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Express Tribune
2 days ago
- Express Tribune
Ragging: Harmless teasing or deadly abuse?
India, Sri Lanka and the Philippines have all passed anti-ragging legislation. Pakistan does not have any such laws. 'Strip.' That is the command young Gaurav Singhal was given by his seniors at Indian university in 1998. Gaurav was an introvert, he kept to himself and entered university with the singular goal of pursuing a higher education. Little did he know the next few years of his life would be made hell by his seniors, through ragging that included mental and sexual abuse. Two years after Gaurav graduated, he was moved by the story of Aman Kachroo, a medical student who was beaten to death by his seniors in the name of ragging. Today, Gaurav is the vice president of SAVE (Society against violence in education), one of India's largest anti-ragging NGOs. As of now, India, Sri Lanka and the Philippines, have all passed anti-ragging legislation. Even though laws such as The Islamabad Capital Territory Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Act, which prohibits corporal punishment of children have been signed, Pakistan does not have any such laws banning ragging, despite ragging being a prevalent issue. What is ragging? According to Gaurav, ragging is 'any act which makes any junior or fresher, uncomfortable, be it physical, extortion, sexual, or any kind of mental ragging.' Numayan Javed, a clinical psychologist and private practitioner whose work centers around trauma, attachment healing, the cycle of abuse, and the power dynamics that underpin harassment, abuse, and control, elaborates on this definition. She calls ragging, 'a socially sanctioned form of power abuse that's often normalised as tradition. Behind the jokes or 'fun,' it's really about control, about breaking someone down to assert dominance.' The term 'ragging' is specific to the bullying disguised as initiation rituals in South Asian countries and is unlike the hazing found in the West. Hazing is different to ragging because it primarily takes place in fraternities and sororities, groups that students can opt out of joining and is not campus wide. 'There's some kind of liberty on whether you go to the sororities or not. The problems in the US are different from the problems we face in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka,' says SAVE founder and president Dr. Kushal Banerjee. Numayan also adds that ragging is set apart from bullying because it is accepted as a norm and may even be encouraged by institutions, rather than being prohibited or frowned upon. 'It tells the victim that not only is this happening to you, but the people meant to protect you are okay with it. That kind of silence from the system can be just as loud as the act itself. It makes healing harder because the trust you lose isn't just in a person. It's in the space around you,' she says. M, an 18-year-old student from the 2024 batch at COMSATS University Islamabad who wishes to remain anonymous, speaks about the ragging he witnessed. 'In the name of ragging they performed a lot of cruelty towards the juniors,' he says about his seniors. 'They made two juniors lay down and touch their genitals to each other's, they made another guy dance naked, got another drunk, forced another to masturbate in front of us, and covered one in shoe polish,' he adds. 'I had to bear with it for like 4 months. Some of the worst things I faced included getting naked in front of a group, just wearing a shopping bag and going to the canteen,' says 24-year-old Ayaan from Nishtar Medical University, in Multan. Ragging can also have monetary motivation in some cases, Dr. Banerjee explains. 'They exploit money. And this monetary benefit is also directly or indirectly benefiting the people in charge of the hostel, like wardens or the administration,' he says. Numayan speaks about the psychology behind the prevalence of ragging in Pakistan. According to her, ragging persists in Pakistan because it reflects the broader social fabric, 'one that's built on rigid hierarchies, deference to authority, and generational cycles of control.' 'From households to classrooms, many young people grow up internalizing the idea that power must be asserted, not questioned,' she says. She elaborates on how these pre-existing systems result in seniors who seek to regain some semblance of power and control through ragging their juniors after having felt powerless in their personal lives. 'It's less about connection, and more about reenacting dominance to secure their place in a system that doesn't always offer emotional safety or validation,' she says. Ragging and mental health Aside from the physical and financial aftermath and losses caused by ragging, student mental health is what is truly at risk here. 'It was disturbing for me, and affected me psychologically,' says Ayaan. Another student, Akshay, who recently graduated from a medical university in a small city in Pakistan, also speaks on how detrimental ragging can be to student mental health. 'When my brother first went to university in Karachi, he called my father on the second day, complaining about the ragging in the hostel and saying he couldn't live there. He was very distressed during the call and took himself to the hospital for severe anxiety. That experience really affected him,' he says. Akshay also described an incident during his third year at university when he witnessed a student who had been so traumatized by ragging, he attempted suicide by jumping in front of a moving truck. According to Numayan, ragging can have long-term, profound effects on a student's mental health. 