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Boston's Morning Newsletter
Biden's new SAVE plan is forgiving student loans for 2,500 people in Mass. Are you eligible, too?
Editor's Note: This is an excerpt from WBUR's daily morning newsletter, WBUR Today. If you like what you read and want it in your inbox, sign up here.
In case you haven’t heard, we have a presidential election sneaking up on us. Tomorrow is the last day to register to vote before the Massachusetts primary. It’s also the first day of early voting, in case you want to avoid the crowds on March 5. (Shout out to Bill Galvin’s office for this easy-to-use way to look up your community’s early voting locations and hours; Boston has a nice early voting map, too.)
But first, let’s get to today’s news:
Cancel culture: Student loan companies are beginning to cancel debt today for over 150,000 borrowers eligible for President Joe Biden’s new “SAVE” plan. That includes 2,490 in Massachusetts with smaller loans, according to a new analysis released this morning. That’s a small fraction of the roughly 800,000 Bay Staters who were originally eligible under the more sweeping and immediate student loan relief plan that was struck down by the Supreme Court last June. Still, the Biden administration estimates this first round of forgiveness will save borrowers across the state a total of $19.5 million. Officials say those people will see their balances wiped in the coming weeks — and it’s possible you could be eligible for some (or a lot) of early forgiveness, too.
- Wait, what is this plan again? SAVE emerged after last year’s Supreme Court ruling. As this Planet Money episode explains, the Biden administration basically turned an existing federal income-based student loan repayment program into “slow-motion loan forgiveness” through a few small but important tweaks.
- Who’s getting their loans canceled right now? People who already enrolled in the SAVE plan, originally took out $12,000 or less in college loans and have made 10 years of minimum monthly payments.
- Have you been paying off your loans, but aren’t enrolled in SAVE? You can still sign up. Officials say unenrolled borrowers that are eligible for this early forgiveness could get their remaining loans canceled in as soon as two or three months after registering.
- What if I have bigger loans? You might still benefit. Every $1,000 over $12,000 in loans adds an extra year of required payments — so someone who took out $14,000 in loans could get the rest of their loans wiped clean after 12 years. And all SAVE plan enrollees get the rest of their college loans forgiven after 20 years of payments (or 25 years for graduate loans).
- Will this actually save me money? It depends. People with lower incomes or big student loan balances are likely to get the most forgiveness. That’s because SAVE doesn’t require any monthly payments for those making less than $32,800. For everyone else, the required minimum payment is 5% of your earnings above $32,800. Here’s a calculator to figure out what your minimum payment would be (and then you can do the math to see how long it would take to pay off your loans and if you’d still have a balance left to be forgiven).
Deadline day: Today is the deadline for Steward Health Care to disclose its financial records to state officials. As WBUR’s Priyanka Dayal McCluskey reports, Gov. Maura Healey’s administration says the audited financial statements will clarify what’s happening at the financially troubled, for-profit company’s chain of hospitals.
- What happens if Steward doesn’t do it? Unclear. The company is already in a years-long legal fight over its refusal to comply with state financial disclosure requirements.
Heads up: Navigating the MBTA will be a little tricky this weekend. In addition to the ongoing partial Green Line closure, a major swath of the Red Line will be suspended both Saturday and Sunday. Shuttles will replace all service between Harvard and Broadway to allow for tunnel inspections, so plan ahead if you’re going downtown. (The commuter rail will also be free between Porter and North Station.)
- Power problem postmortem: The T concluded the power outage that made a mess of people’s morning commutes on the Blue, Green and Orange lines last Thursday was caused by their own equipment (specifically an underground feeder cable).
In the Fens: After a three-year closure, Boston’s Agassiz Road is reopening for cars at 9 a.m. today. The Back Bay Fens cut-through had been closed for The Muddy River Restoration Project. State officials say they will now begin a yearlong study on the road’s future use.
P.S.— At its peak, New England had an estimated 240,000 miles of this type of infrastructure. Do you know what it is? Then take our Boston News Quiz and test your knowledge of this week’s stories.
