More Work to Be Done on Income-Based Repayment Plan Enrollment and Awareness

“Young Invincibles endorses the GAO’s recommendations to the Department of Education to increase awareness of and enrollment in income-based repayment plans. Young adults, who often have the lowest earning power and need flexibility in repayment, stand to gain from greater awareness and usability of income-driven plans. The report confirms that borrowers in income-driven plans are mostly low-income. It also confirms that borrowers in income-driven plans have lower default rates. This shows that income-based repayment is a vital consumer protection that provides student loan borrowers with the flexibility they need when paying back their loans. The report also shows a very clear need for more outreach to borrowers and better student loan servicing. Young Invincibles agrees, and believes that income-based repayment plans are essential to preventing unnecessary delinquency and loan defaults that can haunt borrowers over the course of their lifetimes.”