Project 2025 Tracker / What’s done, what’s next

11. Department of Education · Notable · Needs Congress

End time-based and occupation-based student loan forgiveness

Not started

361 11. Department of Education

“End time-based and occupation-based student loan forgiveness. A low estimate suggests ending current student loan forgiveness schemes would save taxpayers $370 billion.”

What has happened

  1. Not started

    Congress moved the other way in the administration's own reconciliation bill. Section 82001 of Public Law 119-21 replaced the income-driven repayment plans with the Repayment Assistance Plan and wrote time-based forgiveness into the statute: new HEA §455(q) requires that "the Secretary shall cancel any outstanding balance of principal and interest" for a borrower "who has made 360 qualifying monthly payments". Section 82004 preserved occupation-based forgiveness and extended it, making payments under the new plan count toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Both forms of forgiveness the Quote asks to end are now more firmly in law than before.

Research log

What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence

Research notes

  • The administration’s student-loan rulemakings narrow rather than end forgiveness: the 2025-10-31 final rule excludes employers with “a substantial illegal purpose” from Public Service Loan Forgiveness (see #889), and the RISE final rule of 2026-05-01 implements the new repayment plans, forgiveness included. Two Senate disapproval resolutions against the RISE rule failed (S.J. Res. 182, motion to proceed rejected 2026-05-20; S.J. Res. 196, rejected 45-52 on 2026-06-24).
  • Negative search on Congress: a search of the titles of the bills we keep and search for “loan forgiveness” and “student loan” returns about forty measures; every one that touches forgiveness would expand it (Teacher Loan Forgiveness Enhancement Act, Loan Forgiveness for Educators Act, Strengthening Loan Forgiveness for Public Service Workers Act) or restrict eligibility for a named class (No Loan Forgiveness for Terrorists Act), and none has left committee.
Action
eliminate
Object
Time-based and occupation-based student loan forgiveness
ID
920