More than 7 million Americans will be forced to change their student loan repayment plan beginning on Wednesday, as the Save plan officially ends. The termination of the Biden-era initiative, which was launched in 2023, coincides with a larger overhaul of the US student loan repayment system.

The seismic changes to the student debt landscape are the results of the Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed in 2025 and a March 2026 federal court ruling that the Save plan, an income-driven repayment program created with the goal of cutting undergraduate loans in half, was unconstitutional.

Borrowers on the Save plan will now have 90 days to choose a different repayment plan. Those with loans issued before 1 July 2026 – and who do not plan to take out more loans – will retain access to multiple existing income-driven payment and fixed-income plans, including the income-based repayment (IBR), pay as you earn and income contingent repayment (ICR) plans, which offer loan forgiveness between 20 to 25 years after payments. The latter two options, however, will also be dismantled by the summer of 2028.

New borrowers taking out loans on or after 1 July 2026 will only have access to the new repayment assistance plan (RAP) or the new tiered standard repayment plan. Under RAP, monthly payments are calculated based on a borrower’s adjusted gross income (AGI), rather than their discretionary income. If a borrower has an AGI above $10,000, monthly payments range from 1% to 10% of that amount. For those below that threshold, the monthly payment is $10. Loans are forgiven after 30 years. The tiered standard plan is a fixed-payment plan where payments last between 10 and 25 years depending on the initial balance and are at least $50 a month. Some borrowers may be automatically enrolled in this program if they are entering repayment and haven’t chosen another eligible plan.