The Brief

If you're a federal student loan borrower or about to become one, your head may be spinning.

On July 4, when President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law, he also greenlit a history-making overhaul of the federal student loan system — one that will affect the lives of many, if not most, of the United States' nearly 43 million student loan borrowers.

And boy is it a lot to unpack, with new, tighter borrowing limits and dramatically reduced repayment options, to name just a few of the sweeping changes.

In May, we explained this overhaul, as conceived by House Republicans. Now that a Senate compromise has been signed into law, here's an updated guided tour of the final changes.

Let's start with the elephant in the room:

President Biden's SAVE plan is ending

The most generous repayment plan is the Biden-era Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan. But it is so generous, with its low monthly payments and expedited loan forgiveness, that Republicans have so far successfully argued in court that it is too generous. In fact, the nearly 7.7 million borrowers currently enrolled in SAVE have been in legal limbo for months, without interest accruing or required monthly payments.

That's about to change.

"For all practical purposes, I would say SAVE is just kind of dead at this point, even if it's technically on life support," said Preston Cooper at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute (AEI).

This month, the U.S. Education Department announced that on Aug. 1, SAVE borrowers will, once again, see their balances grow — with interest. Because the SAVE plan is still enjoined, though, borrowers won't yet be required to make payments. Still, Cooper said that many borrowers, rather than watch their loans balloon, will likely want to move to a different plan.

Roxanne Garza, director of higher education policy at the liberal-leaning EdTrust, worries that the relatively last-minute announcement about interest accrual will cause problems for the Education Department, which saw roughly half its staff cut by the Trump administration.

"I think what will likely happen now is you will see a rush of people trying to take action that will, again, likely create an even bigger backlog," said Garza.

Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, borrowers in SAVE will have to change plans by July 1, 2028, when SAVE will be officially shut down. If they wait, though they currently can't be required to make payments, they will see their loans explode with interest.

But the two new plans that the law creates won't be ready for a year, and the department's own website, meant to help borrowers navigate their repayment options, does not reflect this confusing new landscape, except for a banner that says: "Loan Simulator will be updated at a later date to reflect recent legislative changes."

Beginning July 1, 2026, new loans will be subject to new borrowing limits

Undergraduates won't see any changes to their loan limits. But it's a very different story for graduate students and parents.

For graduate students, new limits will make it harder for lower- and middle-income borrowers to attend pricier graduate programs. The current grad PLUS loan allows students to borrow up to the cost of their graduate program, but Republicans are shutting it down this time next year.

After that, grad students' borrowing will be capped at $20,500 a year with a lifetime graduate school loan limit of $100,000, a big drop from the previous cap of $138,500.

How big a deal will this be? AEI's Cooper has been crunching the numbers and said, "Just under 20% of master's students borrow above the proposed limits."

Borrowers working toward a professional graduate degree (i.e., medical or law school) will have their borrowing capped at $50,000 a year and their lifetime cap increased from $138,500 to $200,000.

Parents and caregivers who use parent PLUS loans to help students pay for college will also see new loan limits. They will be capped at $20,000 a year and, in aggregate, at $65,000 per child.

Cooper says only one-third of parent PLUS borrowers with dependent children currently take out more than this new annual loan cap.

The law also sets a new lifetime limit, for undergrad and graduate loans combined, at $257,500 per person.

Repayment options for borrowers are changing dramatically

Republicans are reducing repayment options for new borrowers from the current seven plans down to two new plans. The new plans are:

1. The standard plan

New borrowers will be assigned a repayment window of between 10 and 25 years, depending on the size of their debt, with equal monthly payments like a home mortgage.

Under this plan, borrowers with larger debts would qualify for a longer repayment period:

• Owe less than $25,000, and repay over 10 years.
• Owe $25,000 or more but less than $50,000? Repayment expands to 15 years.
• Owe $50,000 or more but less than $100,000: Repay over 20 years.
• Anyone owing $100,000 or more would repay over a 25-year period. 

2. The Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) 

For borrowers worried they don't earn enough to cover the inflexible monthly payments of the new standard plan, Republicans have also created the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP).

On RAP, payments would largely be based on borrowers' total adjusted gross income (AGI).

• Borrowers earning no more than $10,000 would be asked to pay $10 a month. 
• Earn more than $10,000 but not more than $20,000, and your payment will be based on 1% of AGI. 
• More than $20,000 but not more than $30,000, it would be 2% of AGI and so on up the income scale.
• Repayment tops out at 10% of AGI for borrowers earning $100,000 a year or more.

Current borrowers will also have access to this new RAP plan, as well as to some older plans.

