Leaving SAVE for the new Repayment Assistance Plan costs the average Arizona borrower $1,973 a year, per the Center for American Progress, and that plan exists because of a House bill that cleared 215 to 214 on May 22, 2025 with the vote of Eli Crane, the congressman for Arizona's 2nd District.
On July 3, 2025, Crane's yes on final passage went to the law that enacted the plan along with a shutdown of Grad PLUS for new borrowers and lifetime limits on parent loans. Before any of that, his February and April 2025 votes, each the margin, set the education committee's savings quota at $330 billion or more.
Eli Crane's Votes on Student Loans and College Aid
- Crane's Deciding House Vote Created the Repayment Assistance Plan the Final Law Kept, in May 2025. A single vote separated passage from defeat for H.R. 1 on May 22, 2025, 215 to 214 with one member present, and Eli Crane cast one of the 215. That bill created "the income-based Repayment Assistance Plan", carried into the final law. Nationally, the Center for American Progress figures the average borrower's annual cost of the switch from SAVE at $2,163, with Arizona's average at $1,973. The same analysis finds the new graduate loan limits leave students short of what their programs cost, 13 percent of would-be master's borrowers and 46 percent in professional programs such as law or medicine, and push them toward "more expensive private loans."
- Crane Voted to End Grad PLUS Loans and Hold Parent Borrowing to $65,000 per Student, in July 2025. The bill's last House hurdle, on July 3, 2025, was cleared 218 to 214 with Crane voting aye. Graduate students starting out can no longer use Graduate PLUS loans, and Parent PLUS borrowing tops out at $20,000 a year, $65,000 in all, per student. TICAS warns the Repayment Assistance Plan "will require payments from even those earning far below the poverty level," and New America that, compared with the old options, "those with the lowest incomes will face higher monthly bills."
- Crane's Deciding Budget Votes Set a $330 Billion Quota for the Education Committee, in 2025. Crane voted yes on H.Con.Res. 14 when it was adopted on February 25, 2025, 217 to 215, and again on April 10, 2025, 216 to 214; his switch on either would have meant a tie, which fails. Education and Workforce had to "reduce the deficit by not less than $330,000,000,000" over ten years. In the final law, college aid bore much of the cost: by the Center for American Progress's reckoning, the law "takes away about $300 billion in federal support" for students from low- and middle-income families.
What Eli Crane's Student Loan Votes Cost Arizona Borrowers and Families
- An Arizona borrower forced off SAVE pays $1,973 more each year. The Center for American Progress's state table puts the average annual increase for an Arizona borrower switched from SAVE to the Repayment Assistance Plan at $1,973, money that comes straight out of the budgets of households already making loan payments.
- Arizona graduate students now hit a federal borrowing ceiling. Without Grad PLUS, most graduate students in Arizona have a federal limit of $20,500 per year, $100,000 lifetime, and a law or medical student $50,000 per year up to $200,000; tuition above that gets covered by private borrowing at higher cost or not at all.
- Arizona borrowers in two existing repayment plans must switch out by 2028. The Pay As You Earn and Income-Contingent Repayment plans end on July 1, 2028, the Center for American Progress explains, so Arizona borrowers in either one have to move to another plan before then, from a shorter list of income-driven choices.
Frequently Asked Questions About Eli Crane on Student debt
What is Eli Crane's record on student debt under Trump?
On student loans, Eli Crane's yes was the margin for the 2025 budget plan that demanded $330 billion from the education committee and for the May House bill that created the Repayment Assistance Plan, and he voted for the final law, which also cut off Grad PLUS for new borrowers and capped Parent PLUS. Arizona borrowers moved off SAVE pay roughly $2,000 more a year on average.
What does the repayment plan Eli Crane voted for cost Arizona borrowers?
$1,973 a year on average, for Arizona borrowers moved from SAVE to the plan that Eli Crane's May 2025 vote helped create, the Center for American Progress estimates. Its report counts about 7 million borrowers left in SAVE as of June 2026, and says SAVE once had about 60 percent of its borrowers earning too little to owe a monthly payment.
Did Eli Crane vote to end Grad PLUS loans?
He did: Eli Crane's July 3, 2025 vote was for the law that ends Grad PLUS for new graduate borrowers; most graduate students now face a federal cap of $20,500 annually and $100,000 overall, which the Center for American Progress says sends many to higher-cost private lenders.
Last updated: 2026-10-27