When money gets hard
Your student loans are coming due
Student loan repayment begins after you leave school, and the rules changed substantially in 2026. Payments are not fixed — several plans exist, some tie your payment to your income, and choosing between them changes what you pay for decades.
This section covers finding out what you owe, which plans you qualify for, and what to do if you cannot pay. Ignoring the loans is the only genuinely expensive option.
These rules change often. Reviewed September 2026 — check the sources below before acting.
A federal court vacated the SAVE plan in March 2026 and Congress ended it by statute. Two new plans launched July 1, 2026, and if any of your loans were first disbursed on or after that date, those two are your only options. Anything you learned about repayment before 2026 may no longer apply.
Source: U.S. Department of Education announcements and the 2025 federal reconciliation law, 2026.
First, find out what you actually owe
Log in to StudentAid.gov. It lists every federal loan you have, the balance, the interest rate, and who your servicer is. Most people are surprised by at least one thing on that screen.
Private loans won't be there. Those you track through the lender directly, and they play by different rules with far fewer protections.
What changed in 2026
The SAVE plan is gone. A federal court vacated it in March 2026 and Congress ended it by statute.
Two new plans became available July 1, 2026: the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) and a new Tiered Standard plan.
If any of your federal loans were first disbursed on or after July 1, 2026, RAP and Tiered Standard are your only options.
If all your loans predate July 1, 2026, you can still use IBR — income-based repayment — which is the one legacy income-driven plan that survives long term.
PAYE and ICR stop taking new borrowers and sunset entirely by July 1, 2028.
If you were on SAVE, your servicer sends notice and you get 90 days to pick a new plan. Miss that window and you're placed automatically into a standard plan, which usually means a higher payment.
How income-driven repayment works
Your payment is calculated from your income instead of your balance. Under the Department of Education's RAP rules published at studentaid.gov, the payment is a percentage of your adjusted gross income on a sliding scale from 1% to 10%, divided by twelve, minus $50 for each dependent you claim — and it can never be less than $10 a month. Under IBR a low enough income can produce a $0 payment that still counts.
Two features of RAP are worth knowing because no earlier plan had them. Each month it waives the unpaid interest your payment did not cover, so the balance cannot grow from unpaid interest. And on every full, on-time payment it adds up to $50 toward your principal. Pay late or short and you lose both for that month.
The trade-off: lower payments stretch the timeline, and you generally pay more in total. RAP forgives what's left after 30 years. IBR forgives after 20 or 25 depending on when you borrowed.
Important: payments you already made under an earlier income-driven plan carry over. Switching plans doesn't reset your progress.
If you work for a nonprofit or the government
Public Service Loan Forgiveness cancels the remaining balance after 120 qualifying payments — ten years — while you work full time for a qualifying employer. PSLF forgiveness is tax-free.
Forgiveness through income-driven plans outside of PSLF is treated as taxable income under current law. Plan for that.
Refinancing: know what you're giving up
A private lender may offer you a lower rate. If you refinance federal loans privately, they become private loans permanently. You lose income-driven repayment, PSLF eligibility, and federal hardship protections. There is no undo.
For a stable high earner with no interest in forgiveness, refinancing can genuinely save money. For everyone else it's usually a bad trade.
If you can't pay
Call your servicer before you miss a payment. Deferment and forbearance exist. An income-driven plan may drop your payment to $10 or $0.
What you should never do is stop answering. Federal loans that go into default can lead to wage garnishment and seized tax refunds, and they don't disappear in bankruptcy under normal circumstances.
What you can do
- Log in to StudentAid.gov and write down every balance, rate, and servicer.
- Confirm which plans you're eligible for based on when your loans were disbursed.
- If you were on SAVE, act inside your 90-day window.
- Apply for income-driven repayment at StudentAid.gov/idr — use the IRS data tool, it processes faster.
- If you work for a nonprofit or government, submit the PSLF employer certification now and every year.
- Update your contact information with your servicer so you get notices.
Where to check this yourself
StudentAid.gov for everything federal. Loan rules change — verify current plan details there before advising anyone.