The SAVE plan is over. Nobody can enroll, and everyone who was on it has to pick a new repayment plan.
If you don’t pick one, your servicer picks for you, and it puts you on a fixed plan that can cost hundreds of dollars a month more than an income-driven one. Here’s what happened, what your notice means, and how to choose before the deadline does it for you.
The short answer
- A federal court order ended SAVE in March 2026. You can’t stay on it.
- You get 90 days from your servicer’s notice to choose a new plan, then a final 30-day notice.
- Do nothing and you land on the Standard plan, or Tiered Standard if you have a loan paid out on or after July 1, 2026.
- Most former SAVE borrowers should compare RAP and IBR. Our example below shows RAP at $110 a month and IBR at $129.50, against $455.81 on Standard.
- Months in the SAVE forbearance don’t count toward PSLF or IDR forgiveness. PSLF borrowers may be able to buy them back later.
What happened to SAVE
The Education Department reached a settlement with the State of Missouri over SAVE, and in March 2026 a federal court approved it. That approval ended the plan. The same order blocked parts of the other income-driven plans too.
What that means for you is simple. The Education Department won’t enroll anyone in SAVE, it’s denying pending SAVE applications, and it’s moving every SAVE borrower to another plan.
Had a SAVE application still pending? Your servicer denies it and sends you a notice. If you don’t apply for something else within 90 days, you get a final 30-day notice, and after that you go back to the plan you were on before you applied for SAVE.
What your 90-day notice means
Your clock starts when your loan servicer contacts you, not when you get a general email from Federal Student Aid. Servicers started sending these notices on July 1, 2026, in batches, and say they’ll reach every SAVE borrower before the end of 2026. So two people with the same servicer can have different deadlines.
From the date of your notice, you have 90 days to choose a plan. Miss that and you get one more notice with 30 days left. Miss that one too and you’re placed on a fixed plan automatically.
Not sure when yours came? Check the inbox on your servicer’s website. Or search your email for the subject line “You Have 90 Days to Select a New Repayment Plan”, or for a “Final Notice” email saying you’ll be placed into a new repayment plan in 30 days.
Most notices go by email. If you asked for paper mail, it comes by post, so make sure your address is current with your servicer and on StudentAid.gov.
If you do nothing, here’s where you land
No loans paid out on or after July 1, 2026? You go on the Standard plan, which pays the loans off in 10 years (longer for some consolidation loans). Have a newer loan that’s in repayment? You go on Tiered Standard, which runs 10 to 25 years depending on your balance.
Either way, the payment is based on what you owe, not what you earn. For a lot of former SAVE borrowers that’s a big jump. Your servicer will tell you the new amount at least 21 days before the first due date, and if you’re on autopay, the bigger amount comes out automatically.
And if you’re chasing PSLF, landing on Tiered Standard is the worst outcome, because those payments don’t count.
Your real options now
Which plans you can pick depends on when your loans were paid out. If all of them came before July 1, 2026, you can choose RAP, IBR, Standard, Graduated or Extended, and possibly PAYE or ICR for now. Any loan from July 1, 2026 or later and your Direct Loans can only go on RAP or Tiered Standard.
| Plan | How the payment works | Forgiveness | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| RAP | 1% to 10% of AGI, divided by 12, minus $50 per dependent. At least $10 | After 360 qualifying payments (at least 30 years) | No cap, so a high income can pay more than Standard |
| IBR | 10% of income above 150% of the poverty guideline (15% if you borrowed before July 1, 2014). Capped at the 10-year Standard amount | After 20 years (25 if you borrowed before July 1, 2014) | Only for loans paid out before July 1, 2026. Unpaid interest builds on unsubsidized loans |
| Standard (10-year) | Fixed, based on balance and rate | None needed: paid off in 10 years | Usually the highest monthly payment |
| Tiered Standard | Fixed, over 10 to 25 years by balance, at least $50 | None | Doesn’t count for PSLF |
| PAYE or ICR | PAYE: 10% of discretionary income. ICR: up to 20% | 20 years (PAYE) or 25 years (ICR) | Both close no later than July 1, 2028, so you’d have to move again |
Our full guide to student loan repayment plans covers every plan in more detail.
RAP or IBR? A former SAVE borrower, run through both
Example: Sam, single parent of one, $48,000 AGI, $42,000 in Direct Loans
- RAP
- $110.00/mo
- IBR (10%)
- $129.50/mo
- Standard (10-year), if Sam does nothing
- $455.81/mo
- Interest building each month
- about $192.50
Assumptions: Sam was on SAVE, all loans were paid out before July 1, 2026, and Sam first borrowed after July 1, 2014, so IBR is 10%. Sam claims one child as a dependent and provides more than half the child’s support, lives in the lower 48, and the loans average 5.5% interest. The rate is our assumption, not a quoted figure.
RAP: $48,000 falls in the $40,001 to $50,000 band, which is 4% of AGI. That’s $1,920 a year, or $160 a month, minus $50 for one dependent: $110.
IBR: family size is 2. 150% of the 2026 poverty guideline for two people ($21,640) is $32,460. $48,000 minus $32,460 leaves $15,540 of discretionary income. 10% of that is $1,554 a year, or $129.50 a month.
Standard: the normal loan payment formula on $42,000 at 5.5% over 120 months.
Doing nothing would cost Sam $345.81 a month more than RAP. That’s the number to remember if you’re tempted to let the deadline pass.
