- How to apply for RAPApplying is free and done online at StudentAid.gov. Here is what you need, what happens after you apply, and how to keep the payment right each year.
- Interest waiver and principal matchTwo rules mean an on-time RAP payment always shrinks your balance: unpaid interest is not charged, and principal is matched up to $50.
- Married borrowersOn a joint return RAP uses the couple's combined AGI and splits the payment by loan balances. Filing separately uses only your own income and dependents.
- Parent PLUS loansParent PLUS loans are shut out of RAP. Here is what parents can still use, what changes on July 1, 2028, and how much parents can borrow now.
- RAP and PSLFRAP payments count toward PSLF. For public service workers, the plan with the lowest payments usually wins, because the rest is forgiven tax-free after 120.
- SAVE is endingSAVE borrowers have to move to another plan. Compare your real options on your own numbers before the deadline in your notice.
How to use these guides
The Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) is a new federal student loan repayment plan with its own rules. It opened on July 1, 2026, and borrowers who hold both older and newer loans are sorting out which rules apply to them. Each guide covers one decision and ends with the calculator set up for it.
Start with the RAP calculator if you want your payment first, or the RAP vs IBR comparison if you can choose between plans. The payment chart lists every bracket at once.
Which guide do you need?
- You were on SAVE: the SAVE plan is ending. The 90-day notices began around July 1, 2026, and anyone who doesn't choose is likely moved to the Standard plan.
- You're ready to switch: how to apply for RAP covers what you provide, what the servicer sends back and yearly recertification.
- You work in public service: RAP and PSLF. RAP payments count, and with PSLF the lowest payments usually win.
- You're married: RAP for married borrowers. Joint returns combine incomes and split the payment by balances.
- Your payment seems to be mostly interest: the interest waiver and principal match.
- You borrowed on or after July 1, 2026: the Tiered Standard plan and RAP are your only choices.
- You're a parent borrower: Parent PLUS loans under the 2026 rules.
- You're about to borrow for graduate school: the 2026 loan limits. Grad PLUS has ended for new borrowers.
Key dates
- July 4, 2025: the budget law creating RAP is signed.
- March 10, 2026: a court judgment ends the SAVE plan.
- May 1, 2026: the Department publishes the RAP and Tiered Standard regulations.
- July 1, 2026: RAP opens; the new loan limits and Tiered Standard plan begin; servicers start sending SAVE borrowers 90-day notices.
- July 1, 2027: the economic hardship and unemployment deferments end for new loans, and discretionary forbearance on them is capped.
- July 1, 2028: PAYE and ICR close. Borrowers still on them are moved to RAP, or to IBR for loans RAP can't take.
What every guide is based on
The rules come from the federal regulations for Direct Loans as they have stood since July 1, 2026: 34 CFR 685.209 for income-driven plans including RAP, 685.208 for the fixed plans, 685.219 for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, and 685.200 and 685.203 for loan limits. Dated sources for things that change, such as poverty guidelines, interest rates and the SAVE timeline, are listed on the sources and methods page.
These are independent guides. We are not the Department of Education or a loan servicer, and your servicer's calculation decides your payment.