It does not take a financial genius to know that what happens next is that Americans who were already struggling will suffer even more. In the plainest terms possible, as one SAVE participant told me, “If you were totally screwed before now, you’re super screwed after.”

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GOP Forcing Eight Million Student Loan Borrowers Into Repayment

Workers who had been repaying their student loans via President Joe Biden’s Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) program are looking down the barrel of an even more difficult 2026 than expected. The program is likely ending, the Trump administration announced last week, so those who were enrolled must switch to a new plan, any of which will increase their monthly payments.

SAVE is an income-driven student loan repayment program mandated by statute and consistent with what five presidents had instituted for over three decades without any legal challenges. It expedited loan forgiveness and allowed low-income borrowers to make monthly payments as little as $0. That was too generous for attorneys general in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Oklahoma, Missouri, and North Dakota, who together sued last July.

The end of SAVE comes as Republican policy choices are increasing costs across the board. Trump’s international tariff program, which recently required taxpayers to bail out farmers for $12 billion, has raised prices on imported goods, while the end of enhanced subsidies for health insurance on Affordable Care Act marketplaces will cause switches to plans with less coverage or dropping insurance entirely, as the Prospect recently reported.

New burdens on student loan borrowers have gotten less attention, but they add to affordability pressures for millions of Americans. Some borrowers said having to make student loan payments now would require that they take a second job. Others will look to cut back on spending. In many cases, borrowers have paid back much or all of the total cost of their loans but continue to see balances rise because of accrued interest. It’s unclear what public-policy goal the government has for setting rates so high and punishing people for getting an education.