'Victims often experience anxiety, depression, and feelings of worthlessness. It can leave them feeling isolated and unsafe in their environment, leading to a loss of confidence and trust in others,' she says. She talks about how even what some may call 'minor' forms of ragging such as verbal and psychological ragging can leave a mark on students, even if they themselves do not classify it as ragging. 'When students don't recognise certain behaviors as harmful, they often absorb them quietly - thinking it's just part of fitting in or something they're supposed to laugh off. That silence can be heavy. It builds shame, confusion, and self-doubt,' she says. She further elaborates on this, talking about how 'trauma does not come with a measuring tape,' and how the same thing that may not affect one person may leave a deep and lasting emotional wound in another because of how it lands on their nervous system. 'So yes, even the seemingly small stuff matters. Especially when no one's calling it what it really is,' she adds. Numayan elaborates on how different types of ragging can have different impacts on victim's psyche. Verbal and psychological ragging can lead to feelings of shame and inadequacy and physical ragging can lead to fear for one's safety and autonomy. 'Sexual ragging, however, is a violation at the most intimate level. It can trigger profound psychological damage, causing victims to dissociate from their own bodies, feel shattered in their sense of identity, and experience long-term emotional scars, such as trust issues, intimacy fears, or PTSD,' she adds. Ragging can have a profound and long-term effect on victims' self-esteem. According to sociologist William James, self-esteem is rooted in the perceived success of our social interactions and how valued we feel by others. When a person is subjected to ragging, particularly through verbal or physical humiliation, their sense of belonging and social value is compromised. 'This can lead to a diminished sense of self-worth, where the victim internalizes the abuse as a reflection of their own inadequacy. Over time, the constant devaluation can manifest in feelings of helplessness, worthlessness, and self-doubt,' says Numayan. The more deeply these messages are internalized, the more they can distort how victims perceive themselves in social contexts, making it harder for them to feel deserving of respect, love, and success.' Numayan elaborates on this phenomenon regarding ragging that involves students to violate their personal boundaries in search of validation, be it by force or by students opting for said ragging. 'Over time, this can distort their sense of self-worth, as their identity becomes tied to group approval. The pressure to be 'cool' leads to cognitive dissonance, where their actions clash with their true values,' says Numayan. Ragging may have different effects on people depending on their gender and how they were socialised because of it. According to Numayan, men may struggle with expressing their emotions, leading to repressed anger, anxiety and depression as they try to 'tough it out,' while women may experience more internalized guilt, shame and issues with self-worth. 'Gender non-conforming students may feel even more isolated, with their trauma compounded by a society that already marginalizes them,' she adds. All this trauma does not stay contained inside victims. More often than not it leads to their personal lives, relationships and even their academic performance suffering. 'Chronic stress and anxiety disrupt concentration, memory retention, and executive functioning. This makes it harder to absorb new information or complete assignments. Many victims experience sleep disturbances or hypervigilance, both of which impair cognitive performance,' says Numayan. Ragging doesn't just impact the mental health of the victims but also of the perpetrators. Although they may not feel it at the time, the perpetrators may later recognise the impact of their actions and be stuck in a cycle of self-blame, guilt and self-loathing. 'Ragging isn't just a one-way cycle of victimisation; it can perpetuate its own form of trauma for the abuser, often creating a vicious cycle where both the victim and the perpetrator are caught in their own emotional struggles,' says Numayan. Power dynamics between juniors and seniors The long-ingrained power imbalance between juniors and their seniors is one of the few things that sets ragging apart from run of the mill harassment. 'The power difference between seniors and juniors is very toxic,' says Akshay, recalling a fight between freshman and their seniors at his university that resulted in the police being called and students ending up in the hospital. Dr. Banerjee believes universities themselves are responsible for establishing this power dynamic. He gives the example of a reputable engineering university he visited, where the Dean of student affairs ended the session by telling the juniors to seek guidance from their seniors, warning them that it would be difficult to pass otherwise. Dr. Banerjee took this moment to interrupt the dean, saying, 'do you think that your senior students are more capable than the professors? It is the responsibility of the teachers to guide the students, not the responsibility of the seniors.' Dr. Banerjee cites the Stanford prison