What you should know about your student loans

Federal student loan programs face a significant overhaul starting July 1st, fundamentally shifting the landscape for millions of borrowers. The Biden-era SAVE repayment plan has been effectively terminated due to legal challenges, forcing borrowers to transition to new options, including a fixed-payment standard plan or a revised income-driven plan. Graduate students now face a $20,500 annual borrowing cap, with exceptions only for specific fields like medicine and dentistry. While Public Service Loan Forgiveness remains intact, the new income-based repayment plan extends the forgiveness window to 30 years, rendering debt cancellation unlikely for most participants. These policy shifts aim to restore federal fiscal stability and re-establish consistent repayment habits following the pandemic-era pause. NPR education correspondent Cory Turner notes that these changes represent the most substantial restructuring of the federal student loan system in decades.