RAP is the latest in a long line of income-based repayment plans. How does it compare with previous plans?

Monthly payments for many middle-income borrowers on RAP will be lower compared with earlier plans, according to multiple experts. But RAP is not as generous as the Biden-era SAVE plan, which, again, is being phased out.

RAP will require even the lowest-income borrowers to make a minimum monthly payment of $10, ending the $0 option of previous plans and making it more expensive for these borrowers.

This new $10 minimum payment wouldn't make a big difference to the government's coffers, said Jason Delisle, who spoke to NPR in May, when he was studying student loan policy at the Urban Institute. Delisle has since been appointed to a position in the Trump administration.

Delisle said the purpose of RAP's new $10 minimum payment likely stems from "emerging research that requiring people to make some payment each month is good because it keeps them connected to the loan and makes it less likely that they'll default."

But some borrower advocates worry that this new minimum payment could have the opposite effect.

For the lowest-income borrowers, asking for $120 a year is "significant," EdTrust's Garza told NPR in May. "I think having that be a required minimum payment will likely push more borrowers into default."

But RAP also comes with a few new perks that borrowers will likely appreciate.

RAP will waive any interest that is left after a borrower makes their monthly payment. 

If their monthly payment is $50 but they owe $75 a month in interest, the government will waive the remaining $25.

The result: Borrowers will no longer see their loans grow, which was a common downside to previous income-driven repayment plans.

Borrowers on RAP will also see their balances go down every month.

The government will pitch in up to $50 to make sure lower-income borrowers see their principal balances shrink.

For example, a borrower whose monthly payment makes only a $30 dent in their principal would see the government knocking off an extra $20 a month.

Borrowers whose monthly payments already reduce their principal balance by at least $50 would get no extra help from the government.

"It's a form of monthly loan forgiveness," Delisle said. "It's a drip, drip, drip of loan forgiveness, rather than waiting for the big payout at the end of 20 years."

The loan forgiveness math will change.

While previous plans offered forgiveness after 20 or 25 years, the RAP would extend that to 360 qualifying payments, or 30 years. That's a big difference, said AEI's Cooper.

Borrowers with typical levels of debt "and typical incomes for their degree level are almost always gonna pay off well before they hit that 30-year mark," Cooper said. "So if you're going into RAP, I wouldn't be thinking about forgiveness because you're probably gonna pay it off before you hit 30 years."

In short, the days of what Delisle called "the big payout" are over.

But wait! Current borrowers have another loan forgiveness option (sort of).

In addition to RAP, an older plan known as Income-Based Repayment (IBR) will still be available to borrowers who take out their loans before July 1, 2026.

Part of the reason IBR remains is that, unlike other income-driven repayment plans, IBR wasn't created by the Education Department. It was created by Congress and is codified in statute.

How does IBR work? For borrowers with loans older than July 2014, their payments are capped at 15% of discretionary income. Payments on younger loans are capped at 10%.

With the Biden-era SAVE plan being wound down, Delisle said, most lower- and middle-income borrowers would likely have lower monthly payments on the new RAP compared with IBR.

But, Delisle said, borrowers with older loans might still want to enroll in IBR if they've been in repayment for close to 20 or 25 years, so they can qualify for loan forgiveness.

That's because, on IBR, pre-2014 loans qualify for forgiveness after 25 years. For newer loans, it's just 20 years — both considerably shorter than RAP's 30-year schedule.

One big caveat to all this: The Education Department has temporarily stopped processing all loan forgiveness for borrowers on IBR because of the legal actions surrounding the SAVE plan, according to a statement from Education Department Deputy Press Secretary Ellen Keast.

Keast said the Biden-era rule explaining SAVE "provided the authority to count forbearances in IBR toward loan forgiveness" and, because that rule has been frozen by the courts, the department can't accurately determine loan forgiveness under IBR. "Discharges will resume as soon as the Department is able to establish the correct payment count," Keast said.

The department told NPR that any borrowers who make payments after they're eligible for forgiveness will eventually get a refund.

Edited by Nicole Cohen
Copyright 2025 NPR

File this under things that could only happen in L.A.

Paradise Dynasty, the Singapore-based chain known for its signature eight-flavor xiao long bao, has teamed up with Burritos La Palma — the SoCal burrito institution whose birria de res recipe traces back over 45 years — to create a limited-edition birria soup dumpling. The Birria XLB will be available starting Monday (May 11) for a limited time at Paradise Dynasty locations.

I've eaten my weight in both soup dumplings and burritos, so naturally, I'm a fan of both.

