Trump administration serves a final blow to end Biden's SAVE student loan program
Settlement with Missouri ends SAVE program that Biden administration estimated would cost taxpayers $342B over decade
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The Trump administration took the final step toward killing the Biden administration's SAVE student loan plan, announcing a proposed settlement that would shutter the program and force millions into new, legally authorized repayment options.
"For four years, the Biden administration sought to unlawfully shift student loan debt onto American taxpayers, many of whom either never took out a loan to finance their postsecondary education or never even went to college themselves, simply for a political win to prop up a failing administration," U.S. Department of Education Under Secretary Nicholas Kent said in a press release.
On Tuesday, the DOE and the State of Missouri reached an agreement to end former President Joe Biden’s Saving on a Valuable Education plan. This means no further enrollments for any new borrowers, the denial of pending applications and moving all SAVE borrowers into legal repayment plans. If the settlement is approved by a court, it will mark the "definitive end" of Biden’s student-loan repayment program.
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President Donald Trump delivered a final blow to the Biden administration's SAVE student loan repayment plan Tuesday. (Getty Images)
"The Trump administration is righting this wrong and bringing an end to this deceptive scheme," Kent added. "The law is clear: If you take out a loan, you must pay it back. Thanks to the State of Missouri and other states fighting against this egregious federal overreach, American taxpayers can now rest assured they will no longer be forced to serve as collateral for illegal and irresponsible student loan policies."
"Our office fought for hardworking Americans who were being preyed upon by Biden administration bureaucrats, and we won in court every time," Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway also said in a statement. "Unilaterally saddling taxpayers with someone else’s Ivy League debt ignored congressional authority and was clearly unlawful. We appreciate President Trump’s real, long-term solutions instead of illegal student loan schemes."
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The Trump administration alleges that Biden "misled" millions of borrowers into the SAVE plan with false promises of low monthly payments, oftentimes as low as $0. The White House also estimated that the SAVE plan would have cost U.S. taxpayers more than $342 billion over ten years.
The SAVE plan — finalized by the Biden administration in 2023 — quickly became the target of a multi-state legal challenge after officials began implementing key forgiveness provisions in 2024, canceling debt for hundreds of thousands of borrowers.
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Missouri and six other states sued that spring, prompting a federal judge to block parts of the program and pushing the administration to place millions of borrowers into 0% interest forbearance. The 8th Circuit later halted the entire plan in February 2025, forcing interest to resume and sending the case back to district court. By July, federal officials were warning more than 7.6 million borrowers that interest would restart Aug. 1 and urging them to move into legally compliant repayment plans.
Court approval of the settlement would result in borrowers enrolled in SAVE having limited time to select a new plan and begin repaying their student loans.
