Launched in 2023, the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan was intended to create anaffordable pathway to repaying student loans.
SAVE was ended in 2026, as part of a larger overhaul of the government’s student loan program. Federal student loan servicers began sending exit notices to the roughly 7.5 million borrowers in the SAVE program in July 2026, and will continue rolling them out through early 2027.
Once you get a notice, you have 90 days to switch to another federal plan or refinance with a private student loan.
Two other legacy plans, Pay As You Earn and Income-Contingent Repayment, will sunset by July 1, 2028.
If you’re in one of these programs and do nothing, you’ll be automatically enrolled in the Standard Repayment Plan or Tiered Standard Repayment Plan. That could mean larger payments and affect your ability to make progress toward loan forgiveness.
Find out what student loan repayment options are available and learn how to pay off your loans faster.
Standard Repayment Plan
If you do not select a new plan within 90 days of receiving a notice from your loan servicer, you’ll be put on the Standard Repayment Plan (SRP) or Tiered Standard Plan, depending on when you first took out your loans.
Only borrowers who took out or consolidated federal loans before July 1, 2026, can select SRP, while the Tiered Standard Plan is available to older and newer borrowers. Both programs base payments on your outstanding balance, rather than your income.
With SRP, you’ll make fixed monthly payments of at least $50 for up to 10 years (or between 10 and 30 years for consolidation loans). According to the DoE, your monthly payments may be higher than with other plans, but the term is usually shorter and you’ll pay less in interest overall.
The following loans from theDirect LoanProgram and theFFEL Programare eligible for the Standard Repayment Plan:
- Direct Subsidized Loans
- Direct Unsubsidized Loans
- Direct PLUS Loans
- DirectConsolidationLoans
- Subsidized Federal Stafford Loans
- Unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loans
- FFEL PLUS Loans
- FFEL Consolidation Loans
You can use the Federal Student Aid repayment calculator to help determine which plan works best for you.
Secure a lower monthly payment or better rate with these student loan options.
Offers in this section are from affiliate partners and selected based on a combination of engagement, product relevance, compensation, and consistent availability.
Undergraduate and graduate students, parents, students in MBA, law, health professional and dental programs
$5,000 (or state-mandated minimum) up to the cost of attendance
5, 7, 10, 15, years; up to 20 years for refinancing loans
Tiered Standard Plan
The Tiered Standard Plan is a new fixed-payment program that will be the default for borrowers with at least one Direct Loan first disbursed on or after July 1, 2026.
Unlike SAVE or the new Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP), the monthly payment and repayment periods are based on how much federal Direct Loan debt you have, not income or family size.
The repayment period is 10, 15, 20, or 25 years, depending on the balance size, with a minimum payment of $50 required. Payments made in the Tiered Standard Plan do not count toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF).
| Total Direct Loan balance | Tiered Standard Plan terms |
| Less than $25,000 | 10 years (120 monthly payments) |
| $25,000 to $49,999 | 15 years (180 monthly payments) |
| $50,000 to $99,999 | 20 years (240 monthly payments) |
| $100,000+ | 25 years (300 monthly payments) |
Repayment Assistance Plan
The Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) is a new income-driven repayment plan that is replacing Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) and Pay As You Earn (PAYE), which will end by July 1, 2028.
RAP is available to many borrowers with eligible Direct Loans, including borrowers whose loans were disbursed before July 1, 2026. If your Direct Loans were disbursed on or after July 1, 2026, RAP is generally the only income-driven repayment option available.
Under RAP, your monthly payment is a percentage of your adjusted gross income (AGI), based on a sliding scale. The minimum, for borrowers earning $10,000 or less, is a flat $120 annual base payment, or $10 per month. The maximum payment is 10% of your adjusted gross income (AGI) from the prior year.
Your monthly payment is reduced by $50 for each eligible dependent, subject to a $10 minimum.