Between the two income-driven plans, RAP is $19.50 a month cheaper here, and it does something IBR doesn’t. Sam’s $110 payment doesn’t cover the roughly $192.50 of interest that builds each month. On RAP, the uncovered interest is waived every month Sam pays on time, and the Education Department adds a matching payment so the principal still drops $50. That’s about $600 a year off Sam’s principal on a payment smaller than the interest.
On IBR, the $129.50 payment leaves about $63 of interest unpaid each month. On unsubsidized loans that interest keeps building, and it gets added to principal if Sam ever leaves IBR.
So why would anyone pick IBR? Two reasons. Forgiveness comes after 20 years instead of 30, and IBR’s payment is capped at the 10-year Standard amount, while RAP’s isn’t. If Sam’s income is likely to climb a lot, IBR’s cap can win in the long run. Forgiveness at the end of either plan is generally taxable federal income now, so a big forgiven balance can come with a tax bill.
Next stepRun your own numbers in our RAP calculator, then compare IBR in the official Repayment Calculator on StudentAid.gov
Do your SAVE forbearance months count?
No. Time in the SAVE forbearance doesn’t count toward PSLF, and it doesn’t count toward IDR forgiveness either. That’s the hard part of this whole mess for a lot of people.
What you already earned is safe. Switching plans doesn’t erase PSLF payments or IDR payments credited before the forbearance started.
If you’re on the PSLF track, there’s a fix for later called PSLF buyback. Once you have 120 months of qualifying employment, you can pay for months spent in an ineligible forbearance, including the SAVE forbearance, so they count. You request it through PSLF reconsideration and pay within 90 days of the buyback agreement. Until then, the fastest way to 120 is to start making qualifying payments on RAP or IBR now. Our PSLF guide has the details.
Interest is already building again
Interest on loans in the SAVE forbearance started accruing again on August 1, 2025. It wasn’t charged back to earlier months, but every month since then has added to what you owe. Log in and check your balance before you compare plans, because it’s probably higher than the last time you looked.
RAP’s interest waiver only covers interest from the months you’re in RAP. It won’t wipe out what built up during the forbearance.
How to switch, step by step
- Find your deadline. Check your servicer’s website inbox for the 90-day notice and note the date it was sent.
- Log in to StudentAid.gov. Check your loan types and the dates they were paid out. That decides which plans you can use.
- Compare plans. Open the Repayment Calculator and log in so it imports your loans and income.
- Apply. Select “Apply” on the plan you want. For RAP or IBR, you can also go straight to the income-driven repayment application at StudentAid.gov/idr.
- Give IRS consent. Choose “Provide Approval” in the tax information section. It’s faster, and it lets your plan recertify automatically every year.
- Watch for your new payment. Your servicer may put you in a processing forbearance for up to 60 days while it works. Check “My Activity” on StudentAid.gov if it’s taking a while.
- Turn on autopay. Eligible Direct Loan borrowers enrolled in autopay by December 31, 2026 get a 1% interest rate cut through June 30, 2028.
Can’t afford even the income-driven payment right now? Call your servicer about a deferment or forbearance. Interest usually keeps building, and the months may not count toward forgiveness, so treat it as a short bridge. Help from your servicer is free. You never have to pay a company to switch plans for you.
Bottom line: don’t wait for the final notice. Take an evening to compare RAP and IBR, pick the one that fits where your income is headed, and apply before your servicer picks the expensive option for you.
SAVE plan FAQs
Yes. A federal court order in March 2026 ended SAVE by approving a settlement between the Education Department and Missouri. Nobody can enroll, pending SAVE applications are being denied, and every SAVE borrower is being moved to another plan.
After your servicer’s 90-day notice and a final 30-day notice, you’re placed on the Standard plan. If you have a loan paid out on or after July 1, 2026 that’s in repayment, you’re placed on Tiered Standard instead. Both base the payment on your balance, not your income.
Compare both with your own numbers. For a lot of middle-income borrowers RAP comes out a little lower, and it waives the interest your payment doesn’t cover. IBR wins on two things: its payment never goes above the 10-year Standard amount, and forgiveness comes after 20 or 25 years instead of 30. You can only choose IBR if all your loans were paid out before July 1, 2026.
No. SAVE forbearance months don’t count toward PSLF or IDR forgiveness. Once you have 120 months of qualifying employment, you may be able to buy those months back for PSLF through PSLF buyback.
Yes. Interest started accruing again on August 1, 2025. It wasn’t charged for earlier months, but your balance has been growing since then, so check it before you compare plans.
Sources (9)
We use primary sources: Federal Student Aid, the U.S. Department of Education, the Federal Register and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
- Federal Student Aid. SAVE Plan Borrowers: FAQs About Choosing a Different Repayment Plan. studentaid.gov. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- U.S. Department of Education. Next steps for borrowers enrolled in the SAVE Plan. ed.gov. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Federal Student Aid. Court Actions Impacting IDR Plans. studentaid.gov. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Federal Student Aid. Definitions: Repayment Assistance Plan and Tiered Standard Plan. studentaid.gov. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. 34 CFR 685.209, Income-driven repayment plans. ecfr.gov. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Federal Register. Reimagining and Improving Student Education: Federal Student Loan Program Final Regulations. federalregister.gov. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, ASPE. Poverty Guidelines. aspe.hhs.gov. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Federal Student Aid. PSLF Buyback. studentaid.gov. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- U.S. Department of Education. Department extends enrollment period for student loan interest rate reduction. ed.gov. Accessed October 22, 2026.
