Student Loans

Repayment Assistance Plan

The income-driven plan that replaced the others. A share of adjusted gross income set by a bracket, with unpaid interest waived and a discharge after 360 payments.

How it works

  • The payment is a percentage of the whole adjusted gross income, from 1% to 10%, chosen by which bracket the income falls in. The rate applies to all of it, not to the slice inside the bracket, so the payment steps up at each boundary instead of bending.
  • Fifty dollars a month comes off for each dependant claimed on the federal return, and the payment never falls below ten dollars.
  • Where a full, on-time payment does not cover the month's interest, the rest is waived rather than carried. That applies to subsidized and unsubsidized loans alike, for as long as the borrower stays in the plan, which is why a balance in RAP does not grow.
  • Where a full, on-time payment moves the principal by less than fifty dollars, the Department makes up the difference to fifty.
  • Paying more than the amount due can reduce or cancel both the waiver and the matching payment, because the extra goes to accrued interest first. The Department has said more guidance is coming on this.
  • Parent PLUS loans cannot be repaid under RAP, and neither can a consolidation loan that repaid one.

Compare this against the other plans

Sources

  1. Repayment plans and important definitions, U.S. Department of Education. Checked on . Backs the eleven Repayment Assistance Plan brackets and their rates; the $50 monthly deduction for each dependant; the $10 monthly minimum payment; the $50 cap on the matching principal payment; discharge after 360 qualifying payments over at least 30 years; the interest waiver on both subsidized and unsubsidized loans.
  2. The Repayment Assistance Plan in P.L. 119-21 (IF13075), Congressional Research Service. Checked on . Backs the statutory basis for the plan.
  3. Repayment plans and important definitions, U.S. Department of Education. Checked on . Backs which plans are open to which borrowers from 1 July 2026; the Tiered Standard term brackets and its $50 minimum; the effect of a single post-cutover disbursement on all of a borrower's loans.
  4. Income-driven repayment plans, U.S. Department of Education. Checked on . Backs the IBR, PAYE and ICR formulas and forgiveness horizons.
  5. Court actions affecting income-driven repayment, U.S. Department of Education. Checked on . Backs the status of SAVE after the 10 March 2026 order; the 1% automatic debit reduction; that income-driven payment counters are not currently displaying.
  6. Reimagining and Improving Student Education (RISE): Federal Student Loan Program, final regulations, Office of the Federal Register. Checked on . Backs the regulation implementing the plan changes, effective 1 July 2026.

Checked on .