Paradise Dynasty has been on a steady ascent as a major player in L.A.'s dumpling scene, with locations at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa and The Americana at Brand in Glendale.

Meanwhile, Burritos La Palma — known for its simple, savory burritos and finely crafted flour tortillas — has been capturing hearts and stomachs since Alberto Bañuelos opened the first eatery in L.A. in 2012. It’s since grown to several spots across L.A. and Orange County, earning a Michelin Bib Gourmand award in 2024 for its high-quality, Zacatecan-style handmade flour tortilla burritos at an affordable price.

How the collab came together

So what exactly is a birria soup dumpling? A delicate wrapper, lightly packed with tender birria de res — slow-braised beef stewed in chilies and spices — juicy, savory and gone in one bite.

It all began with a call from Paradise Dynasty, when Jason Kuo, district manager for Paradise Dynasty USA, reached out to Bañuelos, calling it, simply, a perfect match between the two dishes.

Kuo said the idea came straight from the community.

"When we started asking guests and people around us what flavor they would want to see in a soup dumpling, birria kept coming up again and again — it was very clear. If we're going to do birria, it has to be done right. Burritos La Palma was the first name that came to mind."

Bañuelos was "beyond thrilled" to have been approached.

"We come from a small town in Mexico, and to be able to elevate to the level of Paradise Dynasty and that culinary perfection, I can't even really put it into words," he said.

It took months of R&D to get the right consistency. Bañuelos said the process required dialing down the moisture and upping the spice potency and landed on serving a fresh red salsa with thin slivers of serrano peppers alongside — a riff on the black vinegar and pickled ginger traditionally served with soup dumplings.

The Birria XLB's juicy interior is part of what makes it work — the dish is served with a fresh, tomato-based salsa and slivers of serrano pepper in place of the traditional black vinegar and pickled ginger.

(

Katrina Frederick

/

Courtesy Paradise Dynasty

)

How it tastes

I got a chance to try the dumplings ahead of the public launch and was struck by how well the combination worked. The juicy nature of birria is almost turbocharged in dumpling form, its savory, herbaceous flavors fully encapsulated in the thin skin, creating an exceptional texture in every bite. The dish hits even harder when dipped in the light tomato-based salsa — a rush of freshness that cuts through the richness, with a spike of heat from fresh serrano. (Feel free to skip the peppers if spice isn't your thing.)

But what's most impressive is how organic it all feels. This isn't fusion for fusion's sake — it's a natural meeting of two dishes that are deeply embedded in the Southern California diet, each playing to the other's strengths.

It feels like a logical meeting of the minds — birria and soup dumplings have both been part of L.A.'s culinary zeitgeist for the better part of a decade, and it makes sense that these worlds should collide.

When asked whether a collaboration like this could happen anywhere else, Bañuelos was quick: "It has to start in L.A. You just can't compete."

Where to try it

Nine Democratic House members from California are demanding information about how the Trump administration is treating unaccompanied migrant children who are pregnant and in federal custody. They’ve signed a letter, along with 39 other House Democrats, to Trump officials expressing their concern that the girls are not receiving adequate medical care or access to abortion.

The letter comes in the wake of an investigation by the California and Texas Newsrooms, public media collaboratives in those states. LAist is part of The California Newsroom.

The joint investigation found that the federal government is detaining pregnant migrant girls in a single group home in South Texas. Doctors and reproductive-health experts interviewed for the investigation said prenatal care is severely limited in that region.

The letter says the detention violates federal regulations because the children are “entitled to the full range of medical care, including reproductive health care.”

Rep. Gil Cisneros, who represents the central San Gabriel Valley, says he worries that pregnant migrants who are apprehended in California will be put at risk if they’re sent to a part of Texas that is short on obstetric care. Of particularly concern: High-risk pregnancies are common among minors.

“If they were in California," he said, "they would be able to have more choices of the type of health care that they would get when it comes to reproductive health care.”

Rep. Judy Chu, who represents the West San Gabriel Valley, wrote in a statement that “this administration is so intent on restricting abortion that it is using immigration detention as a tool to control these girls’ bodies.”

Mark Betancourt is a regular contributor to The California Newsroom. 

The U.S. Department of Education is investigating how the Los Angeles Unified School District responds to educators accused of sexual misconduct with students.

The department accuses the district of maintaining a policy that “automatically” reassigns teachers to other schools when they are accused of sexual misconduct with students and cites a 2024 agreement with the teachers union.

A Los Angeles Unified spokesperson wrote in a statement that it’s “not true” that staff being investigated for sexual misconduct are reassigned to other school sites.

“‘Reassignment’ typically means an employee is directed to remain at home and away from students and schools during an investigation,” the spokesperson wrote.

