Kent NISHIMURA / AFP via Getty Images
- Student-loan borrowers and parents are facing payment surges, a new report said.
- Borrowers could see an average annual increase of over $2,000 due to Trump's repayment changes.
- The financial strain puts borrowers at greater risk of defaulting on their debt.
A big financial hit could be coming for student-loan borrowers, a new report says.
On Monday, the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank, released a report showing how President Donald Trump's student-loan repayment overhaul will affect bills and relief for millions of borrowers. The think tank shared the report exclusively with Business Insider.
The student-loan changes, signed into law in Trump's "big beautiful" spending legislation, took effect July 1 and included new income-driven repayment plans and borrowing caps. Borrowers moving from the Biden-era SAVE plan to the new Repayment Assistance Plan, or RAP, could see their student-loan bills increase by $2,163 annually on average, the report said.
For example, the report said a typical borrower with a bachelor's degree with earnings of about $68,615 annually would see their monthly payments increase from $136 to $343. That's a total increase of $2,482 annually, on average.
The findings are based on income data from the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey and the Survey of Income and Program Participation, adjusted for inflation using the consumer price index. CAP then estimated how much typical borrowers with different educational circumstances would have to pay under SAVE and RAP based on those plans' rules.
The SAVE plan allowed for lower payments and a shorter timeline to debt relief. The Trump administration eliminated the plan and is requiring borrowers to transition to a new plan, recommending RAP as an option. While the benefits of RAP include waiving unpaid monthly interest, borrowers must make on-time payments — meaning no grace period — to receive them.
Sara Partridge, associate director of higher education at CAP and a coauthor on the report, told Business Insider that while SAVE allowed zero-dollar monthly payments, RAP's minimum payment is $10. "Those $0 payments were a really important protection that many borrowers will struggle without," Partridge said.
She added that these changes come "at a time when there is high inflation, stagnating wages, and people are generally feeling financially strained," making it more difficult for borrowers to fit a higher monthly bill into their budgets.
Parents and borrowers face increased risk of default
Trump's student-loan repayment overhaul also limits parents' options. Previously, the parent PLUS program allowed parents to borrow up to the full cost of attendance for their kids. Now, parents who took out loans after July 1, 2026, face a lifetime borrowing cap of $65,000. Those new parent borrowers will be limited to the costlier tiered standard repayment plan and will lose access to the income-contingent repayment plan.
Along with higher payments, the repayment overhaul also eliminates all borrowers' ability to defer their loan payments in the event of economic hardship or unemployment, beginning next year.
"This is a tool that borrowers relied on to help them out during times when they were struggling," Partridge said. "And without those options, borrowers may be more likely to become delinquent on their loans or eventually default, which we know can come with some devastating consequences."
Defaulting on federal student loans, which typically occurs after 270 days of nonpayment, can lead to wage garnishment and the seizure of federal benefits, such as Social Security. The most recent data from Federal Student Aid showed that 9.3 million borrowers are in default, with another 1.5 million at risk of defaulting in the next six months.
The Trump administration has said that its changes are intended to simplify a complex repayment system and curb excessive borrowing.
Nicholas Kent, the department's undersecretary, said in a statement that the changes "will ensure students continue to have the access that they need for federal student loans, while helping prevent borrowers from taking on unmanageable debt levels that they may never be able to repay."
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