The Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan is a federal loan repayment plan that falls under the umbrella of income-driven repayment (IDR). This plan replaced Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE) in August 2023.
The plan will initially be based on 10% of discretionary income for all eligible Direct Loans, however, it will increase the income exception from 150% to 225% of the poverty line. The plan excludes spousal income for those who are married filing separately. Additionally, the remaining monthly interest after making a payment under the SAVE plan is eliminated on subsidized and unsubsidized loans.
Additional changes will be implemented to SAVE in July 2024. Payments under SAVE on undergraduate loans will go down to 5% of discretionary income. Borrowers with undergraduate and graduate loans will pay a weighted average between 5% to 10% based on the original principal balance of loans. Additionally, the forgiveness timeline under SAVE can be shorter. For borrowers with an original loan balance of $12,000, after 10 years of payments in SAVE, the remaining balance can be forgiven. The time period for forgiveness increases by a year for every additional $1,000 in original loan balance up to 20 years for undergraduate loans and 25 years for graduate loans. Payments made before 2024 will count towards the new maximum forgiveness timeline under SAVE.