The U.S. Department of Education launched a beta website Sunday to accept student loan payment applications under the Biden administration’s new SAVE Plan.
The Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE, plan applies to both current and future college students who take out federally backed student loans.
The DOE says the enrollment process takes about 10 minutes, and many sections can be automatically populated with information the government has on hand, including tax returns from the IRS, administration officials said.
“We will be able to show borrowers their exact monthly payment amount and give them the ability to choose the most affordable repayment plan for them,” an official from the Biden administration told CNN.
The repayment plan is based on both income and family size, and it excludes spousal income as a determining factor.
The SAVE Plan is expected to save borrowers at least $1,000 per year according to the White House. Some borrowers will be eligible to have their loan forgiven after 10 years of repayment. The plan also eliminates 100% of the remaining interest for subsidized and unsubsidized loans after a payment is made.
For some, monthly payments will be as small as $0.
Roughly 45 million Americans have federal student debt, totaling more than $1.6 trillion in borrowed money.
President Joe Biden announced details of the SAVE Plan following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to strike down a student loan forgiveness program Biden announced last August.
According to Biden, the new program would be grounded in different legislation — the Higher Education Act.
In June, prior to the court’s decision, Republicans introduced a package aimed at lowering student loan debt called the Lowering Education Costs and Debt Act. The legislation is made up of five bills meant to target issues that are driving “skyrocketing” higher education costs, according to Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La.
The beta site for the SAVE plan can be found on the Federal Student Aid website. It is expected to launch in August.
