President Trump's new tax and spending law brings sweeping changes to the federal student loan

system affecting both current and future borrowers. Nearly half a million borrowers could see their

payments spike after the Department of Education scrapped most existing repayment plans. The law also

imposes new lifetime borrowing caps, $100,000 for graduate students, $200,000 for those pursuing

professional degrees like law or medicine, and $65,000 per child for parent borrowers. For a breakdown

of what this all means, we're joined now by NPR education correspondent Corey Turner.

Corey, thanks again for being with us. So as borrowers start receiving these repayment notices, what can they expect?

What options are available to them?

New borrowers who take out loans after July 1st, 2026, they, the good news for them is they

won't have very many options.

I guess that's a good thing. The Congress recently

decided to whittle down options for new borrowers from seven current repayment plans down

to two. Those include a standard repayment plan with fixed monthly payments and then a brand

new income-based repayment plan, which obviously

tailors what you owe each month to your income. Now legacy borrowers are just a lot more

complicated. They're going to still have access to some currently existing plans,

at least for a while. I think what we're seeing right now with the department,

though, is because the Trump administration has cut the staff at the department in half,

including cutting roughly half of the office of federal Student Aid, which is responsible for managing the

student loan program.

I think what you're seeing are just backlogs.

And beyond this initial confusion, based on your reporting, what are some of the other

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