Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE), Saving On A Valuable Education (SAVE)

First available to borrowers in December 2015, REPAYE is a federal income-driven repayment (IDR) plan available to all student loan borrowers with federal Direct Loans.

REPAYE was converted to SAVE in October 2023. All borrowers who were using REPAYE were automatically placed in SAVE.

SAVE was blocked by a federal court ruling in July 2024. All borrowers in SAVE were placed into an interest-free forbearance. No forgiveness credit was earned for loans in SAVE since July 2024.

In February 2025, another federal court ruling affirmed the pause on SAVE and also questioned the lawfulness of forgiveness under ICR and PAYE repayment plans.

On July 4, 2025, a tax and spending package was signed into law. The new law eliminates ICR, PAYE, and SAVE after July 1, 2028.

Shortly after the law was signed, the Department of Education announced that loans in SAVE would start to accrue interest on August 1, 2025.

No borrowers can apply for SAVE. 

Trying to leave the SAVE forbearance? Choose PAYE.

Historically, REPAYE and SAVE payments are always 10% of your Discretionary Income and are made for a maximum of 300 monthly payments over 25 years if you have graduate school loans. Any amounts remaining after 300 monthly payments are forgiven (treated as canceled debt and subject to federal and state income tax).

Upload your student aid file (available at studentaid.gov) into the VIN Foundation My Student Loans tool to determine your repayment plan eligibility.

If you have older federal student loans that are not Direct loans, you may be able to utilize a Direct federal consolidation loan in order to have many or all of your federal student loans qualify for REPAYE.  Visit StudentLoans.gov for more information on the federal student loan consolidation process.

Major Considerations: 

• Only Direct Loans will qualify for repayment under REPAYE or SAVE, regardless of the disbursement date.
• There is no maximum monthly payment for REPAE or SAVE. Your minimum monthly payment is always 10% of your respective Discretionary Income calculation.
• Switching from IBR or PAYE into REPAYE will result in the capitalization of unpaid interest.
• The maximum repayment period is 25 years under REPAYE or SAVE for those with graduate school loans (i.e., veterinarians). If you switch into or out of REPAYE or SAVE, you will get “credit for time served” under those repayment programs.
• REPAYE provides a very generous interest benefit. Only 50% of the unpaid interest not covered by your monthly payment is charged to your student loan account. SAVE offers a 100% unpaid interest subsidy. This can greatly reduce the amount of interest that accumulates during the course of repayment.
• REPAYE adds even more confusion for married borrowers. You must provide your spouse’s income with REPAYE, regardless of how you file your taxes. This is different from how spouse's income can be handled under IBR and PAYE.
• Annual income and family size documentation are required in order to continue using REPAYE or SAVE.
• Payments made under REPAYE or SAVE still count towards Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), the same as they have under IBR and PAYE.

REPAYE, SAVE Minimum Monthly Payments

Discretionary Income is a specific measure used by the federal government, defined as 150 percent of the poverty level as determined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for REPAYE and 225 percent of the poverty level for SAVE:

Your monthly payment due under REPAYE is 10% of your Discretionary Income divided by twelve.

Your monthly payment due under SAVE is up to 10% of your Discretionary Income divided by twelve. The more of your balance is from graduate/professional school, the closer you will be to 10%. If you only have loans from veterinary school, your SAVE minimum monthly payment will use 10% of your SAVE Discretionary Income.

This calculation reflects your MINIMUM monthly payment due under REPAYE or SAVE. You can always pay more if you can afford it. However, depending on your situation, it may not make financial sense to do so, especially if your payment due is less than the monthly interest accrual, OR you do not anticipate paying your loans off in full prior to forgiveness.

To remain in REPAYE or SAVE, you must provide yearly documentation of your income and family size. If you fail to provide timely documentation, your payment will revert to an alternative repayment plan, likely utilizing a calculation to ensure that your loan is paid in full based on the number of years you have remaining in REPAYE or SAVE. When you are converted to an alternative repayment plan, any unpaid interest will be capitalized, thereby increasing your principal balance. Payments made under this alternative repayment plan will count towards forgiveness; however, they do not count towards PSLF.

Interest Accumulation During Repayment

Monthly payments due under REPAYE are often less than the interest that accrues each month. This is called negative amortization. With a low enough income (ie, during an internship, residency, maternity leave, job loss/change, etc), it is possible to have a minimum monthly payment equal to zero. These zero amount payments still count towards the 300 monthly payments due prior to forgiveness.

For REPAYE, during periods of negative amortization, only 50% of the unpaid interest will be charged to your loan balance. In SAVE, 100% of the unpaid interest is not added to your balance. This will greatly reduce the unpaid interest balance remaining at forgiveness. Any unpaid principal and interest balance remaining after 300 monthly payments over 25 years is forgiven (or “canceled”) and treated as taxable income. The tax liability will depend on the amount forgiven and your federal and state marginal income tax rates during the year of forgiveness.

Generally speaking, paying more than the minimum amount due under REPAYE or SAVE will result in higher total repayment costs. If you are not able to pay your loans off in full prior to forgiveness, you’ll usually end up paying more in total than if you pay the minimum and save for the potential tax on forgiveness due after you reach the maximum repayment period. The more loan balance that you can push into forgiveness, the more you’ll reduce your total repayment costs, as long as you plan and save for the anticipated tax on canceled amounts. See the Forgiveness FAQ for more information.