Student loan borrowers are worried about their financial futures in the wake of the election of Donald Trump, whose rhetoric has been hostile toward Joe Biden-era loan forgiveness plans.

The change of administration adds to the uncertainty for millions of borrowers who don’t know whether they’ll have to make student loan payments in the future and, if so, how much they’ll be. In the past year, the Biden administration informed borrowers about impending broad loan forgiveness programs and new student loan 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:repayment plans only to see those plans put on hold by legal challenges.

On social media, student loan borrowers wondered whether Trump would follow through on his anti-loan forgiveness rhetoric, how much their monthly payments would go up, or even whether previous rounds of forgiveness would be reversed.

Student loan experts say some of Trump’s proposals will be 💙easy for him to implement and others nearly impossible to execute. 

Biden's Student Loan Forgiveness Deeper in Jeopardy

Truꦅmp’s victory worsens the prospects of anyone getting loan forgiveness under two Department🌸 of Education proposals that were set to go into effect this fall but were temporarily blocked by courts.

The first 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:would forgive debts for borrowers who have been in repayment for many years, people who owe more than when they started repaying, and people eligible for other loan forgiveness programs but haven’t applied. A federal judge temporarily 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:blocked the program last month after Republican-led states sued to overturn it, and it is in limbo while the legal battle plays out.

The second would forgive loans for borrowers 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:in financial distress who are at high risk of defaulting. The program is scheduled to go into effect in 2025, at which point Trump will be in office. Mark Kantrowitz, an expert on student loans, said groups opposed to loan forgiveness would likely sue to stop that program as well.

Trump has several options for halting those initiatives. If the lawsuits are resolved before Trump takes office, he could begin a regulatory process to reverse the new regulations, though that could take time. In the meantime, Kantrowitz said the department could proceed with implementing the policy.

Kantrowitz said it is more likely that the lawsuits will not be resolved by Inauguration Day, in which case Trump’s administration could simply drop its legal defense of them. Either way, the chances of loan forgiveness under those policies are slim, said Betsy Mayotte, president of the Institute of Student Loan Advisors, a nonprofit group that offers student loan advice.

“I don't think the Biden 🐭administration has enough time to get that done,” Mayotte said. “So I think that, unf🦩ortunately, is dead.”

SAVE Plan More Likely To Be Scrapped

Trump’s ascent to power also worse♏ns the outlook for the already-imperiled SAVE repayment plan, which Biden’s a🎃dministration launched this year. 

The plan offers lower monthly payments than older income-driven repayment plans, doesn’t allow interest to build up, and, in some cases, allows borrowers to have their loans cleared after paying for as little as 10 years rather than the standard 20 or 25.

Earlier this year, a court 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:temporarily blocked the SAVE plan after Republican-led states sued to stop it. The 8 million borrowers enrolled in the SAVE plan are currently in forbearance, with both interest and required payments frozen.

The prospects for SAVE under a Trump White House are grim since the administration could abandon defending it in court. Still, Kantrowitz said most borrowers currently enrolled in SAVE should stay on it for now.

“If the SAVE plan evaporates, they will re-enter repayment. They will have the opportunity to switch into another income-based repa𒉰yment plan at that 💝time. Since they aren't being charged interest, there's no cost to them from staying in the SAVE plan other than time,” he said.

Major Changes to PSLF Would Take Time

Republicans have made several attempts to kill the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, which President George W. Bush signed into law in 2007. Getting rid of the PSLF would require the cooperation of Congress, in which Republicans have a narrow majority.

Lawmakers proposed eliminating the program during Trump’s first term, but the effort failed. Even if it were eliminated, Kantrowitz said it was likely that borrowers currently enrolled in🍒 PSLF would be allowed to stay in it and earn forgiveness anyway but that it would be closed to new enrollment.

That’s what would have happened under a repeal bill proposed by Republicans in 2017. It’s also unclear whether getting rid of the PSLF would be a top priority for the Trump administration.

“Are they going to want to spend their capital on getting rid of PSLওF, or𒊎 are there other things more significant for them?” Kantrowitz said. “I think, in all likelihood, PSLF is going to survive.”

Department of Education unlikely to be scrapped

On the campaign trail, Trump said he would eliminate the Department of Education altogether. How that might affect student loan borrowers was unclear, but Kantrowitz said that would be a longshot in any case.

Like eliminating PSLF, eliminating the department would require a law passed by Congress. The Senate𝔉 would be an obstacle since Democratic lawmakers have enough votes to block legisl🍸ation with a filibuster. It’s possible Trump would prefer to use the department to influence education throughout the country rather than eliminate it. 

“More likely, they're just going to use it to implement their agenda,” Kantrowitz said.

Old debts not likely to be ‘un-forgiven’

Despite Biden’s failure to achieve broad student loan forgiveness, his administration's rule changes resulted in $175 billion worth of debt for 4.8 million borrowers in specific circumstances. 

Some borrowers on social media worried that, given Trump’s hostility toward Biden’s student loan forgiveness programs, he or the courts would reverse previous rounds of forgiveness and reinstate debts that had been wiped clean.

Even in the worst-case scenario, that’s probably not going to happen, Kantrowitz said.

“That is extremely unlikely to occur,” Kantrowitz said. “Courts never do this.”