Updated for the July 2026 rules · RISE final regulations
Which repayment plan actually costs you less?
SAVE is gone, RAP is here, and eight million borrowers have to choose. Compare RAP, IBR, and the Standard plan side by side — payment today, total cost, forgiveness, and the tax that now comes with it. Runs in your browser; nothing you enter leaves your device.
Projected balance over time
RAP balances never rise (unpaid interest is waived); IBR balances can grow when payments don't cover interest. Hover for exact figures.
View as data table
These are educational estimates using the formulas documented on our methodology page — assuming on-time payments and steady income growth. Your servicer's calculation is the official one; confirm at studentaid.gov.
The 2026 rules, briefly
How each plan works now
RAP — the Repayment Assistance Plan
RAP launched July 1, 2026 and is the only income-driven plan available for loans first disbursed after that date. Your annual payment is a percentage of your entire adjusted gross income — 1% if you earn just over $10,000, rising one point per $10,000 bracket to 10% above $100,000 (income of $10,000 or less pays a flat $120/year). Subtract $50 a month for each dependent claimed on your tax return, with a hard floor of $10/month that no credit can pierce.
Two genuinely good features: unpaid interest is waived every on-time month, so your balance never grows; and if your payment reduces principal by less than $50, the government tops it up — by the lesser of $50 or your payment. After 360 qualifying payments (30 years), the remainder is forgiven. One sharp edge: the brackets are cliffs, not marginal rates — a $1 raise across a $10,000 boundary raises the percentage applied to all your income. The calculator warns you when you're near one.
IBR — the survivor of the old system
IBR remains open to borrowers whose loans predate July 2026. You pay 15% (or 10%, if you first borrowed after July 2014 and take no new loans after July 2026) of income above 150% of the poverty line — so unlike RAP, low incomes genuinely pay $0, and $0 months still count toward forgiveness at 25 years (20 for newer borrowers). Payments are capped at what the 10-year Standard plan would have charged when you entered. The catch: unpaid interest isn't waived, so balances can grow — and the 2025 tax-exclusion expiry means forgiveness now arrives with a federal tax bill.
Standard — the benchmark
Fixed payments that clear the loan in 10 years ($50 minimum). No forgiveness, no tax bomb, and usually the lowest total cost for anyone whose income-driven payment would run near the cap anyway — which the comparison above makes visible immediately. Borrowers with any post-2026 loan get the new "Tiered Standard" instead: same idea, but 10 to 25 years depending on balance.
Full details with payment tables: how RAP actually works · the $50 dependent credit and $10 floor · married filing separately under RAP.
The trap to know before switching
Forgiveness credit moves in one direction. Months you paid on the old plans — IBR, PAYE, SAVE, ICR — count toward RAP's 30-year clock. But months paid on RAP never count toward IBR's 20/25-year clock. Try RAP and change your mind in five years, and those five years vanish from an IBR forgiveness timeline. If your strategy depends on IBR forgiveness, that's a door you close by walking through it. (PSLF is unaffected — RAP is a qualifying plan, 120 payments, still tax-free federally.)
Where to go deeper
- Five real borrowers compared — the cheapest plan flips more often than you'd think, by five-figure margins.
- On SAVE? You have 90 days, not two years — and doing nothing lands you on Standard, not RAP.
- The tax bomb is back — what 2026+ forgiveness costs, and the insolvency escape valve.
- All guides →
Frequently asked questions
Does my spouse’s income count under RAP if we file taxes separately?
No. The final regulations (34 CFR 685.209(e)(1)) are explicit: for a married borrower filing a separate federal return, only the borrower’s own income is used — for RAP and for IBR. An earlier Senate draft of the law would have counted spousal income regardless of filing status, but it did not survive. Note the trade-off: filing separately usually costs more in federal tax, and under RAP you only get the $50 dependent credit for dependents claimed on your own return.
Is there really no $0 payment under RAP?
Correct. RAP’s minimum payment is $10/month even at zero income (HEA §455(q)(4)(B)(ii)) — and the $10 floor applies after the dependent credit, so dependents can never reduce it further. IBR is different: if your calculated payment is under $5 it becomes $0, and $0 months still count toward IBR forgiveness.
Do payments I make on RAP count toward IBR forgiveness later?
No — and this is the biggest trap in the 2026 rules. Months paid on RAP never count toward IBR’s 20- or 25-year forgiveness clock, while months paid on older IDR plans (IBR, PAYE, SAVE, ICR) do count toward RAP’s 30-year clock. Switching old plan → RAP keeps your progress; RAP → IBR forfeits the RAP months. It is a one-way door.
Will forgiven student loan debt be taxed?
Federally, yes — for now. The tax exclusion on IDR forgiveness expired December 31, 2025 and was not extended, so forgiveness occurring in 2026 or later is federal taxable income in the year of discharge. PSLF remains tax-free federally, as do death and disability discharges (made permanently tax-free by the 2025 law). Many states will follow the federal treatment; a few (like Mississippi) tax even more broadly. If you’re insolvent when the debt is discharged, some or all of it may be excludable — talk to a tax professional.
I’m on SAVE. How long do I have to choose a new plan?
Less time than most people think. Following the court order blocking SAVE, servicers began sending exit notices in July 2026 giving borrowers 90 days to choose a plan — borrowers who don’t choose are moved to the Standard plan (not RAP). Separately, PAYE and ICR end July 1, 2028, and borrowers still on them are auto-enrolled in RAP. Also little-known: if you made 60+ payments on SAVE/REPAYE after July 2024, the new rules bar you from enrolling in IBR at all.
Can parent PLUS loans use RAP?
No. Parent PLUS loans — and any consolidation loan that repaid a parent PLUS loan — are permanently excluded from RAP. Grad PLUS loans and defaulted Direct loans are eligible.
What happens to unpaid interest under RAP?
It’s waived. If your on-time payment doesn’t cover the month’s interest, the government does not charge the difference — your balance never grows under RAP. On top of that, if your payment reduces principal by less than $50, the government adds a principal subsidy: the lesser of $50 or your payment, minus the principal you paid yourself. Careful with the fine print: a $10 minimum payment earns a $10 match, not $50.