Student loan borrowers who tried to intervene in a legal battle over the SAVE plan suffered a legal setback last week after a court ruled against them. The loss comes as the Education Department continues its push to force borrowers with student loans in the SAVE plan to move to other, more expensive repayment programs. Meanwhile, a separate legal challenge over the department’s efforts to terminate SAVE is ongoing, with key developments expected to occur during August.

Here’s the latest on what’s happening with the SAVE plan, and what impacted federal student loan borrowers need to know.

Student Loan Borrowers Had Sought To Intervene In SAVE Plan Litigation

Earlier this year, a long-running legal battle over the future of the SAVE plan (a Biden-era income-driven repayment plan that provided affordable monthly payments and eventual student loan forgiveness) came to an end. The Trump administration and the group of Republican-led states that had originally filed suit against the Biden-Harris administration came to a settlement agreement that vacated the rules governing SAVE, essentially ensuring its termination.

Separately, Congress and President Trump also terminated the SAVE plan upon enactment of the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act, which has made substantial changes to federal student loan programs. However, that legislation would have kept SAVE intact until 2028. After a federal appeals court ordered a district court judge to implement the settlement agreement in March, the SAVE plan effectively came to an end.

After the final judgment in the SAVE plan litigation was entered, a group of four student loan borrowers filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit, arguing that they had an interest in the outcome of the litigation and that, during a brief period of the litigation........

© Forbes