Repayment after the 2025 law · guide
After SAVE: what your payment becomes
SAVE is over. A federal court approved the settlement between the Department of Education and Missouri in March 2026, no one can enroll, pending applications were denied, and from July 1, 2026 servicers send each of the roughly 7.5 million SAVE borrowers a notice with a 90-day deadline to pick another plan. Without an answer, the loans move to the standard or Tiered Standard plan, which is rarely the cheapest. Under the SAVE formula, a single borrower with $46,000 of income and undergraduate loans would owe $42 a month: 5% of income above 225% of the poverty guideline. The same borrower now pays $153 on the Repayment Assistance Plan, $184 on Income-Based Repayment if all the loans predate July 2026, and $366 on the Tiered Standard plan for a $42,000 balance at 6.5%. Payments rise for almost everyone. The calculator above puts the old formula next to the open plans so you can see the gap before choosing, instead of after a default placement.
From SAVE to the plans still open
Lowest payment now open
$153
| Old SAVE formula (undergraduate loans) | $42 |
| RAP | $153 |
| IBR, borrower since July 2014 | $184 |
| Tiered Standard (15 years, 6.5%) | $366 |
The SAVE plan, also called REPAYE, is closed. Here is what its borrowers pay on the plans they can choose now.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
Old formula, new plans
| Single borrower, undergraduate loans | Income $32,000 | Income $46,000 | Income $70,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAVE formula (closed) | $0 | $42 | $142 |
| RAP | $80 | $153 | $350 |
| IBR, borrower since July 2014 | $67 | $184 | $384 |
| Tiered Standard, $42,000 at 6.5% | $366 | $366 | $366 |
SAVE protected the first $35,910 of a single borrower's income, 225% of the 2026 guideline, against $23,940 on IBR and nothing on RAP. That is why borrowers with incomes in the low $30,000s often paid nothing on SAVE and now owe something on every plan. Graduate loans were charged 10% under SAVE, so borrowers with graduate debt see a smaller jump.
How SAVE ended
SAVE was introduced by regulation in 2023 and took full effect on July 1, 2024. Seven states led by Missouri sued in April 2024; a federal district court enjoined part of the plan that July, and the Department put SAVE borrowers in a forbearance at a 0% rate. In February 2025 the Eighth Circuit blocked the whole plan, the 0% rate ended, and interest resumed on August 1, 2025. On December 9, 2025 the Department and Missouri proposed a settlement; the court approved it in March 2026 (Department of Education, December 9, 2025). Its terms: no new enrollments, denial of pending applications, all SAVE borrowers moved to lawful plans, and a negotiated rulemaking to remove SAVE from the regulations, except for the deferment and forbearance provisions that count toward income-driven forgiveness (guidance of March 27, 2026).
Choosing your next plan
Three questions decide it. Did you receive any Direct Loan on or after July 1, 2026? If so, only RAP and Tiered Standard are open to you. Are you aiming for PSLF? Then pick the income-driven plan with the lower payment, because Tiered Standard payments above $25,000 of principal do not qualify. Do you expect to repay in full? Then compare total cost: RAP waives unpaid interest on on-time payments, IBR does not, and a fixed plan ends soonest. Borrowers who made 60 or more SAVE or REPAYE payments since July 1, 2024 should also know they are barred from IBR, which leaves RAP as their income-driven option.
What carries over from SAVE
Your payment history does. SAVE payments count as income-driven payments toward IBR forgiveness, and toward PSLF if made while working full time for a qualifying employer. They also count toward RAP's 360 qualifying payments when they met the plan's required amount, because payments made before July 1, 2028 under an income-contingent plan qualify (34 CFR 685.209(k)(8)). What does not carry over is SAVE's own forgiveness track, which forgave balances of $12,000 or less after ten years and added a year for each additional $1,000 borrowed. That shortcut no longer exists.
Graduate borrowers leaving SAVE
SAVE charged 10% of income above 225% of the poverty guideline on graduate loans, with a weighted rate for borrowers who held both kinds. Graduate borrowers therefore lose less in monthly payment than undergraduates, and some of them, with high incomes, find that RAP's rate of 9% or 10% on the whole income is close to what they paid before. What changes more for them is the forgiveness horizon: SAVE forgave graduate balances after 25 years, the same as IBR for older borrowers, while RAP takes 30. A graduate borrower with a large balance, a moderate income and a pre-2014 loan history should compare IBR at 15% with RAP carefully; the IBR calculator and the RAP calculator give both figures.
If your income changed since your last tax return
Your new income-driven payment is computed from the adjusted gross income on your most recent federal return, which the Department obtains from the IRS with your consent. If your income has fallen since then, because of a layoff, reduced hours or a move to part-time work, you can send alternative documentation of current income with your application and ask for the payment to be based on it. The regulation provides for exactly that case. The same applies to a separation from a spouse with whom you filed jointly, or the birth of a child that changes your dependents for RAP or your family size for IBR. A recalculation request is worth making before the default placement takes effect.
Married borrowers who left SAVE
SAVE ignored a spouse's income for borrowers who filed separately, and so do RAP and IBR. The difference lies in what each plan counts once you file jointly: both add the spouse's AGI, and both split the payment when both spouses have eligible loans. A couple that switched to separate returns to lower SAVE payments can keep that strategy, but should check the tax cost again, since a separate return also rules out the student loan interest deduction. Married borrowers goes through the comparison.
Interest you carry in
Between August 1, 2025 and your move to a new plan, interest accrued on SAVE loans in forbearance without payments. That amount is part of your balance now. On RAP, future unpaid interest is waived as long as you pay on time, but interest that accrued before is not erased. On IBR it remains and keeps company with any new unpaid interest. If you can, paying down that accrued interest early reduces the base on which future interest is charged after any capitalization.
Act before the deadline
The default placement is a fixed plan because the law needs every loan to have a repayment schedule; it is not a recommendation. A borrower with a $42,000 balance and a $46,000 income placed on Tiered Standard would pay $366 instead of $153 on RAP. The application takes about ten minutes on StudentAid.gov, according to the Department, and goes faster with consent to obtain tax data from the IRS. Run your numbers in the plan comparator, read RAP vs IBR, and choose before the date on your servicer's notice.