Tell the Dept. of Ed to Expand Repayment Options for ALL Student Loan Borrowers

Did you know that the Department of Education is changing the rules to allow more borrowers to pay back their loans based on their income? The expansion of the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) program will help students pay back their debt by capping loan payments to 10% of their income.

The Department of Education wants to hear about how student loans are impacting YOU. Tell the Department to expand repayment options for ALL student loan borrowers.

The Department of Education should:

Make It Easy to Enroll: Many borrowers don’t know about their debt management options—the Department needs to make enrollment accessible and easy, and should inform all borrowers who are eligible.

Preserve the Payment Cap at 10% of Income: Borrowers need the option to cap their payments at 10% of their discretionary income—this cap is crucial for borrowers struggling with their loans.

Preserve Loan Forgiveness Programs: The Department should maintain its commitment to forgive student debt in FULL for borrowers after 10 years of public service, or 20 years of work in the private sector, and not cap the amount of debt that can be forgiven.

Extend PAYE to ALL Borrowers Not Previously Eligible: All borrowers with financial need and eligible loans should be included in the expansion of loan repayment programs like Pay As You Earn.

Student loan debt has surpassed $1.2 trillion, and Americans are struggling to handle the burden of their education debt. That is why it is so important the Department of Education expands PAYE to help borrowers manage their student loans.

Get more information on enrolling in these programs!

Student loan debt has surpassed $1.2 trillion, and many Americans are struggling to handle the burden of their education debt.

But earlier this year, President Obama signed an executive order that could make repaying student loans a lot easier for millions of borrowers. Now the Department of Education is asking Americans how the rules for the Pay As You Earn program (PAYE) to all federal student loan borrowers, lowering their monthly payments, reduces how much interest may accrue on their loans, and potentially reducing the repayment period.

You can help millions of people get student debt relief by signing on to our petition telling the Department of Education to make sure PAYE benefits as many people as much as possible.

PAYE is currently only available to recent borrowers, leaving 25 million borrowers ineligible for the program. For borrowers who owe more in student loans than they make annually, PAYE would:

Limit loan payments to only 10% of their discretionary income. Income-Based Repayment, the income-driven repayment plan for older loans, requires payments of 15% of discretionary income.
Reduce the amount of interest that can be capitalized, or added to, their loan balance. If borrowers’ reduced payments don’t cover the actual amount of interest that accrued on their loans for the payment period, the additional amount of interest would be eliminated rather than being added to the loan balance. Over the course of the repayment period, borrowers would be made to repay no more than 10% of the interest owed on the loan at the time of enrollment.
Forgive any remaining balance after 20 years. Currently, borrowers not in Public Service Loan Forgiveness must pay for 25 years before their balances are forgiven.

Extending this program to more borrowers would have a huge impact—putting more money back into borrowers’ pockets, alleviating financial stress for borrowers and giving the economy a boost.

The Department of Education has the chance to help millions of people with their student loans. We can make sure they do it right. Sign our petition now and join your friends and family in calling for real student debt relief!