The Case of the Rewritten Loan

Inspector Hale: 1.5 million student borrowers; their repayment plan, PAYE, closes in summer 2028. Wren: who closed it? The Ledger: Congress did, in the summer 2025 budget law; 10% of income for 20 years is gone, now 15% for 25 years or a 30-year plan; one Utah pharmacist's $747 a month becomes $970, or $1,009. Nightjar: same loan, worse terms. Wren: a borrowers' lawyer notes the loan note only promised a choice of plans, and they still have one.

The budget law Congress passed in the summer of 2025 will shut the Pay As You Earn student-loan plan in the summer of 2028, pushing its roughly 1.5 million enrollees onto plans with worse terms, which advocates and legal experts call the first time existing borrowers have been made generally worse off: a Utah pharmacist paying $747 a month on 10% of income for 20 years faces $970 at 15% over 25 years, or $1,009 on the new 30-year plan; a borrowers' lawyer notes the loan note only promised a choice of plans, which borrowers still have.

Starring

Inspector HaleWrenThe LedgerNightjar