They Just Turned Student Loans Into a 30-Year Subscription

July 1, 2026 — that’s when new student loan borrowers get shoved off the good lifeboats and handed a 30-year oar with a crack in it.

The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (yes, they named it like a toddler naming a crayon) would kill off major income-driven repayment plans for new loans: SAVE, PAYE, and big chunks of IBR as we know them.

Instead, new borrowers get funneled into a shiny new plan called Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP). Sounds like help. Sounds like a hug. Sounds like a nonprofit with a ukulele.

Loan forgiveness under RAP stretches out to 30 years. Thirty. That’s not “repayment.” That’s a marriage. That’s you making payments long enough to watch your loan servicer’s interns become their VPs of Getting You to Pay Forever.

Meanwhile, “simplification” is the buzzword. That’s politician-speak for “we made fewer options so you can’t pick the one that sucks least.” And when federal plans get stingier, people don’t magically get richer — they get desperate.

Banks and servicers don’t need you to succeed. They need you to stay alive and billable.

If you’re graduating after 2026, congrats: your financial aid package just came with a free 30-year ankle monitor and a brochure called “budget better.”