Six million more Americans could soon benefit from the government’s most generous student loan repayment plan as the Obama administration expands a program that has become a cornerstone of the president’s education policy.
The repayment program, Pay as You Earn, or PAYE, caps borrowers’ monthly bills to 10 percent of their income and forgives the debt after 20 years of payment. So far, it has been available only to people with especially low income relative to their debt and who took out their loans after 2007. But the administration is proposing to expand the program to anyone with an existing federal loan, regardless of their income. The Department of Education, which is accepting public comment on the proposal, expects to finalize the rule in late October.
