**Issue Paper 1**

**Session 1: February 24 – 26, 2015**

**Issue:**Establishing a New Pay As You Earn (PAYE) Repayment Plan

**Statutory cites:**§§455(d)(1)(D) and 455(e)

**Regulatory cites:**§§685.208(k) and 685.209

**Summary of issue:**

In the William D. Ford Direct Loan (Direct Loan) program, Section 455(d)(1)(D) of the Higher Education Act (HEA) requires the Secretary to offer borrowers (except parent PLUS borrowers) an Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) plan with varying annual repayment amounts based on the income of the borrower, for a period of time prescribed by the Secretary, not to exceed 25 years. Section 455(e) of the HEA requires the Secretary to establish ICR plan repayment schedules through regulations; specifies that the repayment schedule must be based on the borrower’s adjusted gross income (AGI); authorizes use of other documentation of income if the AGI is unavailable or no longer reflects the borrower’s current income; authorizes the Secretary to limit the capitalization of unpaid, accrued interest during repayment; and identifies the periods to be used when determining the borrower’s maximum repayment period. 

There are currently two repayment plans established under the ICR authority -- the ICR plan included in regulations published on December 1, 1995 and modified by regulations published on November 1, 2012, and the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) repayment plan included in final regulations published on November 1, 2012 and made available to eligible borrowers in December 2012.

Under the ICR plan, the annual amount payable by a borrower may not exceed 20% of a borrower’s discretionary income based on the borrower’s AGI, family size, and Direct Loan debt and is subject to annual review and payment adjustment. The maximum ICR repayment period is 25 years. If a loan has not been repaid at the end of 25 years, the unpaid portion of the loan is canceled. 

The PAYE repayment plan is available only to Direct Loan student borrowers who show a Partial Financial Hardship (PFH) and who were new borrowers on October 1, 2007 (borrowers who had no outstanding balance on a Federal Family Education Loan or Direct Loan as of that date) and received a Direct loan disbursement on or after October 1, 2011. 

A borrower demonstrates PFH if the annual amount due on the borrower’s eligible loans based on a 10-year standard repayment period exceeds 10% of the difference between the borrower’s AGI and 150% of the poverty guideline for the borrower’s family size. The monthly payment amount under the PAYE plan may not exceed 10% of the borrower’s discretionary income and is capped at the monthly amount the borrower would pay under the 10-year standard repayment plan. As with the ICR plan, the borrower is subject to annual recertification for possible payment adjustment. The maximum repayment period under the PAYE plan is 20 years. Any loan amount remaining at the end of the 20-year repayment period is canceled. 

Both the ICR and PAYE plans allow a borrower to make scheduled payments that are less than the accruing interest (negative amortization) and limit the amount of unpaid, accrued interest that can be capitalized when the payment does not cover all accruing interest. In both programs, the combined AGI for married borrowers is used if the couple files a joint federal tax return, but if the couple file separately, only the borrower’s AGI is used in the payment calculation.

On June 9, 2014, the President issued a Presidential Memorandum directing the Secretary of Education to propose regulations that would extend the PAYE plan to all eligible borrowers regardless of when they borrowed and include new features to target the plan to struggling borrowers.  

The President’s FY 2016 Budget also proposed making a modified  PAYE plan the only income-driven repayment plan for all new loans, except for loans originated for current borrowers through their current course of study, to ensure that program benefits are targeted to the neediest borrowers and safeguard the program for the future including by protecting against institutional practices that may further increase student indebtedness.

We are proposing to establish a new PAYE plan (PAYE2) for all qualified student Direct Loan borrowers regardless of when they borrowed. PAYE2 would include new features to target the plan to the neediest borrowers. We’re seeking input from the negotiating committee on how to structure PAYE2 

Questions for consideration by the committee include:

· To target PAYE2 to the neediest borrowers, should PAYE2 adopt the current PAYE definition of PFH, or a modified version? 

· To target the plan to the neediest borrowers, should borrower payment amounts increase based on a borrower’s rising income as in the current ICR plan, or continue to be capped at the amount the borrower would pay under the 10-year standard plan as in the current PAYE?

· Does the current treatment of married borrower AGI based on federal tax filing status provide equitable treatment of borrowers? 

· Should a limit on the amount of accrued, unpaid interest that is capitalized be included in PAYE2? 

· Should borrowers with higher loan balances be expected to repay over a longer period to receive forgiveness of the remaining balance of the loan?

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