Dear Secretary McMahon,
You have gutted the Department of Education. You have unilaterally removed SAVE from 8 million student loan debtors, and in its place, you have provided new payment plans many of us cannot afford.
We are drowning in debt.
I have heard from you loud and clear, so I thought I would tell you a little about me. You may not understand, and you may not care, but I want to encourage all of my friends on SAVE to tell you their story.
I’ll get the ball rolling with mine.
This current student loan repayment crisis is a bait-and-switch problem, not a personal responsibility problem. This is a contract dispute. And to be clear, the bad guy (or gal) in this situation is you.
Sure, I signed up for a student loan. But I did not sign up for any of this. My first loan was taken out in the late 1990s, when I was barely an adult. I was ill-prepared for college and, after about a year, I dropped out. Over the next several years, I worked hard and I grew up. I went back to school in 2002. In 2005, I received my undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, in Sociology and Psychology. I received my Juris Doctor in 2009, and I passed the bar exam in the summer.
I found myself financially in the red, with both undergraduate and law school debt. Interest was mounting on $120,000 — at an insurmountable pace.
In 2023, I received a letter about the SAVE plan. I subsequently spoke to an FSA representative and to my servicer. For me, SAVE was affordable and it put an end to runaway interest. I consolidated my student loans (only and exclusively) to enter the SAVE plan. That is what I signed up for. SAVE. There was no RAP. There was no tiered standard plan. I didn’t sign up for them — they did not exist. By the end of 2023, I was in SAVE. I was making payments. I was getting it done. But SAVE was stopped abruptly.
Then, in the summer of 2024, I was diagnosed with cancer. Interest on my student student loans was turned on in the summer of 2025. I got cancer again in the fall of that same year. Under SAVE, I could have continued paying with my savings. But with cancer, the tiered standard plan exceeded my income. It’s impossible to work through cancer twice, chemo twice, and surgery twice. And I had mounting medical bills.
Since August 2025, I have watched interest accumulate. And now, I am really in deep. Another $10,000 in interest has been tacked on to my loans. Over the same time period, I was fighting for my life. Medical care is expensive, and illness keeps you from working more or harder. I have watched the interest run over the months. Many debtors, myself included, do not have the money.
As for the new RAP plan, I am unlikely to be around in 30 years, so you have reached the point of diminished returns with me.
You will take SAVE out of my cold dead hands, but you won’t make a penny.
The debt dies with me.
Likewise, you will have diminished returns with your scare tactic emails and constant threats. It just so happens that I care a lot more about surviving for as long as I can than I do about my credit. Please, feel free to come for me.
All of the education in the world, and all of the personal responsibility in the world, cannot prepare you for a health crisis. When you are sick, you cannot get a second job. You cannot even work at your first job.
And here is a fun fact that you may not know: the interest still accrues for those who request a cancer deferment. At this point, I am paralyzed by not caring, but it is still a pretty cruel policy. I went to school. I didn’t commit a crime. So, why am I being punished and penalized?
This whole game is about burying the lower and middle class — who dare to get an education — in relentless debt. It never stops. In fact, it has gotten way, way worse. These new payment plans are so predatory, I don’t even know where to begin.
You, Secretary McMahon, along with the Trump Administration, are transparent in your lack of empathy — to the point of translucency.
Again, the student debt crisis has absolutely nothing to do with personal responsibility; nor does it have anything to do with me. This is about the new, predatory student loan plans — plans that keep people in indentured servitude for a lifetime. My wish is that nobody else, ever, is in my situation, just for going to school.
That’s my dream.
And guess what? The midterms are very soon. Let’s just see what happens.
Sincerely,
A student debtor, survivor and voter
About the author:
Cheyenne Kiernan is an attorney, licensed to practice in the state of New Mexico.
In the US, she worked as an Assistant District Attorney. She moved to the UK, and health permitting, she works as a consultant attorney in both the US and the UK. In the past year, her debt has risen from $128,000 to $137,000 because she was too ill to work, and therefore, could not keep up with the interest.
Cheyenne has two lovely stepchildren, two very spoiled cats, and one perfect husband. She enjoys sunsets, long walks on the beach, architecture, and art.