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Federal student loan borrowers could be in repayment for up to 30 years under proposed changes in the House Republicans’ massive spending and tax package, dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
Currently, most student loan repayment plans range from 10 years to 25 years — which already generate concerns about people bringing their education debt into middle-age and beyond, said higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz.
“A 30-year repayment term means indentured servitude,” Kantrowitz said.
The House passed the bill last week. With control of Congress, Republicans can use “budget reconciliation” to pass their legislation, which only needs a simple majority in the Senate. The House bill’s student loan provisions are unlikely to significantly change in the upper chamber before Trump signs it into law, Kantrowitz said.
‘Another decade of repayment’
Under the House GOP’s bill, there would be just two repayment options for those with federal student loans. (Currently, borrowers have about a dozen ways to repay their student debt, according to Kantrowitz.)
If the legislation is enacted as currently drafted, borrowers would be able to pay back their debt through a plan with fixed payments over 10 years to 25 years, or via an income-driven repayment plan, called the “Repayment Assistance Plan,” which would conclude in loan forgiveness after three decades.
Monthly bills for borrowers on RAP would be set as a share of their income. Payments would typically range from 1% to 10% of a borrowers’ income; the more they earn, the bigger their required payment.
The new plans would potentially make student loan repayment terms much longer for some borrowers.
The U.S. Department of Education now offers a 10-year fixed repayment program, known as the standard plan, and its IDR plans typically conclude in debt cancellation after 20 years or 25 years.
“Simplifying the program with fewer repayment plans is a good idea, but not at the cost of another decade of repayment,” said James Kvaal, who served as U.S. undersecretary of education for former President Joe Biden.
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Longer repayment terms will only exacerbate the problem of more Americans carrying student loans into their old age, consumer advocates say.
There are some 2.9 million people aged 62 and older with federal student loans, as of the first quarter of 2025, according to Education Department data. That is a 71% increase from 2017, when there were 1.7 million such borrowers.
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