The Repayment Assistance Plan written into the 2025 law sets a borrower's bill with a formula that never reaches zero for someone with earnings, even far under the poverty line, so people whose SAVE payments were small or nothing now pay more; for Missouri, CAP's state table shows the average increase at $1,758 a year. Ann Wagner, the 2nd District's Republican member, was one of 215 who created the plan in the House on May 22, 2025, by a single-vote margin, and on July 3 she voted to make it law.
That law also shuts off Graduate PLUS for new students and puts a ceiling on what parents may borrow, after Wagner's February and April 2025 budget votes, each one the margin, handed the education committee a $330 billion savings order. By CAP's count, students lose about $300 billion in federal help paying for college.
Ann Wagner's Votes on Student Loans
- Wagner Voted to End Grad PLUS, Limit Parent PLUS to $65,000 and Bill Borrowers Living Below the Poverty Line. On the July 3, 2025 vote that sent the final law to the president, 218 to 214, Ann Wagner was a yes. It closes Grad PLUS to new graduate borrowers and holds parents to $20,000 a year and $65,000 in all for each student. For loans issued starting July 2026, the old income-driven options are replaced by the Repayment Assistance Plan, which TICAS found "will require payments from even those earning far below the poverty level," and which New America concluded means "those with the lowest incomes will face higher monthly bills"; new borrowers also give up the right to pause payments for unemployment or economic hardship.
- Wagner's Deciding Vote in May 2025 Created the Repayment Assistance Plan, Which Survived Into the Final Law. Wagner's May 22, 2025 yes was one of 215 against 214, with a single member voting present, and H.R. 1 needed every one of them. The bill established "the income-based Repayment Assistance Plan" that survived into the final law. Nationally, a borrower switched off SAVE onto the replacement plan pays $2,163 more each year on average, per CAP, whose analysis also shows the new graduate borrowing limits leave gaps for 13 percent of borrowers in master's programs and close to half of those in professional programs, steering them to "more expensive private loans."
- Wagner's Two Margin-Making Budget Votes Gave the Education Committee a $330 Billion Savings Target. Wagner was in the majority each time H.Con.Res. 14 came up: 217 to 215 on February 25, 2025, then 216 to 214 for the Senate-amended form on April 10, 2025; had she alone flipped, each would have deadlocked and died. Its order to the Committee on Education and Workforce: "reduce the deficit by not less than $330,000,000,000". The final law she voted for on July 3 "takes away about $300 billion in federal support" that lowers what college costs students from families of modest means, by CAP's reckoning.
What Ann Wagner's Votes Mean for Missouri Student Loan Borrowers
- Missouri borrowers leaving SAVE owe $1,758 more a year. CAP's state figures put the average yearly jump for a Missourian shifted out of SAVE at $1,758, close to $150 a month that a first-year teacher in Missouri now hands a loan servicer instead of putting toward rent or day care.
- Missouri graduate students lose Grad PLUS and parents hit a $65,000 cap. A Missouri parent may now borrow at most $20,000 a year, $65,000 in total, per child, and Missouri graduate students have no Grad PLUS fallback; with CAP finding shortfalls for close to half of professional-degree borrowers nationally, many Missouri students headed to medical, law or pharmacy school will turn to private lenders.
- A layoff no longer pauses a new Missouri borrower's loan bill. New borrowers in Missouri give up hardship and unemployment deferments under the law, so losing a job does not stop the monthly payment, and the new plan still charges people whose earnings sit below the poverty line.
Frequently Asked Questions About Ann Wagner on Student debt
What is Ann Wagner's record on student debt under Trump?
Ann Wagner's May 2025 vote was one the House needed for the bill establishing the Repayment Assistance Plan; two months later she voted for the final law, which also closes Grad PLUS and limits Parent PLUS. Her votes decided both 2025 budget resolution votes that set the education committee a savings target of at least $330 billion. On average, CAP finds, the switch out of SAVE costs a Missouri borrower $1,758 more a year.
How does the repayment plan Ann Wagner voted for change what a Missouri borrower owes each month?
Ann Wagner voted for a law that puts new borrowers, and borrowers leaving SAVE, on the Repayment Assistance Plan, whose formula asks for a payment even from people earning well under the poverty line. For Missouri, CAP pegs the typical increase at $1,758 a year, roughly $146 a month.
Can a Missouri parent still take out a Parent PLUS loan after Ann Wagner's vote?
Yes, within new limits: the law Ann Wagner voted for holds Parent PLUS to $20,000 a year and $65,000 per student overall and ends Grad PLUS for graduate students. A Missouri family whose college bill runs past those caps must look to private loans, which offer fewer protections.
Last updated: 2026-10-27