Key Takeaways
- The first group of SAVE plan borrowers has a 90-day window that closes September 29 to pick a new repayment plan.
- Borrowers who take no action will be moved automatically to the Standard Repayment Plan or the new Tiered Standard Plan.
- The Education Department began sending the notices July 1 and expects to keep sending them in staggered waves through March 2027.
- An estimated 6.9 million borrowers were still enrolled in the defunct SAVE plan as of March 2026, with an average balance near $55,000.
Federal student loan borrowers still enrolled in the Saving on a Valuable Education repayment plan face an individual 90-day deadline to move to a new repayment plan, and the earliest of those deadlines lands September 29. Borrowers whose loan servicer notices arrived on July 1 are the first group whose SAVE enrollment ends, and any of those borrowers who has not selected a new plan by the deadline will be placed in a Standard repayment plan automatically. First bills under the new plan typically arrive in October or November.
The Education Department set September 29 as the earliest date the transition can take effect in a June 25 court filing. The department has told borrowers with loans in SAVE-related forbearance that they must pick a new repayment plan, and the 90-day notice sent by servicers explains that any borrower still enrolled in SAVE who does not submit a new application within 90 days will be placed on the Standard Repayment Plan. Borrowers whose loans first entered repayment on or after July 1, 2026, will instead be placed on the Tiered Standard Plan.
An analysis of Education Department data by higher-education expert Mark Kantrowitz put SAVE enrollment at roughly 6.9 million borrowers as of March 2026, with an average balance near $55,000. That is down from approximately 7.7 million borrowers a year earlier. Loan servicer Nelnet has said in its published FAQ that it is notifying nearly 3 million of its borrowers about the transition and expects to send notices in waves between July 2026 and March 2027, with each borrower’s 90-day clock starting the day that borrower’s notice arrives rather than on a single nationwide cutoff.
The fallback plans place borrowers in one of three tracks based on when their loans were disbursed. Borrowers with non-consolidated loans disbursed before July 1, 2026, are placed on a 10-year Standard plan. Borrowers with a Direct consolidation loan from before that date are placed on a Consolidation Standard plan with a term of 10 to 30 years depending on balance. Borrowers with any loans disbursed on or after July 1, 2026, are placed on the new Tiered Standard Plan, with a term of 10 to 25 years depending on balance. Payments on those plans are calculated from the loan balance rather than from the borrower’s current income. For a borrower with a $100,000 balance and $65,000 in annual income, a payment that could be as low as roughly $170 a month under SAVE would land somewhere between $650 and $1,150 a month on a Standard plan, depending on interest rate and term.
Borrowers do not have to wait for a notice to change plans. Federal student aid options are available at StudentAid.gov, where the Repayment Assistance Plan, Income-Based Repayment, and the still-available Pay As You Earn plan can be requested. Under the Repayment Assistance Plan, monthly payments run from 1 percent to 10 percent of earnings with a $10 minimum, a $50 monthly reduction per qualifying dependent, and forgiveness after 30 years. Income-Based Repayment sets monthly payments at 10 percent of discretionary income for borrowers whose loans originated on or after July 1, 2014, with forgiveness after 20 years, and 15 percent of discretionary income for borrowers with older loans and forgiveness after 25 years. Pay As You Earn and Income-Contingent Repayment remain open to eligible borrowers, but both plans are set to expire on July 1, 2028, and neither still leads to forgiveness. Borrowers who miss a servicer deadline can still apply for an income-driven plan later. Loans that stop being paid enter delinquency and, after 270 days without a payment, enter default; after 360 days, the government may pursue wage garnishment, tax refund offsets, and Social Security offsets.
