A millennial dentist with $231,000 in student debt is worried he'll have to sell his home or get a second job if Biden's new repayment plan is axed

• David, 30, got affordable student-loan payments through the SAVE plan.
• But the 8th Circuit blocked the plan, leaving 8 million SAVE borrowers in limbo until the court issues a final ruling.

David had no problem making his student-loan payments over the past year. That could soon change.

After graduating from dental school in 2019, David — who requested to use a pseudonym to protect his privacy but whose identity is known to Business Insider — said he had over $260,000 in student loans, even after receiving partial scholarships to fund his education.

David, 30, said he aggressively started paying off his student loans during the pandemic payment pause to take advantage of the interest-free payments, and he got his balance down to just over $231,000, according to documents reviewed by BI. However, the pause ended in September 2023 when interest started accruing again, and at that point, he was in the process of paying off the dental practice he purchased in 2021.

His wife also has student-loan payments, and he said he pays his dental staff more than he pays himself, so his finances are strained. That's where President Joe Biden's new SAVE income-driven repayment plan comes in — the plan lowered David's monthly payments to $280 a month from over $1,000, giving him and his wife the financial freedom to invest in other areas of their lives, like purchasing a home.

"Practicing the way I do at my office, I'll never be the type of dentist that owns a lake home, but I don't want to be that type of dentist," he said. "I just want to be able to go to work to help my patients and go home without having to worry about whether or not I'm going to be able to make a house payment."

That house payment is now a concern. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the SAVE plan in its entirety on July 18 as the legal process progresses, in response to two lawsuits groups of GOP state attorneys general filed earlier this year to block parts of the plan. This means that for now, the fate of SAVE is up in the air, and 8 million enrolled borrowers are on forbearance until a court issues a final decision. It's unclear when exactly that could be.

Should the plan ultimately be blocked, David said he might have to sell his home or get a second job to afford higher student-loan payments again.

"Right when my wife and I felt like we were in a position to start a family and start the next chapter of our lives, it feels like the rug got pulled out from underneath us because it sure seemed like the SAVE plan was something that we could rely on," David said.

"We took a risk in deciding to purchase a home and stop renting," he added. "And as a result, we've made a calculation for our future with incorrect data."

'It's almost too scary to even think about'

Even with the financial strain of the student-loan payments, David made clear he's not asking for any loan forgiveness.

"I made my bed, and I got to sleep in it," he said. "So you'll never hear me say that I think that my student loan should be absolved."

But he's highly concerned about his fate with the SAVE plan up in the air. Along with potentially having to sell his home and get a second job, David also said he and his wife want to start a family, but doing so will not be possible if they both have to contend with high monthly student-loan payments.

"I would love to be saving for my 401(k) and retirement, and I'd love to start a family, but really, this is going to be a deciding factor as to whether or not we're financially secure enough to have a child," David said. "It's going to cause instability at home and instability with our jobs. And ultimately, that's what causes me the most stress as a human being: instability."

The Education Department has warned that permanently blocking SAVE would be a significant administrative burden, requiring the department to recalculate every borrower's payments while servicers have to inform borrowers of the changes.

However, the GOP attorneys general who filed the lawsuits said the plan is an overreach of Biden's authority and comes with a cost to taxpayers. They cited an estimate from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania that found the SAVE plan could cost $475 billion over 10 years.

For now, all David can do is wait for the final court decision, and he's not feeling optimistic.

"There's just so much uncertainty. It's almost too scary to even think about," he said. "So I've kind of resigned myself to the fact that SAVE won't go through. I can't depend on it."

Are you enrolled in the SAVE plan and concerned about student-loan payments? Will student loans influence how you vote in the election? Share your story with this reporter at asheffey@businessinsider.com.