Can Trump end America’s $1.8trn student-debt nightmare?
The Biden administration added to the problem. Now the “Big, Beautiful Bill” could help solve it
In recent years, America’s student-loan policy has come to resemble an alphabet soup. During the covid-19 pandemic, relief came from the CARES, ARPA and HEROES acts. Repayment plans ranged from the appropriately named (SAVE and PAYE) to the less so (PSLF and TEPSLF); even seasoned bureaucrats at the FSA will have struggled to keep track. As a result of these various policies, some $189bn in student debt was forgiven and more than $260bn of payments waived.
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This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “First-class mess”
Finance & economics
July 5th 2025- Xi Jinping wages war on price wars
- How to strike a trade deal with Donald Trump
- Big, beautiful budgets: not just an American problem
- Can Trump end America’s $1.8trn student-debt nightmare?
- Vanguard will soon crush fees for even more investors
- Inside Iran’s war economy
- India’s Licence Raj offers America important lessons
From the July 5th 2025 edition
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