To the Editor:
SAVE is the difference between crushing student loan debt and hope for many Mainers.
About 180,000 people in Maine have student loans. They are our neighbors, teachers, recent graduates, nurses, and even our grandparents. Life doesn’t always work out the way we plan it. A lot of people, throughout their lives, struggle with student loan debt.
One lifeline for people with federal student loans is called Income-Driven Repayment (IDR). There are a couple of different IDR plans, that calculate your monthly student loan payment based on your income. The idea is that your payment is affordable, even if you have a high balance. Otherwise, people would fall behind on their loans and into default because the monthly payment amounts are just way too big. IDR plans have been around since the 90s, and there have been new IDR plans introduced over the years.
You may have heard about the newest IDR plan, called SAVE. SAVE is much, much more affordable than the other IDR plans that came before. For example, say you’re a single mom of one, who graduated from college, now makes $50,000, and has $33,000 in student loan debt (the state average). On an old IDR plan, you may have had a monthly payment of between $170-$255. SAVE brings that payment down to just $23/month.
But SAVE is in jeopardy- there are lawsuits challenging the SAVE plan. Overturning it would mean that many Mainers would no longer have access to an actually affordable repayment option. And in the meantime, people are being put into forbearances and have limited options or guidance on how to manage their loans.
SAVE is the difference between food on the table and a hungry kid, the difference between saving an emergency fund and struggling the next time a big life expense comes up.
Pine Tree Legal Assistance provides information and legal help to student loan borrowers. Learn more about your rights and get answers to common student loan questions at https://ptla.org/student-loans#.
Sophie Laing
Student Loan Attorney
Pine Tree Legal Assistance
Portland
Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.
We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs.
Show less