Reviewed program guide
Income-Driven Repayment Plan Enrollment
Attorney-supervised help applying for a federal repayment plan that sets your payment from your income and family size, and choosing which plan your loans still allow after the 2026 rule changes.
An income-driven repayment plan sets your federal student-loan payment from your income and family size instead of your balance. The current menu is narrower than it was a year ago. The SAVE plan ended after a court approved a settlement, and borrowers who were enrolled in it are being moved off. For Direct Loans made before July 1, 2026, Income-Based Repayment, Pay As You Earn and Income-Contingent Repayment may still be open; for loans made on or after that date, the Repayment Assistance Plan or the Tiered Standard plan applies. You can apply yourself at StudentAid.gov at no cost. What this service adds is a careful reading of your own loan record and a supervised judgment about which plan fits it.
Reading this guide does not decide eligibility. The free screening checks your answers against reviewed routing criteria.
Coming soon
A video guide is in production
We are preparing a reviewed, captioned explainer for this program. The written guide below is available now.
At a glance
Overview
An income-driven repayment plan sets your federal student-loan payment from your income and family size instead of your balance. The current menu is narrower than it was a year ago. The SAVE plan ended after a court approved a settlement, and borrowers who were enrolled in it are being moved off. For Direct Loans made before July 1, 2026, Income-Based Repayment, Pay As You Earn and Income-Contingent Repayment may still be open; for loans made on or after that date, the Repayment Assistance Plan or the Tiered Standard plan applies. You can apply yourself at StudentAid.gov at no cost. What this service adds is a careful reading of your own loan record and a supervised judgment about which plan fits it.
Who it may help
This matters if you hold federal student loans and your payment does not match what you earn, or if your servicer has told you to leave the SAVE plan and pick another one within 90 days. Loan type shapes the answer: FFEL loans are eligible for Income-Based Repayment only, and a consolidation loan that paid off a Parent PLUS loan follows a narrower path of its own. Borrowers with a long history under the old plan should also know that 60 or more qualifying payments made on or after July 1, 2024 can close off enrollment in Income-Based Repayment. Screening can organize preliminary facts and records, but screening cannot determine qualification or select a final path.
How it works
The application is the Income-Driven Repayment Plan Request, filed online at StudentAid.gov or on paper, and it goes to each holder or servicer separately, so split loans mean more than one request. You choose a plan, report marital status and family size, and document income one of two ways: by consenting to let the Department of Education pull your federal tax information from the IRS, or by supplying your own proof. Paper proof must be dated within 90 days of the day you sign, with the pay frequency written on it. Our part is assembling the record, reading your federal loan file, and putting the plan choice through attorney review before anything is signed. Administrative support can help organize forms, records, and communications; it does not replace the decision-maker's review.
Documents and next steps
Bring your federal loan file, the Download My Aid Data text file from your StudentAid.gov account, plus a dated capture of your payment counts, your most recent federal tax return or IRS transcript, and pay stubs or an employer letter showing gross pay for each source of taxable income. If you are married, we also need your spouse's income records and your filing status. Leave out proof of untaxed income such as Supplemental Security Income, child support or public assistance, because the form asks you not to send it. Where no pay records exist, a signed statement naming each source of income and its address can stand in their place. The next step is to compare the records with the cited official source and any current instructions issued by the responsible agency, court, creditor, or other decision-maker.
Read this carefully
Important considerations
Enrollment is not a one-time event. You recertify income and family size every year, and missing that deadline moves you onto a standard payment that is typically higher. Consenting to the IRS data pull is optional, but it is the route that lets the yearly check happen without refiling; FFEL borrowers cannot use it at all. Plan choice touches your taxes, since filing separately from a spouse can lower the payment and raise the tax bill, and the Repayment Assistance Plan counts family size more narrowly than the older plans. Borrowers on Pay As You Earn or Income-Contingent Repayment must move to a different plan before July 1, 2028. A balance forgiven at the end of a plan may be reportable as income, and California's treatment is a separate question. Attorney judgment is separate from administrative help and is required for individualized legal strategy or advice.
Common questions
Frequently asked questions
These answers provide general information. Your facts and records determine what may apply.
I was on the SAVE plan. What are my options now?
SAVE ended after a court approved a settlement between the Department of Education and the State of Missouri. From July 1, 2026 servicers began issuing notices giving enrolled borrowers 90 days to choose a legal plan, and borrowers who do not choose are placed into the Standard plan or the new Tiered Standard plan. For most people the realistic menu is the Repayment Assistance Plan, Tiered Standard, or Income-Based Repayment. One trap catches long-tenured borrowers: current rules bar enrollment in Income-Based Repayment for someone who made 60 or more qualifying payments under the old plan on or after July 1, 2024, which narrows the choice further. Your 90 days run from your own notice, so the date on that letter is the one to work from.
Can I still get on Pay As You Earn or Income-Contingent Repayment?
Only if every Direct Loan you hold was made before July 1, 2026 and you have not received a Direct Loan on or after that date. Even then, both plans are on the way out: the current application tells PAYE and ICR borrowers they must switch to, or be placed into, a different plan before July 1, 2028. Income-Based Repayment carries no equivalent cutoff and is the surviving older plan for pre-July 2026 loans. One narrow exception is worth flagging. A Direct Consolidation Loan that repaid a Parent PLUS loan is limited to Income-Contingent Repayment at first, with Income-Based Repayment available after at least one payment on that plan.
Do I have to let the Department of Education pull my tax information from the IRS?
No. The form states that your consent is not a condition of getting an income-driven plan. If you decline, you document income yourself instead: a pay stub or employer letter for each source of taxable income, dated within 90 days of your signature, with the pay frequency written on it. The practical trade-off is recertification. Consent is what allows the yearly income check to run without you refiling, and a missed recertification moves you to a higher standard payment. If you hold FFEL loans the choice is already made for you, since that section of the form is for Direct Loan borrowers, so your income goes in on paper.
Official sources
- Federal Student Aid, U.S. Department of Education (opens in a new window)
Retrieved Jul 24, 2026
Important disclosure
This page provides general information, not a qualification or legal determination. Screening and services cannot guarantee approval, forgiveness, discharge, settlement, timing, or any particular result. The responsible agency, court, creditor, or other decision-maker applies the controlling requirements.
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