Can Current Student’s Loan Borrowers Keep Their Repayment Plans Under the Big Beautiful Bill?

Student’s Loan Under Big Beautiful Bill: A big new law called the “Big Beautiful Bill” might change how many Americans pay their student loans. This law is not in effect yet, but if it passes, it will bring big changes starting July 1, 2026. Many people are worried, but there’s some relief for those already using current income-driven repayment plans like SAVE, PAYE, IBR, or ICR.

Right now, if you’re already using one of those plans, you can keep it. You won’t be forced to change to the new system just because the bill becomes law. Experts and officials have said that anyone enrolled before the deadline will not be pushed into a different plan.

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This also means millions of Americans already in repayment don’t have to worry about losing their plans. They can continue with the terms they agreed to, even if the system around them changes for new borrowers.

What will happen to New Borrowers After 2026?

While current borrowers get to stay in their plans, new borrowers starting after July 1, 2026, will have fewer choices. If the Big Beautiful Bill becomes law, there will be just two options for them a fixed-payment plan and a new income-based plan called Repayment Assistance Plan, or RAP. The fixed plan will make people pay a set amount each month for 10 to 25 years, depending on how much they borrowed.

The RAP plan is based on income, and payments will range from 1% to 10% of a person’s leftover money after covering basic needs. After 30 years of steady payments, the rest of the loan could be forgiven. This might sound close to plans like SAVE, but RAP will likely be stricter and may not be as forgiving. It won’t have the same flexibility many people are used to.

One big change is that SAVE and other well known plans won’t be available to new borrowers anymore. That can be tough to hear, especially since many people just signed up for SAVE thinking it would be around for a long time. Luckily, if you’re already enrolled in SAVE before the new law starts, you can still stay in it.

There are other concerns too. Loans like Parent PLUS and Grad PLUS may not have as many repayment choices anymore under this plan. The government wants to make things simpler, but that might also mean fewer options for certain groups of borrowers.

What Borrowers should do?

If you’re already in a repayment plan like SAVE or PAYE, nothing will change right away. You can keep using your plan unless you decide to refinance or combine (consolidate) your loans after the July 2026 date. Even if your loan company changes or there’s some paperwork moved around, the rules of your current plan should stay the same.

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So if you have a SAVE plan now, and it says you’ll get loan forgiveness after 20 or 25 years, that rule will still apply to you even after 2026. But if you make any big changes to your loans after the new law starts, like consolidating, you might have to move into one of the new plans.