experiment as an example for how this power imbalance is created when institutions give seniors power over their juniors and how quickly it can be abused. The Stanford prison experiment was a psychological experiment performed in 1971 where a group of students was divided in half and each half was told to act as prisoners and prison guards respectively. During the following days, the 'guards,' despite knowing they were simply acting, began to abuse their power and torment the prisoners. Although the validity of this experiment has been called into question, the picture it paints as an example for the abuse of power taking place in ragging is a vivid and dark one. Many victims and witnesses of ragging often are not anti-ragging because they claim it made them more confident and helped them befriend their seniors. Ayaan says he thinks the power imbalance between juniors and seniors is a good thing to have, 'because we have hierarchy even in professional lives,' he says. 'After going through all that, I felt more confident, and it felt easier for me to talk to people. Ironic but true. The seniors who ragged me helped me the most in my later years, so I don't want to file a case against them,' he adds. Ayaan's experience is not uncommon. 'Ragging can become normalised to the point where victims don't even recognise it as abuse,' says Numayan. She explains how claiming to have enjoyed being ragged may be a defense mechanism and survival strategy. 'When the mind doesn't have the resources to fully process the pain of abuse, it may reframe the experience to make it seem less harmful. Because to admit the truth would mean confronting uncomfortable feelings of powerlessness or shame,' she says. Some victims may even go as far as to befriend those that ragged them in an unconscious need to make sense of the hurt. 'Attachment theory suggests that humans are wired for connection, and when someone who has caused pain is also the one offering attention or validation, it creates a confusing emotional pull,' says Numayan. 'This dynamic can resemble Stockholm Syndrome, where the victim begins to develop a bond with the abuser as a way of coping. By befriending the abuser, the victim might subconsciously try to feel safer or less vulnerable, even though it's a distorted form of attachment,' she adds, explaining how victims may become trauma-bonded to their abusers. Dr. Banerjee comments on how ragging is not needed to familiarize oneself with their juniors, adding, 'when a new neighbor comes to your neighborhood, do you ask him or her to sing? Do you ask him or her to dance? If your younger brother is not smart enough, do you subject him physical or sexual abuse? If you don't need this kind of violence on your younger brothers or your neighbors to get to know each other, to be good friends, to be good guides, why do you need these things only in college?' Dr. Banerjee talks about how ragging making people tougher or more confident is a myth. 'If you want to make good rapport, you will be loving people. You won't be hurting people. Like, nobody loves Hitler. Nobody respects Hitler. Respect is earned through mutual respect,' he says. Why we need anti-ragging laws Although anti-ragging legislation in countries such as India are not one hundred percent effective or implemented, such legislation is a step in the right direction. The reason some of our fellow Asian countries have anti-ragging legislation and why Pakistan is in dire need of it too is because ragging is a fundamentally different experience from regular harassment or abuse. According to Gaurav, this is because in the case of most other crimes, the victim and perpetrator are not forced to live together for the next 4 years. The abuser is often not put on a pedestal by an institution nor given the luxury of easy and constant access to their victims. These surrounding conditions are what make the victim more scared and hesitant to report these crimes committed against them. Gaurav highlights the importance of anti-ragging legislation because it is accompanied by anti-ragging helplines. 'That's why it's a very good thing that the anti-ragging helpline in India allows anonymous complaints. In no other case in India, be it murder or looting, is anonymous complaint allowed. For example, in Aman Kachroo's case, he was severely ragged, and he dared to go to the college authorities and the day he reported, the same night he was murdered by his seniors,' he says. Anti-ragging helplines and organizations also search social media for anonymous complaints and act within minutes to contact the institution mentioned. 'As soon as any person calls on the helpline within half an hour the help emails and calls the authorities of the college as well as local police. This creates a lot of pressure on the institution to act,' Gaurav adds. Dr. Banerjee highlights the importance of anti-ragging laws by emphasizing the need for penal provisions for institutions if they fail to act as the primary responsibility of curbing ragging lies with the universities. 'The students are in your custody. You are the local guard. So, it's your responsibility to protect the students. Both perpetrators and victims are inside your campus,' he says. Aroon Parsad is an Advocate of the High Court, Chairman of the Young Lawyers Forum Pakistan, chief patron of Qanoonkibaat, and has been working on student rights, harassment cases, and education for the past few years. According to him, good anti-ragging laws cover two things: preventing ragging and dealing with it when it happens. 