RAP provides forgiveness after 30 years of qualifying payments, which is later than you could receive through Public Service Loan Forgiveness (see below).
| AGI | Annual RAP payment |
Monthly payment |
|---|---|---|
| $10,000 or less | $120 minimum | $10 minimum |
| $10,001–$19,999 | 1% of AGI | AGI × 0.01 ÷ 12 |
| $20,000–$29,999 | 2% of AGI | AGI × 0.02 ÷ 12 |
| $30,000–$39,999 | 3% of AGI | AGI × 0.03 ÷ 12 |
| $40,000–$49,999 | 4% of AGI | AGI × 0.04 ÷ 12 |
| $50,000–$59,999 | 5% of AGI | AGI × 0.05 ÷ 12 |
| $60,000–$69,999 | 6% of AGI | AGI × 0.06 ÷ 12 |
| $70,000–$79,999 | 7% of AGI | AGI × 0.07 ÷ 12 |
| $80,000–$89,999 | 8% of AGI | AGI × 0.08 ÷ 12 |
| $90,000–$99,999 | 9% of AGI | AGI × 0.09 ÷ 12 |
| $100,000+ | 10% of AGI | AGI × 0.10 ÷ 12 |
Legacy income-driven repayment plans
Income-driven repayment (IDR) programs such as Income-Based Repayment (IBR), Pay as You Earn (PAYE), and Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) plans are not available for federal student loans first disbursed on or after July 1, 2026, but they’re still an option for older loans.
1. Income-Based Repayment
Income-Based Repayment is only available to borrowers whose loans were first disbursed before July 1, 2026. Borrowers generally pay 10% of their discretionary income if they were considered new borrowers on or after July 1, 2014, or 15% if they were not.
Borrowers in the former category have 20-year repayment periods, while those in the latter have 25 years. After that, any remaining eligible balance may be forgiven.
How to calculate IBR payments: Federal Student Aid calculates discretionary income as the difference between youradjusted gross income (AGI) and 150% of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’povertyguideline.
The poverty limit for a family of three in most of the U.S. in 2026 is $27,320, so 150% would be about $41,000. If a household’s AGI is $100,000, their discretionary income would be about $59,000. If they started taking out loans after 2014, they would have student loan payments of about $5,900 a year—or about $490 per month.
IBR will be the only legacy IDR plan remaining after July 1, 2028,
2. Pay as You Earn
The Pay As You Earn (PAYE) plan has a standard 20-year repayment term, with borrowers paying 10% of their discretionary income.
To qualify for PAYE, you must have been a new borrower on or after Oct. 1, 2007, and received a Direct Loan disbursement on or after Oct. 1, 2011, but before July 1, 2026.
Eligible borrowers can enroll in PAYE through July 1, 2027, but the program will permanently end no later than July 1, 2028.
3. Income-Contingent Repayment
Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) payments are based on 20% of your discretionary income or the amount you would pay under a fixed 12-year repayment plan (adjusted for income), whichever is less. Any remaining eligible balance may be forgiven after 25 years of qualifying payments.
Eligible borrowers can remain or enroll in ICR until it ends, which will be no later than July 1, 2028.
Public Service Loan Forgiveness
ThePublic Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)program enables eligible borrowers to have their loans discharged after 10 years (or 120 qualifying payments), in exchange for working full-time for qualifying nonprofits or government agencies.
You must have federal Direct Loans. If you have older federal loans, like FFEL or Perkins loans, you must combine them into a Direct Consolidation Loan.
The Trump Administration has announced its intention to disqualify employers from PSLF eligibility if they “engage in activities that have a substantial illegal purpose.” Federal judges blocked that effort in June 2026, saying the Education Department was overstepping its statutory authority, but the department has appealed.
Refinance your loans
Another option after exiting the SAVE program is refinancing with a private student loan.You’ll lose access to federal hardship protections, but it could be the right move if you’re in a good financial position.
Federal student loan rates are fixed: For the 2026-2027 academic year, the rate is6.52%for undergraduate loans,8.07%for unsubsidized graduate or professional loans and9.07% forPLUS loans.
A working adult with a very good FICO Score (740+) could earn a much better rate by refinancing with a private loan. They’d also have more options for repayment terms: The standard term on a federal student loan is 10 years, but private lenders have options ranging from 5 to 30 years.
Two of our top picks for student loan refinancing are Earnest, which allows borrowers in good standing to skip one payment every 12 months, and Citizens Bank, which has a 0.25% loyalty discount for existing customers on top of the typical 0.25% autopay discount.
Actual rate and available repayment terms will vary based on your financial profile. Our lowest rates are only available for the most credit qualified existing cosigned loan borrowers who receive the 0.25% Loyalty discount and requires selection of our shortest term offered, full principal and interest payment while in school, and enrollment in our 0.25% Auto Pay discount. Enrolling in Auto Pay is not required as a condition for approval. Interest rates are subject to change.
