Getting Student Loan Help in Early 2025

A recent court ruling has undercut almost all income-driven repayment (IDR) plans, including the SAVE, PAYE and ICR plans. This leaves borrowers who can’t afford their monthly payments with very few options.

The situation is fluid. This article is designed to provide guidance for borrowers as the situation evolves. It will be edited and updated as we learn more.

Where Things Stand

These are the most important facts at this time:

• The SAVE Repayment Plan is dead — The court’s decision effectively ends the SAVE Plan. We provide details in this article
• Income-Based Repayment (IBR) is untouched — The ruling targeted IDR plans developed by the Department of Education (ED). IBR is exempt because it was created directly by Congress. Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) was spared for the same reason.
• IDR applications are temporarily unavailable — In reaction to the court’s ruling, ED disabled the online IDR application and removed the PDF form from StudentAid.gov. At the moment, there is no way to apply for any IDR plan (including IBR). ED took the same step after a July 2024 decision temporarily suspended SAVE. It took months for the Department to update the application and restore access.
• The future of IDR is unclear — ED hasn’t announced if it will reform IDR plans to conform with the court’s decision or move borrowers to alternate plans.

What Should You Do Now?

Your next steps largely depend on your specific circumstances. However, there are some actions all borrowers should take.

• Confirm your loan’s status — Log in to your StudentAid.gov and loan servicer accounts to check the current status of your loans. What repayment plan are you enrolled in? Are you in a deferment or forbearance? Are you past due on a payment? Don’t assume. Be certain. Mistakes happen, and they can cost you.
• Update your contact info — While you’re checking your loan status, make sure your name, email, phone number and address are all current. Missing important notifications can lead to late payments, fines and negative credit reporting before you’re aware of any missed payments.
• Watch out for scams — Scammers will take advantage of the current confusion to target student loan borrowers. Only trust information from ED, your servicer, your former school, and representatives of your school. Read this article to learn more about avoiding scams.
• Beware of disinformation — You’ll hear some wild rumors over the next few months. Use trusted sources like ED or your loan servicer to verify the information.

To get additional advice, click the link that matches your situation:

• I’m currently enrolled in the SAVE Plan
• My application for an IDR plan is being processed
• I can’t afford my current monthly payments

If You’re Enrolled in SAVE

If your SAVE application was approved , you should still be enrolled in the SAVE Plan. Your loans should also be in a general forbearance. That means you don’t need to make payments and your debt isn’t accruing interest.

ED believes your forbearance will continue until at least September 2025. Your first payment will be due no earlier than December 2025.

At some point, you’ll need to switch to another repayment plan. ED announced that borrowers will be given time to choose from their “updated options.” It’s unclear what those options will be or when they will be revealed.

While officials are making up their minds, you can get ready by taking these steps:

• Automate your IDR recertification — To qualify for an IDR plan, you need to update your income and family size every year. Don’t get caught off-guard. Log in to StudentAid.gov and set your account to automatically recertify IDR.
• Prepare for repayment — Whatever plans are available, it’s clear that you’ll need to start making payments sometime in winter 2025. Get ready by following these tips.
• Check for updates — In addition to official emails, ED will update this page as they formulate a response to the court’s ruling.

If Your IDR Application is Processing

If you submitted an IDR application and your loan servicer started processing it before Feb. 18, 2025, you should be in a processing forbearance. That means your debt is growing as interest accrues.

If your application was accepted more than 60 days ago, you should be in a general forbearance. Your payments will still be paused, but your loans WILL NOT gain interest.

At the end of February, ED directed loan servicers to stop processing IDR applications for three months. This was an initial step and is likely to change as the situation evolves. Watch for new developments, and follow these steps:

• Monitor your loans closely — Set a monthly reminder to check if your account status has changed.
• Prepare for repayment — Use your forbearance time wisely. Follow these tips to be ready when your payments start.

If You Can’t Afford Your Payments

While IDR plans aren’t available right now, there are still ways to lower or pause your monthly payments. The most important thing you can do is to act immediately. It will likely take months for ED to respond to the court’s ruling against IDR.

You don’t have that kind of time. After 90 days of missed payments, your account will be reported as delinquent to the credit bureaus. If you’ve already missed a payment, the clock is ticking.

Being reported to the credit bureaus can have a big impact on your personal finances. Borrowers who have hit the 90-day delinquency mark have seen their credit scores drop 100 to 200 points in recent months. Borrowers who continue to ignore their payments can expect more serious consequences.

There are a few ways to control your monthly payments:

• Switch repayment plans — At present, you can’t apply for an IDR plan, but some older plans are still available. The Graduated and Extended repayment plans aren’t as generous as IDR, but they can still lower your payments.
• Consolidate your loans — Loan Consolidation combines two or more existing loans into one mega-loan. Depending on the types and amounts of your current loans, you may qualify for additional repayment options that can lower your monthly payment after consolidation.
• Pause your payments — Deferment and forbearance are umbrella terms for several different plans that temporarily pause your monthly payments. They protect you from the negative effects of delinquency while you pursue a long-term solution.

If pausing your payments is the best thing for now, we recommend pursuing your deferment and forbearance options in this order:

1. Deferment — OR . There are also .
2. Administrative Forbearance — If you want to apply for an IDR plan and can’t because the application is offline, call your loan servicer. Explain the situation and ask for your account to be placed in an “administrative forbearance” until you’re able to submit your application. This should pause your payments without your loans building interest.
3. General Forbearance — If you have no other options, apply for a “general forbearance.” This pauses your payments, but your loans will be charged interest. You only have three years of general forbearance available to you for your entire repayment period. That’s one of the reasons we recommend pursuing a deferment or administrative forbearance first.

Get More Help

Student loan repayment can be confusing at the best of times. The constant changes experienced since 2020 have only made it worse. The good news is you don’t need to do this on your own!

Help with your student loans is freely available:

• Talk to a Borrower Advocate — Call Student Connections at (866) 311-9450. Our Borrower Advocates will listen to your problems, help you find a solution, and help you put it into action. Our services are paid for by schools across the country and are FREE to you.
• Get help from your loan servicer — Federal law requires your loan servicer to provide you with FREE assistance. If you don’t know who your loan servicer is, follow these instructions. If calling your servicer feels intimidating, read our tips on how to make your call less stressful.
• Use the Loan Simulator — The FSA Loan Simulator can use your actual loan data to narrow down your repayment options. Note that it has not been updated in response to the court’s decision and may provide answers that are currently unavailable.
• Define your goals — If you prefer a DIY approach, try working through this exercise on defining your student loan repayment goals.

Don’t wait! Get help today!