Rising student-loan bills are forcing borrowers to trim spending and postpone major life plans

Cristian Barcenas is preparing to eliminate date nights, food delivery, and Starbucks from his budget.

He finished the University of California, Fresno, in 2013 with about $65,000 in student debt. Barcenas later borrowed more to pursue a master's degree, but he left before finishing to care for his father, who had cancer. His balance has since grown to $127,000.

Working full time in sales in California, Barcenas had been paying $105 a month under the Biden-era SAVE repayment plan. After President Donald Trump ended SAVE, his monthly bill is expected to jump to $815 in November.

“When I saw how much the payment is expected to be, I freaked out for a whole week,” said the 40-year-old. “I, under no circumstances, want to default.”

Over the past three months, Barcenas and his wife reviewed every part of their spending. He said it was “jaw-dropping” to discover they had spent more than $300 on Starbucks and $600 on grocery deliveries during that period.

They have since started shopping for groceries more carefully and in person, and Barcenas has stopped taking Uber rides. The couple has also reduced date nights to once a month to make room for student-loan payments.

Since July, more than 7 million borrowers have received notices to move off the SAVE plan, and many are bracing for much larger payments. Over the past year, more than 1,000 borrowers have told Business Insider they are worried about fitting a higher bill into their budgets and are considering second jobs or tapping retirement savings to manage it.

The Trump administration says its student-loan changes are meant to simplify a complicated repayment system, limit excessive borrowing, and pressure colleges to lower tuition. Barcenas said he believes the changes will make borrowers even more reluctant to spend.

“There's going to be a lot of fear around spending because they know that they have this obligation that they can't really get out of, and that's going to be prioritized over everything else,” he said.

Putting major life plans on hold

Rey Sosa expects his student-loan payment to rise from $50 a month to more than $700. The 32-year-old urban planner is repaying a $101,000 balance, much of it from his master's degree in urban planning, and while he is still in forbearance, he is adjusting his budget to prepare.

“I based my entire life around that payment coming back at some point,” Sosa said. “The amount shocked me at first, and while I have a budget for it, it does take away from saving for home, saving for kids, family, because that is what we have to scale back right now.”

The Department of Education has recommended that borrowers enroll in its new Repayment Assistance Plan, which is intended to be the most affordable income-driven repayment option. A recent report from the Center for American Progress said borrowers moving from SAVE to RAP could see their student-loan bills rise by an average of $2,163 a year.

Sara Partridge, associate director of higher education at CAP and a coauthor of the report, said the increases come “at a time when there is high inflation, stagnating wages, and people are generally feeling financially strained,” making budgeting even harder.

Amy Webb, a 60-year-old borrower, said she is feeling that pressure too. She took out $178,000 for her son's education as a single parent and is worried about higher monthly payments. She said she cannot afford a new car, has refinanced her home, and is considering selling it and moving out of Virginia to a state with a lower cost of living.

“I don't know how long I can do this,” Webb said. “I wish the government would help.”

Sosa hopes to qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, which cancels student debt for government and nonprofit workers after 10 years. But with about six years of payments left, he expects to delay big purchases such as buying his first home.

“I understand that we have to repay our loans,” Sosa said. “That's not what I'm upset about. What I wish is that there was more consideration into the cost of living. The world just got more expensive after school.”