AAU joined ACE and 28 other higher education associations in sending a comment letter on the Education Department’s proposed changes to the Revised Pay as You Earn or REPAYE income-driven repayment (IDR) plan.
The letter expressed gratitude to the department for including several recommendations made by the higher education community in recent years and for revising the existing program instead of creating a new one. The letter also offered support for specific provisions in the new proposal, including changes that would “automatically enroll borrowers in IDR; raise the threshold of protected income; eliminate the growth of unpaid interest on income-driven plans; allow for an accelerated path to forgiveness for low-debt borrowers; and allow greater access to switch to IDR plans.” The letter called the inclusion of these elements a “long overdue correction,” but noted that the “piecemeal changes fall short of all that is needed” to “correct the burdensome and needlessly complicated repayment system.” The letter urged ED to work with Congress to review the system and to reauthorize the Higher Education Act. “This would be the most effective way to address problems with loan repayment policies in a holistic way,” the letter added.