You may be able to lower your monthly amount. Very low-income borrowers can qualify for payment plans as low as $0 per month under existing Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) Plans.

You can ask your loan servicer about switching your payment plan or about applying for loan forbearance, which is a temporary pause in loan payments. With forbearance, you won’t have to make a monthly payment, or you can temporarily make smaller payments. Forbearance may provide temporary relief but can delay progress towards paying back your loan or qualifying for loan forgiveness.

Important: If you switch to an IDR plan, you will need to confirm your income (or “recertify”) with your loan servicer every year. Your monthly payment could increase if you miss updating your income. You can recertify your IDR plan and find any deadlines on your studentaid.gov account.

Tip: Create an annual reminder in your cell phone to help you remember to recertify your income.

More resources:

• Kinds of federal student loan payment plans
• Get free financial counseling

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government paused monthly student loan payments for borrowers. Required payments have restarted, and it’s important that you know the status of your monthly payments.

To find this information, log into your studentaid.gov account. You will be able to see your loan balance(s), loan servicer(s), and important notices about your payments.

If you miss multiple loan payments, your loans could go into default. There are serious risks to having federal loans in default. For example, the federal government can legally take a portion of your federal income tax refund, your wages, or your Social Security benefits.

To get help, call your loan servicer now. You can find out who your loan servicer is by logging into your studentaid.gov account. You can ask your servicer about options like switching your repayment plan, loan rehabilitation, and forbearance options.

More resources:

• Getting out of default
• Loan cancelation and forgiveness options
• Get free legal help with student loan issues
• Get free financial counseling

To stay on your IDR plan, you need to update or “recertify” your income every year. Your recertification deadline can be found in your studentaid.gov account dashboard. Missing your date can cause your monthly payment to increase to an amount that is often unaffordable.

To get help, call your loan servicer now. You can find out who your loan servicer is by logging into your studentaid.gov account.

Important: Recertifying or updating your income to stay on an IDR plan is different from certifying your employment if you are seeking Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF).

More resources:

• About recertifying IDR plans
• How to update your studentaid.gov contact information

According to Federal Student Aid, all borrowers currently enrolled in the SAVE Plan must apply for a new repayment plan. Starting on July 1, 2026, loan servicers will start issuing notices telling these borrowers to enroll in another repayment plan within 90 days.

You can review other Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plan options with your loan servicer and request a new plan immediately. If you don’t request to enroll in a different plan, you’ll be automatically enrolled into one of the two new standard repayment plans.

Pay close attention to information coming from your servicer about next steps. You can also:

• Use Federal Student Aid’s Loan Simulator tool to find a new repayment plan that will work for your budget.
• Make sure that studentaid.gov and your loan servicer have your current contact information.

More resources:

• Upcoming changes to the SAVE Plan
• New deadlines for enrolling in IDR Plans
• Income-Driven Repayment Plans
• Kinds of federal student loan payment plans

A new federal law will remove important loan repayment options for Direct Parent PLUS loans.

If you’re a Parent PLUS loan borrower, you could lose access to income driven repayment (IDR) plans and Public Service Loan Forgiveness on July 1, 2026. You are eligible to keep your access to these programs if you consolidate your loans into a new Direct Consolidation Loan before July 1, 2026.

If you need to consolidate your loans, you must start the process now. The loan consolidation process can take up to 60 days. If you also want to be able to enroll in an IDR plan, you need to complete the loan consolidation process by June 30, 2026.

If your loan consolidation process doesn’t finish in time, you will:

• Lose access to IDR plans.
• Lose access to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness process.
• Only have access to the new Tiered Standard Repayment Plan.

More resources:

• Upcoming changes to Parent PLUS loans
• Consolidating your student loans
• Video: Federal Student Loan Consolidation
• Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) Plans

If you already have Parent PLUS loans and take out any other federal student loan on or after July 1, 2026, all your federal loans will be moved to one of the two new standard repayment plans. This will happen even if:

• You’re taking out new federal loans for your own education (i.e. not a Parent PLUS loan).
• You’ve already consolidated your existing Parent PLUS loans into a Direct Consolidation Loan.
• You have Parent PLUS Loans that have already gone through a double consolidation process.

If you take out new federal student loans after July 1, 2026, you will lose access to Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plans and Public Service Loan Forgiveness. If you need to keep your access to these programs, you cannot take out additional federal student loans starting July 1, 2026.

More resources:

• Upcoming changes to IDR plans
• Get free financial counseling
• Get free legal help with student loan issues

Your federal student loans may be forgiven, canceled, or discharged under certain circumstances. That means you won’t have to pay back some or all your loan(s) if you meet the requirements.

You may be eligible for forgiveness programs based on:

• Your employer or career field (Examples: Public Service Loan Forgiveness, Teacher Loan Forgiveness.)
• Problems with your school (Examples: Closed School Discharge, Borrower Defense Discharge.)
• Your income or certain financial issues (Example: Bankruptcy Discharge.)
• Other life circumstances (Examples: Disability Discharge, Discharge Due to Death, Forgery Loan Discharge.)

Federal student loan forgiveness programs are administered by the U.S. Department of Education and apply only to federal student loans.

See all the options for getting a federal student loan forgiven or canceled.

Under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, you may be eligible to have the rest of your loan balance forgiven. You need to:

• Work full-time for a government or nonprofit organization. For example, government and nonprofit employees, teachers, and even medical professionals may be eligible for the program.
• Make 120 qualifying monthly payments while working for your qualifying employer.

Learn more about how PSLF works and if you qualify.

More resources:

• All federal student loan forgiveness options

Teachers may be eligible for two different loan forgiveness programs. However, you can’t work towards forgiveness under both programs at the same time.

Under the Teacher Loan Forgiveness (TLF) Program, you may be eligible to have up to $17,500 of your loans forgiven. You need to:

• Teach full time for five full academic years in a row.
• Teach in a low-income school or work for an educational service agency.
• Meet other qualifications.

Teachers may also qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). However, if you receive TLF, the five years of service that qualified you to get TLF will not also count toward PSLF.

Learn more about how TLF compares to PSLF so you can decide which program is right for you.

More resources:

• All federal student loan forgiveness options

See a list of online & local resources that can help you navigate your student loans.

Non-U.S. citizens may still be eligible to get federal student loans if they are a U.S. national, permanent resident, or fall into certain immigration categories.

Undocumented students, including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, are not eligible for federal student aid. However, you may still be eligible for other types of student financial aid including state aid, school aid, or private scholarships.

Find more information for Non-U.S. citizens and immigrants.

If you think you may be a victim of identity theft, disable your studentaid.gov account and alert your loan servicer immediately.

Identity theft and fraud can impact your federal loans in many ways. Learn more about what to do if your identity was stolen and you have student loans.

Being incarcerated does not automatically pause student loan payments. However, you may be able to pause, defer, or lower your monthly student loan payment. Jump to see more topics on managing loan payments, and contact your loan servicer to discuss your options.

Find more information for incarcerated student loan borrowers.