'That means setting up proper complaint systems, punishing those involved, supporting victims, and making sure institutions actually do their job instead of brushing it under the rug, " he says. Advocate Aroon also says that ragging needs its own separate legislation from assault or harassment because of its specific nature to campuses, reiterating how despite being student-on-student it is about the power imbalance between juniors and seniors. 'Institutions aren't always motivated to take action unless the law requires them to. These laws also make it clear that ragging isn't just a joke. It's abuse,' Aroon says. The lack of anti-ragging laws also makes it difficult for mental health professionals to do their job. 'Without clear legal frameworks, we are left navigating informal and often inconsistent policies that fail to offer concrete support for victims. This lack of legal protection makes it difficult to advocate for lasting institutional change and places an additional burden on us to fill the gaps,' says Numayan. Numayan also talks about the impact on students' mental health to see that their abusers are not facing any consequences. 'When there are no legal consequences for the perpetrators, it not only perpetuates the power imbalance but also reinforces the trauma, making it harder for survivors to heal and for us to help them break free from the cycle. This subtly communicates a powerful, damaging message: 'Your pain doesn't matter.'' she adds. She talks about how this sense of betrayal and abandonment from the system that was supposed to protect them can be just as harmful as the abuse itself as it reinforces feelings of worthlessness and helplessness. 'It creates a culture of silence, where victims internalize the shame and self-blame, withdrawing from support and suffering in isolation,' Numayan says. What can we do right now? Despite there not being any laws to tackle ragging in the country at the moment, there is still a lot Pakistanis can do to curb the age-old practice. When Dr. Banerjee founded SAVE in India, there had been no such laws there. He pushes for activists in Pakistan to start working on this issue regardless of legislation, saying, 'if they start working on this, they can also demand for these laws and regulations. They can also seek help from the Pakistani Supreme Court.' Dr. Banerjee says the most important things right now are changing the mindset of the people and raising awareness. Students need to be taught which sections of the law as of now can protect them, which human rights organizations can help them, and how to file complaints, while teachers need to be taught how to spot ragging and set up anti-ragging committees. He also says that CCTV cameras in all public places and separate housing for seniors and freshmen are necessary, along with a mobile anti-ragging squad made up of guards whose numbers can be given to students. 'There should also be an anonymous survey. Because if someone speaks out, he or she will be ragged by the seniors. But if that is anonymous, then you will get the data where ragging is taking place and how it is occurring,' Dr. Banerjee says. He also insists that students must unite to pressure their institutions and governments to take action. Gaurav adds to this, saying, 'I think it's high time activists, students and media in Pakistan start an online campaign and petition to force the government to enact anti-ragging law and to establish an anti-ragging helpline.' Advocate Aroon further emphasizes the need for awareness in a timely manner. 'I worked on a case where a student in his first semester was emotionally abused for weeks. The university didn't take it seriously until the media got involved. Even though we got some action, the damage was done. He left the program. That's what stuck with me how late the support came,' he says. 'Students have died by suicide. It's sad that it takes tragedy to get attention, but that's often the reality,' he adds. Advocate Aroon also talks about how ragging needs to stop being normalized as a rite of passage and how the media can play a hand in stopping this. 'Institutions don't want bad press. Media can raise awareness and hold institutions accountable,' he says. 'Student groups can create safe spaces, share survivor stories, and push for policy changes. When students lead the conversation, it becomes real. It's not just theory, it's lived experience,' he adds. Advocate Aroon also wants students to know those abusing them can still be taken to court despite the lack of anti-ragging legislation. He also talks about how anti-ragging cells within universities need proper training. 'Some are great, but many are just there for show. They look good in brochures but don't do much when a real complaint comes in. They need trained staff, transparency, and independence from the people they might need to investigate,' he says. 'Students need to know someone's actually paying attention,' he adds. Advocate Aroon hopes that pressure from students, activists and the media will eventually push the government to take action and pass anti-ragging legislation. He says we can have anti ragging laws 'only if people push for it. If students start speaking out, if the media starts covering it more, if civil society gets involved, then yes. But it needs momentum. A law won't come out of nowhere; it needs a push from the ground up.' 'If someone files a strong petition, it could change everything,' he concludes.
