed Department every time I get on the phone.

And that was one big knock against Biden's previous sort of sweeping loan forgiveness plan, is it was all backward-looking.

It is arguably a knock against this income-driven repayment plan.

It will definitely make life easier for borrowers moving forward.

It will improve access for low-income borrowers and many low-income Americans who just might not have considered college.

It will make it easier for them to pay for it.

But it -- it's hard to imagine that this influx of federal dollars is going to somehow disincentivize schools from lowering prices.

GEOFF BENNETT: Do you know how much this SAVE program will cost the government?

CORY TURNER: I will say the most recent estimate that I saw actually pegged the cost at potentially equal to or even more than the $400 billion price tag of the outright loan forgiveness program that the Supreme Court struck down earlier this summer.

So, it's possible this income-driven repayment plan could cost as much, if not more, than Biden's previous plan that's obviously not going to go into effect.

GEOFF BENNETT: Cory Turner, thanks so much for your reporting and your analysis.

Always good to talk with you.

CORY TURNER: As always, Geoff, my pleasure.