SAVE Ended: What to Do Now

Quick answer

A court order ended the SAVE Plan in March 2026, and federal servicers have been directing borrowers to choose another plan. Most people will move to the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP), Income-Based Repayment (IBR) if their loans qualify, or the Tiered Standard Plan for newer loans. Payments under Tiered Standard do not count toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Use your servicer notice deadline and StudentAid.gov to compare options without paying a third party.

What happened to SAVE

Federal Student Aid published in October 2026 that a court order ended the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan in March 2026. Edfinancial, a federal loan servicer, states the end date as March 10, 2026. After SAVE ended, borrowers could not remain on SAVE. Servicers began sending notices on July 1, 2026, giving borrowers a defined window (commonly described as 90 days in federal materials) to select a different repayment plan.

If you ignored notices or assumed SAVE would return, log in now. Interest still accrues according to loan terms, and you need an active federal repayment plan that matches your goals.

This guide does not recreate SAVE payment math. SAVE is not offered on Student Loan Secrets calculators or in our current rules files. We document the plans you can use today.

Step 1: Read your servicer notice carefully

Your federal loan servicer notice should list:

• Your deadline to choose a new plan
• Links to official StudentAid.gov resources
• Which loans they service for you

Do not respond to random texts or emails that are not tied to your known servicer portal. Scammers target repayment transitions. Open your servicer site from a bookmark or from StudentAid.gov’s servicer list.

If you are unsure you are in SAVE’s former population, check your loan detail screen for your previous plan name and payment history.

Step 2: Learn your replacement options

Three plans dominate post-SAVE decisions for Direct Loan borrowers. Eligibility depends on when your loans were disbursed and your loan types.

Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP)

RAP is available for most Direct Loans and is the only IDR plan if all of your loans were disbursed on or after July 1, 2026. Parent PLUS loans (and Direct Consolidation Loans that repaid Parent PLUS) are not eligible.

RAP payments use a percentage of your prior-year AGI on a sliding scale from a $10 monthly floor at very low incomes up to 10% of AGI above $100,000, with a $50 monthly reduction per dependent claimed on your federal tax return and a $10 minimum payment. Remaining balances may be forgiven after 30 years (360 qualifying payments). RAP payments can count toward PSLF when all other PSLF conditions are met.

Servicer tables disagree at exact AGI boundaries such as $20,000. Federal Student Aid material and Edfinancial use upper-inclusive bracket wording. Use servicer calculators for exact payments near boundaries.

Income-Based Repayment (IBR)

IBR remains available for most Direct and FFEL Program loans first disbursed before July 1, 2026. If all loans were disbursed on or after July 1, 2026, IBR is not available and RAP is the only IDR plan.

IBR uses discretionary income: AGI minus 150% of the Health and Human Services poverty guideline for your family size and state. Payments are 10% of discretionary income for many newer borrowers and 15% for others, capped at the 10-year Standard payment amount. IBR is PSLF qualifying for eligible loans.

Tiered Standard Plan

Tiered Standard is available if at least one Direct Loan was first disbursed on or after July 1, 2026. Once you elect it, it can apply to all of your Direct Loans. Payments are fixed based on your total Direct Loan principal:

Total Direct Loan principal	Repayment term
Less than $25,000	10 years
$25,000 or more and less than $50,000	15 years
$50,000 or more and less than $100,000	20 years
$100,000 or more	25 years

A balance of exactly $25,000 gets 15 years, not 10. Minimum payments may apply per servicer guidance (Edfinancial lists a $50 monthly minimum on its lower payment options page).

Federal Student Aid states clearly that payments under the Tiered Standard Plan do not count toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness. If you are pursuing PSLF, Tiered Standard is usually the wrong choice unless you understand you are trading lower predictable payments for lost forgiveness progress.

PAYE and ICR

Pay As You Earn and Income-Contingent Repayment remain in transition for some borrowers with older loans but end no later than July 1, 2028. If you are on PAYE or ICR now, watch servicer messages about migration dates. The plan eligibility tool and repayment calculator focus on RAP, IBR, and Tiered Standard for current decisions.

Step 3: Choose based on your goal

Use one primary goal per decision:

Lowest payment this year. Compare RAP and IBR (if eligible). Tiered Standard may be higher or lower depending on balance; run numbers.

PSLF progress. RAP and IBR generally qualify. Tiered Standard does not. Verify employment certification on StudentAid.gov.

Fastest payoff with stable income. A standard or Tiered Standard path may finish sooner than IDR, but IDR includes possible forgiveness after 20 to 30 years depending on plan.

Simplicity after stress. If SAVE’s paperwork exhausted you, Tiered Standard’s fixed schedule can feel simpler, but only if you are not sacrificing PSLF.

Use the repayment plans calculator for side-by-side estimates. Official servicer repayment simulators remain the payment authority before you enroll.

Step 4: Enroll through official channels

1. Log in at StudentAid.gov and your servicer site.
2. Submit the income-driven repayment request or Tiered Standard election your servicer lists.
3. Recertify income on the schedule your new plan requires (RAP and IBR use tax data; understand annual deadlines).
4. Save confirmation PDFs.

Never pay a debt-relief company for this paperwork. Federal Student Aid and servicers provide the forms at no cost.

Autopay and small wins

Starting July 1, 2026, borrowers enrolled in federal autopay can receive a 1% interest rate reduction. Enroll by December 31, 2026 to receive the reduction through June 30, 2028 under the verified federal FAQ. Autopay does not change which plans count for PSLF, but it lowers interest cost on any plan.

See federal FAQs on income-driven repayment at StudentAid.gov for the exact autopay language.

Common mistakes after SAVE

Choosing Tiered Standard while pursuing PSLF. Borrowers who liked SAVE’s low payment sometimes land on Tiered Standard without realizing PSLF clock stopped for those payments.

Assuming SAVE payments count retroactively toward a new plan’s forgiveness. Forgiveness rules differ by plan. Read federal forgiveness disclosures for RAP (30 years) and IBR (20 or 25 years depending on borrower type).

Refinancing to private loans out of frustration. Private loans remove IDR and PSLF. Read should I refinance federal loans in 2026 before you act.

Missing the servicer deadline. Late plan selection can lead to higher interim payments or administrative forbearance that does not help forgiveness goals.

When not to hire help

If a company asks for your Federal Student Aid password, promises instant forgiveness, or says SAVE “secretly” still exists, disengage. Report scams to the FTC and work only with your federal servicer.

If you are still in school

SAVE ending mainly hits borrowers in repayment. If you are still enrolled, know that repayment options will look like RAP, IBR (for pre-July 2026 loans), or Tiered Standard rather than SAVE when you enter repayment. Borrowing decisions today should assume SAVE is not coming back.

Graduate students face separate borrowing caps since July 1, 2026. See Grad PLUS is gone for funding during school.

Related reading

• Should I refinance federal student loans in 2026?
• Grad PLUS is gone: how to pay for grad school

Rules on this page match content/rules/save.json, content/rules/rap.json, content/rules/ibr.json, and content/rules/tiered-standard.json, verified November 12, 2026.