The Star
2 days ago
- Business
- The Star
Resumed payments of U.S. student loans to strain personal finances, create challenges for economy: report
NEW YORK, May 26 (Xinhua) -- Millions of Americans had their student-loan payments put on pause during the COVID-19 pandemic, and now they are back on the hook again -- for borrowers, this means that every month, money that they presumably used to spend elsewhere is going to pay off debt instead. "Many who aren't paying are now considered delinquent or defaulted, a status that sinks credit scores," reported The Wall Street Journal about the development. "Around 5.6 million borrowers were marked newly delinquent on their student loans in the first three months of this year." "That will strain personal finances. At the same time, it creates fresh challenges for the broader economy," it noted. Borrowers have been required to repay their student loans for some months now. But just this month, the Trump administration began putting millions of defaulted student-loan borrowers into collections, and threatened to confiscate their wages, tax refunds and federal benefits. "The collections process was standard before the pandemic. But it is still likely to be a shock to those who haven't experienced it before, or who forgot what it was like," said the report. Economists at Morgan Stanley estimated this month that payments this year will rise by a collective 1 billion to 3 billion U.S. dollars a month. That could trim 2025 gross domestic product by about 0.1 percentage point, they said. The Morgan Stanley economists also note that there are about eight million borrowers in the Saving on a Valuable Education plan, or SAVE, a Biden-era plan that allows borrowers to pay based on their income but was challenged in courts. "Those borrowers will likely need to begin payments late this year or early next," added the report.
Newsweek
5 days ago
- Business
- Newsweek
Trump Student Loan Changes Risk 'Punishing Ambition'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Higher education experts have warned that President Donald Trump's plans to reduce student loan repayment options from borrowers could thwart "ambition and innovation." In an effort to streamline student loan repayment, the Trump administration is considering a sweeping overhaul of its federal student loan programs, cutting back multiple income-driven repayment (IDR) options to just two. The plans were put forward in the GOP's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which was passed by the House of Representatives on Thursday. Currently, the federal student loan system offers several IDR plans that adjust monthly payments based on income and family size, which can offer relief for low-income borrowers, freelancers, and those in unpredictable job sectors. Under the proposed budget plan passed by the House, these options would be reduced to just two repayment structures: a standard 10-year plan and a "Repayment Assistance Plan." Higher education experts and borrower advocates warn that the move may increase repayment costs, sacrifice flexibility and put vulnerable borrowers at greater risk. "Consolidating repayment options into two streamlined plans may sound like simplification, but it could be a double-edged sword," Dr. Shaan Patel, CEO and founder of the standardized test prep and college admissions company Prep Expert, told Newsweek. "The current menu of repayment plans—while admittedly confusing—allows borrowers to match repayment to their financial circumstances." Donald Trump and a student are seen in this composite image created by Newsweek. Donald Trump and a student are seen in this composite image created by Newsweek. Photo IllustrationStudent Borrower Protection Center has estimated that the new proposed repayment plan would increase payments by $2,928 a year for a typical student loan borrower enrolled in former President Joe Biden's Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, if it is not blocked by the courts. There is fear this reduced menu of options will also disproportionately impact borrowers whose financial lives don't fit neatly into a predictable mold. "Many borrowers—particularly first-generation graduates, freelancers, or those entering volatile industries—depend on flexible, income-based options to stay afloat," Patel said. "If not, we'll see higher delinquency and default rates—especially among the borrowers this reform is supposedly meant to help." Proponents argue that the simplified structure will reduce confusion that often leaves borrowers stuck in punishing repayment plans or facing unexpected interest growth. However, experts say the real issue isn't the number of choices—it's a lack of education about those choices. "Confusion is a solvable problem with better education and outreach—not fewer choices. Imagine if we tried to fix the complexity of health insurance by only offering two plans. The outcome wouldn't be clarity—it'd be rigidity," Patel said. The changes could also