Residents of Hawaii must request a loan of at least $1,501.
You can take advantage of the Auto Pay interest rate reduction by setting up and maintaining active and automatic ACH withdrawal of your loan payment from a checking or savings account. The interest rate reduction for Auto Pay will be available only while your loan is enrolled in Auto Pay. Interest rate incentives for utilizing Auto Pay may not be combined with certain private student loan repayment programs that also offer an interest rate reduction. It is important to note that the 0.25% Auto Pay discount is not available when loan payments are deferred during the interim period as a result of selecting the deferred repayment option.
To be eligible for the Loyalty Discount, applicants must have previously obtained an Earnest Private Student Loan and apply using the same email address associated with that loan. Only one Loyalty Discount may be applied per eligible Earnest Private Student Loan. Not all applicants may qualify. This offer cannot be combined with Earnest’s Rate Match program. Earnest may modify or discontinue this offer at any time and without notice, however, once a Loyalty Discount is earned, it will not be taken away.
Nine-month grace period is not available for borrowers who choose our Principal and Interest Repayment plan while in school.
Earnest clients may skip a payment through a single, one-month forbearance during a 12 month period. Your first request to skip a pay can be made once you’ve made at least 6 months of consecutive on-time full principal and interest payments, and your loan is in good standing. The interest accrued during the skipped month will result in an increase in your remaining minimum payment. The final payoff date on your loan will be extended by the length of the skipped payment periods. Any unpaid accrued interest may capitalize (added to the principal balance) at the end of the forbearance period by adding unpaid accrued interest to the outstanding principal as permitted by law and the terms of the loan agreement. Please note that skipping a payment is not guaranteed and is at Earnest’s discretion. Your monthly payment and total loan cost may increase as a result of postponing your payment and extending your term.
Citizens™ Student Loans
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APR
3.24% to 14.99%APR with autopay discount (Undergraduate New Loan). Other rates and loan types are available. Visit Citizen’s website for full details.
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Loan types
Undergraduate, graduate, parent loans, Master’s degrees, MBAs, law school, medical school and dental school loans.
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Loan amounts
Minimum is $1,000; Maximum amount depends on the type of degree (graduate or undergrad, MBA, Law and Healthcare)
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Loan terms
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Borrower protections
Up to 12 months of forbearance
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Co-signer required?
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Offer student loan refinancing?
How to pay off student loans faster
Even if you need to change loan plans, there are ways to pay down your student debt sooner.
Pay more than the minimum:Paying more than the minimum required each month can reduce how much you pay in interest over the life of your loan.
Make extra one-time payments. If you’re able, devote tax refunds, bonuses, gifts and any windfalls toward your student loans. Make sure you tell your loan servicer to apply these extra payments directly to the principal, rather than to future monthly bills.
Sign up for autopay:Not only does enrolling ensure you’ll never miss a month, but most federal servicers are offering a 1% autopay discount for eligible Direct Loans through June 30, 2028. Many private lenders offer a 0.25% autopay discount.
Refinance: Look at your credit score, income and debt to decide if refinancing would help you save. Refinancing federal loans with a private lender generally means losing federal protections and forgiveness options, but it could be useful if you don’t qualify for PSLF and don’t expect to rely on federal income-based repayment or deferment programs.
Claim the student loan interest deduction: You can deduct up to $2,500 of student loan interest without itemizing. If the deduction increases your refund or lowers your tax bill, put that savings toward your loan balance.
Ask your employer about student loan repayment assistance: Employers can contribute up to $5,250 annually toward your student loan debt without it counting as taxable wages. A growing number of companies are adding student loan paydown to their benefits packages, including Fidelity Investments, Google and SoFi.
Student loan FAQs
How can I change my student loan payment plan?
You can change your repayment plan by submitting aRepayment Plan Requestto your loan servicer. If you’re eligible to switch to a different income-driven repayment plan, you canapply at StudentAid.gov.
What happens if I don’t choose a new repayment plan before my 90 days expires?
If you don’t choose a new plan, you’ll be automatically placed in either the Standard Repayment Plan or the new Tiered Standard Plan. Borrowers with pending SAVE applications may be moved to the plan they were in before submitting their application.
Is refinancing a federal student loan a good idea?
Refinancing can be a good idea if you have very good credit and can earn a lower rate than the fixed rate available from federal student loans. You’ll lose access to certain forbearance, forgiveness and bankruptcy protections.
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