A new student loan battle is underway after the Trump administration made a change to a popular repayment plan that opponents say will allow the Education Department to deny relief to its political opponents.

The department said it will change the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, a repayment plan for government workers or nonprofit employees that allows full loan forgiveness after 10 years of payments, to deny those involved in “unlawful activities.”

But after defining “unlawful activities” to include those involved in transgender care and some immigration services, two lawsuits were filed, and advocates are gearing up for a fight.

“I think it's pretty concerning. I think it opens up far too much, too great a possibility that employers will be targeted based on their politics or their ideology to make their employees ineligible for PSLF,” said Neil McCluskey, director for the Center for Educational Freedom at CATO Institute.

“I think we need to look particularly at this idea that the secretary of Education only needs a preponderance of evidence to decide that some employers are doing things that are largely illegal, and then they can cut them off. And so, it strikes me that there's far too much leeway where employers disfavored by whoever's........

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