Repayment after the 2025 law · calculator
Income-Based Repayment calculator
With $55,000 of adjusted gross income and a household of one, Income-Based Repayment costs $259 a month for a borrower who had no federal loan balance before July 1, 2014, and $388 for an earlier borrower. IBR charges 10% or 15% of the income above 150% of the poverty guideline, $23,940 for one person in 2026, and never more than the 10-year standard payment fixed when you join. The 2025 law kept IBR but changed who can use it. It dropped the old entry test, the partial financial hardship, so any borrower with eligible loans can enroll. It also closed the plan to loans made from July 1, 2026: a borrower who takes a new Direct Loan moves to the Repayment Assistance Plan or the Tiered Standard plan for everything. Forgiveness comes after 20 years of payments for newer borrowers and 25 for the others, while unpaid interest keeps accruing in the meantime.
IBR monthly payment
$259
10% of $31,060 above the income line, ÷ 12
| Income line (150% of the 2026 poverty guideline) | $23,940 |
| Cap: 10-year standard payment | $511 |
| Interest charged in month one | $244 |
| Same borrower on RAP | $229 |
| Forgiven after 240 payments | $522 |
| Total you pay on IBR | $85,756 |
IBR is closed to loans made on or after July 1, 2026. Unpaid interest keeps accruing on IBR. New borrower: 10%, forgiveness after 20 years. How this is calculated.
The older income-driven plan that survives the 2025 law, for loans made before July 1, 2026.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
The income line by family size
IBR protects 150% of the HHS poverty guideline. The table gives that line for 2026; only income above it is charged.
| Family size | 48 states and DC | Alaska | Hawaii |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $23,940 | $29,925 | $27,540 |
| 2 | $32,460 | $40,575 | $37,335 |
| 3 | $40,980 | $51,225 | $47,130 |
| 4 | $49,500 | $61,875 | $56,925 |
| 5 | $58,020 | $72,525 | $66,720 |
| 6 | $66,540 | $83,175 | $76,515 |
A family example
Take a household of four with $70,000 of AGI, $60,000 of loans at 6.5% and a borrower who first borrowed in 2016. The line is $49,500, the income above it $20,500, and 10% of that divided by 12 gives $171 a month. The same household on RAP, with the two children claimed as dependents, would pay $250. Family size and dependents are not the same test: IBR counts a spouse on a joint return as part of the family, while a spouse is never a dependent for RAP. The spouse's own federal loans also matter. On a joint return both plans add the incomes and then split the payment between the two borrowers in proportion to their eligible balances, so a couple where both owe can end up with two modest payments rather than one large one.
The cap and why it matters
The formula payment is compared with what you would have paid on a 10-year standard plan based on the eligible balance when you started IBR, here $511 for $45,000 at 6.5%. If your income grows enough to exceed it, you pay the cap and your repayment can run longer than 10 years. Leaving IBR, or hitting the cap, capitalizes unpaid interest (34 CFR 685.209(j)(2)).
Interest on IBR
When your payment is below the month's interest, the remainder accrues. The regulation spares borrowers only the unpaid interest on subsidized loans for the first three consecutive years on the plan; the calculator does not model that benefit, so its projection is slightly conservative for borrowers with subsidized loans. The difference from RAP is real: under RAP an on-time payment wipes the interest it does not cover. The RAP vs IBR page compares the two side by side.
Recertifying each year
Your IBR payment is fixed for 12 months, then recalculated from your latest tax data. With consent for the Department to obtain your federal tax information, the update happens without a form. If the Department cannot obtain the information and you do not send it by the end of the period, the payment reverts to the capped amount, the 10-year standard payment fixed at entry, until you provide it. A drop in income during the year is a reason to ask for an early recalculation, with alternative documentation of income.
Who should look at IBR first
Low incomes. Because IBR ignores the first $23,940 of a single borrower's income, someone earning $28,000 pays $34 on IBR against $47 on RAP. Borrowers aiming for PSLF with a low income gain the most. Borrowers on PAYE or ICR must leave those plans by June 30, 2028, and IBR is one of the plans they may choose (Public Law 119-21, section 82001(a)).