SAVE Is Ending: RAP vs SAVE and Your 90-Day Checklist

The SAVE Plan is no longer just "paused." A court order ended SAVE on March 10, 2026, and servicers are notifying SAVE borrowers between July 1 and August 15, 2026. Once your notice is sent, you have 90 days to choose another repayment plan.

This guide explains the new Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP), how it differs from SAVE, and what to do before your servicer's deadline.

What changed on July 1, 2026?

Starting July 1, 2026, borrowers can access two new repayment options:

RAP: an income-driven plan based on adjusted gross income (AGI) and dependents
Tiered Standard: a fixed-payment standard plan with 10, 15, 20, or 25-year terms based on balance

Borrowers who are still in SAVE should watch for a servicer notice. If you do not make an election during your 90-day window, you may be moved into a standard-style plan that can raise your payment.

How to calculate your personal 90-day deadline

The 90-day clock is not the same for every SAVE borrower. Servicers are expected to send notices in waves, so your deadline depends on the date your servicer sends your notice.

Do not assume your deadline is exactly 90 days after July 1, 2026. Save the notice, write down the sent date, and count 90 calendar days from that date. If your servicer gives a specific deadline in the notice, use that date.

What happens if you miss the 90-day deadline?

If you do nothing, you should not expect to stay on SAVE indefinitely or be automatically moved into the lowest IDR payment. You may be placed into a standard-style repayment plan where income and family size do not lower the bill.

That can be a problem if your budget depends on an income-driven payment, if you are pursuing PSLF, or if you have been in repayment for many years. Standard payments are designed to pay the loan off on a fixed schedule, not to preserve a low monthly bill.

Why Standard repayment can surprise SAVE borrowers

Standard repayment is not always one simple payment amount. Borrowers with loans that were never consolidated are usually looking at a 10-year Standard plan. Borrowers with Direct Consolidation loans may have a longer Standard term based on the consolidation balance.

The painful part is timing. If you entered repayment years ago, the remaining Standard schedule may be much shorter than a fresh 10-year estimate. That can make the automatic payment far higher than the payment you were used to under SAVE.

For PSLF borrowers, Standard repayment also deserves extra caution. A 10-year Standard payment can count for PSLF, but longer consolidation Standard schedules generally do not help the same way. If PSLF is your goal, compare RAP, IBR, PAYE, and ICR before accepting a default placement.

RAP vs SAVE at a glance

Feature	SAVE Plan	RAP
Current status	Ended by court order	Available beginning July 1, 2026
Payment base	Discretionary income after a poverty-line exclusion	AGI, before any poverty-line exclusion
Payment rate	5% for undergraduate loans, 10% for graduate loans	1-10% of AGI based on income tier
Minimum monthly payment	Could be $0	At least $10
Dependent adjustment	Larger family size increased the poverty-line exclusion	Monthly payment reduced by $50 per dependent
Forgiveness timeline	Previously 10-25 years depending on debt and loan type	30 years, or 120 qualifying payments for PSLF
Interest treatment	Unpaid interest subsidy	Unpaid monthly interest subsidy after full, on-time payments
Principal progress	Not the main feature	Matching principal payment up to $50 when needed
Parent PLUS access	Limited, generally not direct	Parent PLUS consolidation loans are not eligible

RAP payment example

Assume a single borrower with no dependents has $50,000 AGI.

RAP uses the more than $40,000 and not more than $50,000 tier, or 4% of AGI
$50,000 x 4% = $2,000 per year
Estimated RAP payment: about $167/month

That is different from SAVE because RAP does not first subtract 225% of the federal poverty guideline. For lower-income borrowers who relied on $0 SAVE payments, RAP's $10 minimum and AGI-based formula can matter a lot.

Who should compare plans carefully?

Borrowers who may dislike RAP

You had a $0 SAVE payment and cannot absorb a new monthly bill
You are close to IDR forgiveness under an older plan
You have Parent PLUS loans or consolidation loans that include Parent PLUS
You need the lowest possible monthly payment and may qualify for IBR

Borrowers who may like RAP

You want an income-driven plan available under the new 2026 rules
Your payment is lower under RAP than IBR or PAYE
You value the unpaid-interest waiver and matching principal benefit
You are pursuing PSLF and RAP is your lowest qualifying payment

Should you wait, switch now, or compare first?

For most borrowers, the best first move is not waiting until day 91. It is running the numbers before the deadline. Compare your RAP payment against IBR, PAYE, ICR, and Standard repayment, then submit a plan choice before automatic placement becomes an issue.

If your income dropped since your last tax return, be ready to provide current income documentation. If you authorize IRS tax information sharing through StudentAid.gov, the IDR application may be faster because you may not need to upload income documents manually.

RAP benefits also depend on payment behavior. The unpaid-interest waiver, principal match, and PSLF progress all rely on making full, on-time monthly payments under the applicable rules. Auto pay can help, but you should still monitor your servicer account after switching.

Your 90-day action checklist

Check your servicer notice date. Your 90-day clock starts when the notice is sent, not when you happen to read about the policy change.
Log in to StudentAid.gov. Confirm your current repayment plan, loan types, and servicer.
Run estimates before switching. Compare RAP, IBR, PAYE, ICR, and standard repayment using your AGI, dependents, loan balance, and PSLF status.
Watch Parent PLUS rules. Direct Consolidation loans that include Parent PLUS loans are not eligible for RAP.
Submit your choice before the deadline. Do not wait for automatic placement if your budget depends on an income-driven payment.
Consider auto pay. The Department of Education announced a temporary 1% auto-pay interest-rate reduction from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2028 for eligible borrowers.

Source notes

This article uses current public guidance from the U.S. Department of Education RAP fact sheet, the Department's repayment update, and the Edfinancial/Federal Student Aid RAP page. Policy implementation can still change, so confirm your final choice with StudentAid.gov or your loan servicer before submitting an application.

Bottom line

RAP is not a one-for-one SAVE replacement. It can help some borrowers by waiving unpaid monthly interest and supporting principal progress, but it also uses AGI directly, has a $10 minimum payment, and stretches IDR forgiveness to 30 years.

Use the IDR Calculator to compare estimates, then apply or update your plan through StudentAid.gov.