The Trump administration and Congress are putting various mechanisms in place to end student loan debt relief established by the Biden administration, to reduce the availability of loans for college and graduate students, and to make federal student loans more expensive and less likely to be forgiven.
A new report from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, in collaboration with the Point Foundation, provides an analysis of student loan policies under both the Biden and Trump administrations. It also examines how changes in the availability and forgiveness of student loans could impact LGBTQ college students.
At the beginning of the Biden administration, more than one-third (35%) of LGBTQ adults aged 18 to 40—an estimated 2.9 million LGBTQ people—held more than $93.2 billion in federal student loans. About half (51%) of transgender adults, 36% of cisgender LBQ women, and 28% of cisgender GBQ men had federal student loans.
The Biden administration approved over $183 billion in student debt relief for more than five million borrowers through various methods, including forgiveness for borrowers defrauded by their schools, adjustments and creation of new repayment plans, the expansion of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF), and relief for students with disabilities.
If LGBTQ adults were as likely as non-LGBTQ adults to receive student loan relief, then approximately 336,000 LGBTQ adults—or 11.6% of LGBTQ adults with student loans—benefited from the Biden administration’s loan forgiveness programs.
“Student loans have been an important bridge out of poverty and towards independence for many people,” said Jorge Valenica, Executive Director and CEO of the Point Foundation. “LGBTQ+ individuals have been less likely to rely on family support for meeting the costs of higher education, making federal student loans all the more critical.”
Furthermore, the Trump administration and Congress have signaled several changes to current student loan policies that could significantly affect LGBTQ borrowers.
- Ending income-driven repayment plans. Project 2025 suggests replacing current income-driven repayment plans with one that takes less account of borrowers’ finances and imposes no cap on interest for student loans. The Project 2025 plan would increase borrowers’ payments by 1.3 to 2 times more per month, with increased payments totaling $1,822 each year.
- Ending the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. On March 7, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order that directed the Secretary of Education to revise the definition of “public service” to exclude nonprofits engaged in work the Trump administration considers to be for a “substantial illegal purpose,” including supporting immigration and gender-affirming care for minors.
- Eliminating the Department of Education entirely. While eliminating the Department of Education would require an act of Congress, in November 2024, the Returning Education to Our States Act was introduced to do just that. While not directly changing any federal student loan programs, the move could cause confusion, disruption, and a realignment of focus for student loans.
- Limiting access to federal student loans and grants. The U.S. House Budget Committee proposed changing calculations for federal student aid and capping Pell Grant totals. Other possible proposals include eliminating parent and graduate PLUS loans, as well as establishing new limits for unsubsidized undergraduate and graduate loans, which will primarily affect low-income students attending institutions with high attendance costs.
“The proposed restrictions on student loans will particularly affect the nearly one-quarter of LGBTQ adults employed in the public or nonprofit sectors, which qualify for the Public Student Loan Forgiveness program,” said lead author Brad Sears, Distinguished Senior Scholar of Law and Policy at the Williams Institute. “A recent executive order could potentially disqualify anyone working for an organization involved in gender-affirming care, or possibly those serving transgender individuals more broadly, from the PSLF program.”