KEY POINTS
- Several plans would rewrite the rules around student loan interest, repayment and refinancing.
- Some of the changes would leave people with less debt and different ways to repay it.
Student debt has become a central issue in the 2020 presidential campaign. Legislation is being introduced to address the crisis. And the U.S. Department of Education is also considering some big changes for borrowers.
Some of the plans on the table would leave people debt-free, while others would open up new repayment and refinancing options.
There’s a clear desire for change: More than half of Americans say student debt is “a major problem” for the country, according to a Politico/Morning Consult poll.
“I’m here to raise a warning flag with American students and American taxpayers,” Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said at a financial aid conference last year in Atlanta. “We have a crisis in higher education.”
Outstanding education debt has outpaced credit card and auto debt. The average college graduate leaves school $30,000 in the red today, up from $10,000 in the 1990s.