impact what future would-be students would pursue in higher education, Patel explained. "Roughly 70 percent of federal borrowers rely on IDRs, especially early in their careers. These are often teachers, social workers, or entrepreneurs—people whose incomes are inconsistent but whose degrees provide immense long-term value," Patel explained. "If the new repayment model doesn't flex with income volatility, we risk punishing ambition and innovation in favor of uniformity." "I would imagine that the new repayment plans would cover the vast majority of borrower situations," Jack Wang, host of the Smart College Buyer podcast, told Newsweek. "But I think the new rules will impact career choices, such as those entering the arts or fields that tend to have lower starting pay but yet require advanced degrees." "If the proposed changes go through, my opinion is that higher education will be similar to what it was decades ago—only the kids from rich families can go to college," he continued. "And only those rich kids can go to medical, law, dental, vet school. It's kind of bleak." The proposed changes are part of a broader budget bill that includes substantial cuts to federal student aid, including the elimination of loan forgiveness options after 20 or 25 years under current IDR plans. The bill also aims to repeal the SAVE plan, one of the Biden administration's centerpiece reforms, which reduced monthly payments for low-income borrowers and shortened the forgiveness timeline for smaller loan balances. While the bill has passed in the House, it faces an uncertain future in the Senate, where it is expected to encounter stronger opposition.
Business Mayor
6 days ago
- Politics
- Business Mayor
USCIS Deploys Common Sense Tools to Verify Voters
State and local governments now have more capabilities in USCIS' SAVE program WASHINGTON –U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services updated the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program to ensure a single, reliable source for verifying immigration status and U.S. citizenship nationwide. State and local authorities can input Social Security numbers to help verify U.S. citizenship and prevent aliens from voting in American elections. 'For years, states have pleaded for tools to help identify and stop aliens from hijacking our elections,' said USCIS Spokesman Matthew Tragesser. 'Under the leadership of President Trump and Secretary Noem, USCIS is moving quickly to eliminate voter fraud. We expect further improvements soon and remain committed to restoring trust in American elections.' This new partnership with the Social Security Administration allows cases to verify citizenship or immigration status to be created using Social Security numbers rather than a DHS identifying number, which most state and local agencies do not collect. Also, for the first time, agencies can submit more than one case at a time, making the process more efficient. This advancement comes shortly after the DHS, USCIS, and DOGE SAVE optimization announcement and builds on efforts to remove roadblocks to securing the country's election process by working to eliminate voter fraud. SAVE, a critical tool for verifying lawful U.S. citizenship and immigration status operated by USCIS, provides federal, state, territorial, tribal, and local agencies with U.S. citizenship and immigration status information to help ensure the eligibility of individuals applying for certain public benefits and licenses, including voter eligibility verification. Read More Asylum seekers find refuge in volunteers where the US has failed All state and local governments are encouraged to register to use SAVE for lawful voter eligibility verification. Effective April 1, 2025, USCIS eliminated all charges for state, local, tribal, and territorial government agencies to use the service. States interested in participating in the SAVE program can learn more and register. READ SOURCE
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump's tax bill makes big changes to student loans and financial aid
Lower loan limits. Fewer repayment options. A 30-year path to forgiveness. New Pell restrictions. Those are among the major changes coming to the federal student lending program under measures Republicans included in their sweeping tax and budget bill that passed the House early Thursday. The legislation is designed to rationalize the government's famously convoluted education loan program while saving around $351 billion. Unlike the current system, the overhaul would require pretty much every borrower — including the lowest earners — to at least make small payments toward their loans, and they would have a narrower chance of getting their debt canceled. "It's no secret that colleges have exploited the availability of uncapped federal lending and generous forgiveness programs to raise prices rather than improve access and affordability,' Rep. Tim Walberg, who chairs the Education and Workforce Committee, said at an April 29 hearing. 