United Teachers Los Angeles called the DOE's accusations a “fundamental misunderstanding” of the district’s reassignment policy.

“[Employees] are not reassigned to another classroom or to any other setting where they would interact with students,” read a statement provided by the union. “This policy protects both students and staff and creates conditions for a thorough and appropriate investigation of allegations.”

What to expect from the federal investigation

The federal investigation, overseen by the department’s Office for Civil Rights, will assess whether the district’s policy violates Title IX, a law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally funded education programs.

Kimberly Richey, the assistant secretary for civil rights, wrote in a statement that Title IX requires schools to address claims of sexual misconduct in a “timely manner.”

“It is unconscionable that the district would simply ignore Title IX’s procedural requirements to protect teachers who cause life-changing harm to their kids,” Richey wrote. “The Trump administration will always fight to uphold the law, protect the safety of all students and restore common sense to our schools.”

The Trump administration also has recently targeted LAUSD's desegregation policy and transgender student protections.

Last year, the office failed to resolve any cases related to sexual harassment, sexual violence or racial harassment, according to a report released by Sen. Bernie Sanders in late April. Sanders is the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Education Committee.

In March 2025, the Trump administration pushed to cut over half of OCR’s nearly 600 staff members, which contributed to a growing backlog of cases. Those employees were placed on administrative leave pending the result of legal challenges, and many were later brought back.

The Education Department has also withheld records related to civil rights investigations, prompting a lawsuit from investigative nonprofit newsroom ProPublica.

What does LAUSD’s policy say? 

LAUSD protocol related to employee misconduct says administrators must remove accused employees from their classroom or worksite whenever there is a risk to the safety of students or staff.

The 110-page protocol document also lists several other requirements for allegations related to sexual misconduct, including contacting law enforcement and the agencies that license teachers.

“Los Angeles Unified takes all allegations of sexual misconduct and harassment with the utmost seriousness,” a spokesperson wrote in a statement. “Our primary responsibility is to ensure the safety, dignity and well-being of every student and staff member in our care.” The statement also said the district follows Title IX procedures and continuously reviews its policies, training and reporting systems.

The UTLA settlement outlines several circumstances where an employee can be reassigned, including a law enforcement investigation of misconduct, sexual harassment of a student, behavior toward a student perceived to be motivated by a sexual interest and communicating with a student for non-school-related purposes.

School employees are “mandated reporters” who must, by law, notify local law enforcement or child welfare agencies of suspected child abuse or neglect. California Attorney General Rob Bonta reminded K-12 school district leaders in late April of their legal obligation to prevent sexual misconduct and protect students.

How prevalent is sexual misconduct in California schools?

There have been few comprehensive studies of sexual misconduct in schools. A 2004 report to the Department of Education estimated 1-in-10 students experiences sexual misconduct, ranging from inappropriate comments to physical abuse.

A new California law requires schools to train students and staff to recognize and report misconduct and write new policies on “appropriate behavior.” It also will create a new database of educators credibly accused of abuse.

More than 1,000 lawsuits related to sexual abuse that date to the 1940s have been filed against California school districts since the enactment of a 2019 law that gave victims a three-year window to sue.

LAUSD has authorized $750 million in bonds to pay for sexual misconduct settlements related to suits stemming from the law.

The LA County Library has begun its Summer of Soccer program to bring the excitement of the North American tournament to all Angelenos.

“Soccer has a unique way of bringing people together across cultures and communities,” Skye Patrick, director of the LA County Library, said on the library website.

The program kicked off May 1 with the library system offering limited-edition Summer of Soccer library cards, emblazoned with the library logo, the outline of a soccer pitch and a ball hitting the back of a net.

The new limited-edition Summer of Soccer library cards

(

Courtesy LA County Public Library

)

The cards are available for free for anyone signing up for the first time and for $1 for people who already have an LA County Library card.

From soccer story time to making circuit boards

There’s a whole range of Summer of Soccer events at branch libraries, from May 20 to July 9.

Highlights include a soccer-themed story time for 2- to 5-year-olds at Graham Library, north of Watts at 3:30 p.m. June 4, while at 3 p.m. the same day, the A C Bilbrew Library west of Compton hosts “Makey Makey for Teens,” which will lead youth through the steps to make their own game controllers and test them on a virtual soccer field. This and other programs repeat at other branches.

All Summer of Soccer events are free and are designed to support youth and families during the summer months when school is not in session.

The LA County Library serves more than three million residents through its 86 libraries and four Cultural Resource Centers, as well as Bookmobiles and other outreach vehicles.