Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP): Which Plan to Pick and How to Enroll

If every federal student loan you have was made before July 1, 2026, you can choose the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP), Income-Based Repayment (IBR) or a fixed plan. Once you have any federal student loan made on or after that date, including a new consolidation loan, your choice narrows to RAP or the new Tiered Standard plan. RAP charges 1% to 10% of your adjusted gross income (AGI), minus $50 a month for each dependent, with a $10 minimum, and it waives the interest an on-time payment leaves unpaid. Apply today at StudentAid.gov/idr: the application takes about 10 minutes, and processing usually takes about 15 business days.

Which plans are open to you

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which the U.S. Department of Education (ED) calls the Working Families Tax Cuts Act, created both new plans. Your loan dates set your menu:

The Tiered Standard plan sets a fixed payment by what you owe when you enter repayment: 10 years under $25,000, 15 years from $25,000, 20 years from $50,000 and 25 years at $100,000 or more, with a $50 monthly minimum. ED's example: a $30,000 balance costs $262 a month over 15 years, against $341 on the old 10-year standard plan.

How RAP sets your payment

Take your bracket's percentage of your whole AGI, divide by 12 and subtract $50 for each dependent you claim on your federal tax return. The rate starts at 1% for AGI over $10,000 and rises one point per $10,000, to 10% above $100,000; AGI of $10,000 or less sets a flat $120 a year. Every payment is at least $10.

Crossing a bracket line raises the whole payment: $40,000 costs $100 a month, $40,500 costs $135. Married filing jointly, RAP uses your combined AGI and lowers your share when your spouse also has federal student loans. Filing separately, it counts only your AGI and the dependents on your own return.

On every on-time payment, ED waives the interest your payment leaves unpaid, and when your payment cuts principal by less than $50, ED adds a match so principal falls by your payment or $50, whichever is less. ED's example: a single borrower earning $45,000 with $35,000 owed paid $176 a month under the older income-driven plans. Under RAP the payment is $150, $40 of interest is waived and $50 comes off principal every month.

Whatever remains after 360 qualifying monthly payments is forgiven without an application. Past payments under IBR, PAYE, ICR and the 10-year standard plan count toward the 360, and RAP is a qualifying plan for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). If you pay extra, tell your servicer to keep your next due date in place: a month with no payment due earns no waiver or match.

RAP or IBR: pick by income and years already paid

IBR charges 10% of your income above 150% of the federal poverty guideline if you had no federal loan balance when you borrowed on or after July 1, 2014, and 15% if your loans are older. It caps the payment at the 10-year standard amount on the balance you had when you entered IBR, and it forgives the rest after 20 years at 10% or 25 years at 15%. For 2026, 150% of the guideline in the 48 contiguous states is $23,940 for one person and $40,980 for a family of three; at or below that, IBR is $0.

• Pick IBR if your income is at, below or just above that line: a single borrower at $22,000 pays $0 on IBR and $36.67 on RAP.
• Pick IBR if you have many years of IBR payments behind you: they count toward RAP's 360, but IBR forgives at 240 or 300.
• Pick IBR if you are single with no dependents, pay the 10% rate and earn more than $70,000: at $100,000, IBR is $633.83 against RAP's $750.
• Pick RAP if you are single with no dependents and pay the 15% rate on more than about $28,000, or the 10% rate on about $35,000 to $70,000, unless IBR's cap, the 10-year standard payment on your IBR balance, comes in below your RAP figure; RAP has no cap. ED's $45,000 borrower pays $150 on RAP, $175.50 on 10% IBR and $263.25 on 15%.

Leaving IBR adds its unpaid interest to your principal, so make that switch once.

Apply for RAP today

1. Sign in at StudentAid.gov with your FSA ID and note each loan's type, date made and servicer.
2. Run the Repayment Calculator to see every plan you qualify for and its estimated payment.
3. Open the income-driven repayment application at StudentAid.gov/idr, select RAP or IBR, and consent to ED pulling your tax information from the IRS. If you earn less now than your last return shows, report your current income and upload proof. If you filed no 2025 return, upload other proof of income, or file first with free help from VITA.
4. Submit once. Your account goes into a processing forbearance of up to 60 days, and resubmitting only delays it.
5. When your servicer's notice shows the new payment, turn on autopay on the servicer's site. Enroll by 11:59 p.m. ET on December 31, 2026 to get a 1% interest rate reduction through June 30, 2028 on Direct Loans first disbursed on or after July 1, 2012.

Where it splits

• If you were in SAVE: a court order ended SAVE on March 10, 2026. You have 90 days from the date on your servicer's letter or email; apply at least three weeks early. Miss it and ED puts you on Standard, or on Tiered Standard if you hold a loan made on or after July 1, 2026; you can still apply for RAP, or for IBR if every loan predates July 1, 2026. Months in the SAVE forbearance count toward neither income-driven forgiveness nor PSLF; PSLF Buyback can recover them once you have certified 120 months of qualifying employment.
• If you have Parent PLUS loans: RAP excludes Parent PLUS loans and any consolidation loan that paid one off. A Parent PLUS loan made on or after July 1, 2026 goes on the Tiered Standard plan. A Parent PLUS consolidation loan repaying under ICR stays there through June 30, 2028, and on July 1, 2028 ED moves it to IBR unless you choose another plan first. If your Parent PLUS consolidation loan was made before July 1, 2026 and sits on another plan, switch it to ICR now and make at least one ICR payment by June 30, 2028 to join that move; any new Direct Loan ends this route. A consolidation made today is a new loan, and Tiered Standard is its only plan.
• If you plan to borrow again, consolidate or leave default: any Direct Loan or Direct Consolidation Loan made on or after July 1, 2026 puts all your Direct Loans on the RAP-or-Tiered-Standard menu and closes IBR. Older FFEL loans reach RAP only through consolidation, with the same result. In default, start at the Defaulted Loans Support Center, which handles rehabilitation and consolidation online.
• If you work toward PSLF: choose RAP or IBR, both qualifying plans. Tiered Standard payments never count toward PSLF, whether you chose the plan or ED placed you on it.

If your payment or plan comes out wrong

Your servicer's repayment disclosure lists the payment, how ED calculated it and how to reach ED if it misses your current income or dependents. Ask for a recalculation with proof of current income. After a job loss or divorce you can ask at any point, and the new amount starts a fresh 12-month period.

• Take a stuck application or wrong bill to the FSA Ombudsman Group at StudentAid.gov/feedback-center.
• File a student loan complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at consumerfinance.gov/complaint or (855) 411-2372. Most companies respond within 15 days.
• If a disability keeps you from working, check total and permanent disability discharge before you settle on a plan.

What to say when you call your servicer

"I applied for the Repayment Assistance Plan at StudentAid.gov on [date]. Please tell me the amount and due date of my first RAP payment, and set my account so extra payments keep my next due date in place."

Today

1. Run the Repayment Calculator, then apply at StudentAid.gov/idr for RAP or IBR.
2. Watch for the approval notice with your new payment and first due date, and turn on autopay that day.

After that, ED recalculates your payment each year from the IRS data you agreed to share. Answer any income request by its date: until you do, RAP bills the 10-year standard amount.