'Streamlining loan options as done in this bill will increase affordability for students and families as well as curtail the extent to which schools use taxpayer dollars to line their pocketbooks by loading students up with debt they can't repay.' But some outside experts have suggested that the reforms, including a complicated new system for determining how much students can receive in aid each year, could end up making aspects of the loan program more confusing for families, while also limiting access to federal aid for many lower-income students. Here are the key things to know. The student loan program has become notorious for its baffling array of repayment plans, which have accumulated over time as previous administrations have stacked new, more generous options atop one another. Those choices have been made messier by federal court rulings that blocked all or parts of some plans over the past year. President Biden's SAVE plan, for instance, is entirely on hold, as are the loan forgiveness features of Pay As You Earn and its successor, REPAYE. The GOP bill would prune the system to just a pair of options — one standard plan, and one linked to income — both designed to make monthly payments manageable for borrowers. The new standard plan would still require fixed monthly payments. But instead of automatically being placed on a 10-year repayment schedule, like in today's program, former students would have between 10 and 25 years to pay down their debts depending on how much they borrowed — similar to how federal consolidation loans work today. Read more: Can you change your student loan repayment plan? Meanwhile, the alphabet soup of plans that currently set payments based on a borrower's income — ICR, IBR, PAYE, REPAYE, and SAVE — would be slimmed down to a single option. The new Repayment Assistance Plan will require participants to pay between 1% and 10% of their income toward their loans, with higher earners owing more. Notably, the bill would ban the Secretary of Education from modifying the two new plans, so a future president couldn't make their terms more lenient. 'I'd say this step toward simplification is a massive improvement when it comes to making these programs understandable to the general public,' said Beth Akers, an education expert at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute. The new Repayment Assistance plan is in some ways less generous than some of the options that have been available until recently. For instance, current income-driven plans drop monthly payments to $0 per month for the lowest earners. The new proposal would require a minimum $10 monthly payment. Instead of forgiveness after 20 or 25 years, the new plan would require 360 on-time payments, or essentially 30 years. Read more: How to apply for IDR forgiveness The reforms also eliminate subsidized loans, which don't begin charging interest until repayment begins, as well as forbearance and deferments for unemployment and economic hardship. Still, the new income-linked plan would have some borrower-friendly features. For instance, the government would waive unpaid interest each month instead of adding it back to a borrower's balance, as long as enrollees make their minimum payment. It would also offer matching principal payments of up to $50 a month and make payments lower for parents. The bill would not change the way interest rates are calculated. There's at least one quirk of the Repayment Assistance Plan that could frustrate a few participants. Because of the way payments increase with income, there's a chance some borrowers may end up losing money if they get a small raise, because their payment could theoretically go up more than their earnings — the sort of phenomenon income tax brackets, for instance, are designed to avoid. A spokeswoman for the Education and Workforce Committee suggested that borrowers in that situation wouldn't necessarily be losing money, since they'd save on interest by paying their loans faster. What about borrowers who already have loans? Some could end up with higher monthly payments. The proposal would terminate SAVE, PAYE, and REPAYE and transfer them into the existing Income-Based Repayment plan, with monthly payments set at 15% of discretionary income, and offer forgiveness after 20 years for undergraduate debt and 25 years for graduate student loans. PAYE and REPAYE had offered monthly payments at 10% of discretionary income. Under the new program, many Americans would be able to borrow significantly less for school. For undergraduates, the lifetime Stafford Loan limit would be set at $50,000, higher than the current $31,000 cap for dependent students, but lower than the $57,000 cap for those who are independent. At the same time, Parent PLUS loans, which today are uncapped, would max out at $50,000 per parent across all of their children. Grad PLUS loans, which allowed unlimited borrowing for advanced degree programs, are getting the ax entirely. Instead, borrowers will be limited to $100,000 in loans for graduate programs and $150,000 for professional programs. The caps are meant to tamp down on rampant tuition inflation and prevent overborrowing, but some experts are concerned they will simply push some students toward private lenders, especially in fields like law and medicine, who charge higher interest rates and offer fewer protections. 