One of the biggest trade unions in America is to target President Donald Trump’s administration to turn off access to an affordable student loan payment plan – saying the decision “effectively violates” the system.
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT), representing 1.8 million educators throughout the country, filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Education in Washington, DC, hoping to restore the program which has now been closed for three weeks.
Submission accusing administration to stop the application process for all income payment plans (IDR) and order student loan providers to stop all processing violating federal law.
“AFT is suing the United States Department of Education (ED) because it effectively violates the student loan system, denies access to borrowers to affordable loan payments and blocks progress towards the public service for public service loans (PSLF), which violates federal law,” the trade union said in a Wednesday statement.
The protesters gathered during the demonstration at the headquarters of the Ministry of Education, March 14, 2025, in Washington, DC
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
The payment plan driven by the Federal Revenue was first made by the Congress in the 1990s to make student borrowing loan bills more affordable and limit the length of time students will be related to paying back debt.
This year, there are four IDR plans offered by the Ministry of Education: Savings on valuable education plans (save), payment plans to pay as you earn (pay), income base payment plans (IBR) and income payment packages (ICR).
All plans are based on borrower income, with the forgiveness of student loans from the remaining debt after the payment period remains 20 or 25 years.
There are more than 12 million student loan borrowers registered in the IDR plan and more than 1 million borrowers are waiting for their applications to be processed when the Ministry of Education closed the system three weeks ago, according to trade unions.
On its website, the Department of Education quoted a court order issued by a Federal Court on Savings for valuable Save (Save), which was introduced under the government of former President Joe Biden, as a reason for pauses on all IDR plans. The agency also says students can apply for paper applications to the program.
Union of teachers, however, said the decision of the Ministry of Education to interpret the 8th circuit decision on February 18 “in such a maximum way” has “vent the chaos” on the system. Union claims in the submission that the current paper application is not being processed either.
“Student loan borrowers really need assistance, struggling to follow monthly payments in a sinking economy, all while President Trump plays politics with a student loan system,” Mike Pierce, Executive Director of the Student Borrower Protection Center, said in a Wednesday statement.
A law enforcement officer oversees as a supporter of student loan debt assistance in front of the Supreme Court because the judge is scheduled to hear oral arguments in two cases involving President Joe Biden’s offer to return his plan to cancel billions of dollars in student debt, February 28, 2023.
Nathan Howard/Reuters, File
“Borrowers have legal rights for the payment they are capable and today we demand that these rights be imposed by federal judges,” Pierce added.
The trade union said that in the submission that the department had not provided guidance to the borrower about when their application would be restored and when they could hope to see their payments were lowered.
In a statement to ABC News on Wednesday, the Department of Education spokesman said the Federal Agency “worked to ensure these programs were in accordance with the 8th circuit decision, and anticipated the revised form that enabled the borrower to change the payment plan to be available as fast as next week.”
In a letter earlier this month to the agency, 25 US senators also called for clarity, noting that the decision of the Federal Court focused on one plan of IDR, not the remaining three.
“While the department is assigned to implement the judicial decision to suspend a IDR plan … The department cannot be explained and confusing chooses to also suspend access to every other IDR plan,” wrote the senators in the letter.
“The borrower has relying on many of this plan for decades and this sudden and reckless action means that millions of borrowers have fewer available payment options and are not sure what to do to manage their debt,” the senators wrote.
Student loan debts remain large in the United States and depending on federal support for payment is a reality for millions of borrowers.
According to AFT archiving, there are almost 43 million borrowers of federal student loans in the US, with around $ 1.62 trillion in debt debt.