Helping Individuals Get a Higher Education while Reducing Education Debt Act or the HIGHER ED Act

This bill makes various changes to student loan forgiveness and loan repayment programs.

First, the bill authorizes graduate and professional students to receive subsidized Stafford Loans. These students have been ineligible to receive subsidized Stafford Loans since July 1, 2012.

Next, the bill allows student loans to be discharged in bankruptcy proceedings.

The bill also establishes refinancing programs for student loans. It allows certain borrowers to refinance their federal student loans down to lower interest rates, and it creates the Federal Direct Refinanced Private Loan to allow certain borrowers to refinance their private student loans.

Additionally, the bill revises the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, such as by (1) allowing certain part-time faculty to participate in the PSLF program; (2) allowing borrowers to receive, and retroactively applying, loan forgiveness on half of their total loans after satisfying 60 qualifying monthly payments; (3) revising the process for certification of employment; and (4) requiring the Department of Education (ED) to establish a dispute resolution process.

Further, the bill revises federal student loan repayment programs, including by (1) replacing existing student loan repayment plans with one income-based repayment plan and one standard 10-year repayment plan, and (2) allowing existing borrowers to lower their payments by switching to these new plans. It also establishes a process for ED to enroll a delinquent borrower in a new repayment plan.

The bill also requires ED to provide certain notifications to borrowers.