'It sounds like a massive play to increase the private student loan market,' said Julie Margetta Morgan, president of The Century Foundation and a former Department of Education official under the Biden administration. There are major changes in store for how financial aid eligibility is calculated. Today, that math is based on the cost of attending the school where the student intends to enroll. Under the rule Republicans have proposed, each student's aid would be based on the median cost of attending a similar program of study nationally. So the aid for an engineering major at MIT would be based on the cost of engineering programs across the country, for instance. The measure is being pitched as a way to help students pick lower-cost programs. "The opaque tuition pricing model used today by colleges and universities is extremely confusing to borrowers and plays a large part in high costs,' said an Education and Workforce Committee spokeswoman. They added that the new aid formula is designed to help students 'be more informed consumers when comparing programs at different institutions.' But some experts told Yahoo Finance that they were baffled by how the system would function in practice, or what it would mean for the typical student's aid package. It's also unclear if the Department of Education has the data collection capability to manage such a new system, since its statistics team has been cut down to three employees as part of recent layoffs. 'I have no idea what it's going to do,' said Rachel Fishman, director of higher education at the think tank New America. 'I don't think anybody understands what it is going to do.' The Pell Grant program, which provides aid to low- and moderate-income households, would also see an overhaul. Some of the changes would limit access for part-time students. For instance, undergrads would need to be enrolled at least half-time to qualify for any aid and would have to take a full course load of at least 15 credits per semester to receive a maximum grant, instead of the current 12 credits. At the same time, the GOP would make more short-term certificate courses that offer vocational training for workers like truck drivers and nursing assistants Pell-eligible, by lowering the minimum length of a program to 8 weeks from the current 15. Fishman said she was worried that the combined changes would lead to more 'stratification' in higher education. 'We're taking away your ability to get a bachelor's if you're working on the side, but if you want to get a short-term credential to get a really low-paying job, go ahead,' she said. One thing that won't be getting a huge overhaul: The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which cancels the remaining debt for nonprofit and government employees after they make 10 years of payments. The program has long been a target for conservatives — the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 advocated for eliminating it. But the GOP's bill only makes one change: Payments by medical and dental residents wouldn't qualify for forgiveness. Read more: How to apply for Public Service Loan Forgiveness One of the biggest changes to the lending program would be aimed at colleges themselves. The bill includes a 'skin-in-the-game' provision that would essentially put schools on the hook for paying back a portion of their students' loans if they miss payments and potentially cut them off from federal aid programs entirely. The idea, which has been discussed in Washington policy circles for some time, is intended to create more accountability in higher education without singling out for-profit colleges. But some critics worry that it could disincentivize colleges from enrolling lower-income students, who are at higher risk of failing to pay back their loans. Partly to prevent that, the bill includes a new grant program for colleges that gives them more funding based on a formula that rewards enrolling and graduating lower-income students. To qualify, the colleges would have to offer students a guaranteed maximum price to complete their degree when they first enroll. Still, lobbying associations that represent universities are unhappy with the potential for new penalties, arguing in a recent letter that they would create 'enormous negative consequences' that 'unduly penalize the very institutions serving the largest numbers of those students who struggle most in the labor market: low income, first generation, and underrepresented student populations.' Jordan Weissmann is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance. Sign up for the Mind Your Money newsletter
