The U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C.
Caroline Brehman | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
How the SAVE student loan plan works
Instead of paying 10% of their discretionary income a month toward their undergraduate student debt under the previous Revised Pay As You Earn Repayment Plan, or REPAYE, plan, borrowers will eventually be required to pay just 5% of their discretionary income under the SAVE plan.
Those who make less than $15 an hour won’t need to make any payments under the new option, the Education Department says.
“The SAVE plan is very generous to borrowers, almost like a grant after the fact,” said higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz.
Some of these benefits of the SAVE plan, including the change from 10% of discretionary income to 5%, won’t fully go into effect until next summer because of the timeline of regulatory changes.
Still, the Education Department says borrowers who sign up for the plan this summer will have their application processed before student loan repayments resume in October.
Borrowers who sign up during the beta application period will not need to enroll again later, Kantrowitz said.