Here's who qualifies for the Trump adminstration's student loan rate cut

The Education Department on Thursday said it is temporarily cutting interest rates for some federal student loan borrowers, a move aimed at easing repayment costs as delinquencies climb to their highest level in six years. The reduction – a temporary shave of 1 percentage point from borrowing costs — comes as 10.3% of student loans were delinquent during the first quarter, representing the highest share in six years and a twenty-fold spike since mid-2024, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Education Undersecretary Nicholas Kent said the change is a way of "making student loan repayment easier than ever" and of improving "the overall health of the federal student loan portfolio." The federal student loan portfolio has ballooned to almost $1.7 trillion, with millions of borrowers struggling to keep up. But the change does not apply to all borrowers, and those pursuing the reduction will need to meet eligibility criteria. At the same time, the Trump administration is overhauling student loans beginning July 1 with new limits on how much Americans can borrow and their repayment options. Here are details of the plan and some context behind them: Who is eligible for the interest rate reduction? The change will only affect a subset of borrowers — those with federal Direct Loans issued after July 1, 2012, who are already enrolled in automatic payments or sign up for them. Many borrowers won't see any immediate benefit. …