Student Loan Repayment Help: Options To Lower Your Payments

Though student loans are designed to help you afford college, they can become a financial burden for some borrowers. Recent data from the College Board shows 47% of bachelor’s degree recipients in the 2023-24 school year graduated with student loan debt, with an average balance of $29,560.

If you’re struggling to afford student loan repayment, there are assistance programs available. Here’s what you need to know about making student loan repayment more affordable.

Current student loan refinance rates

Types of student loan repayment help

For borrowers struggling with federal student loan repayment, the Department of Education (ED) offers several programs that can help make the debt more manageable. These programs include income-driven repayment plans (where your monthly payment is determined by your income and family size), deferment and forbearance options that allow you to temporarily pause payments, and loan forgiveness programs. 

However, the ED is changing how many of these repayment assistance programs work beginning July 1, 2026, so you need to make sure you’re clear on which version of assistance you’re eligible for.

If you’re struggling with either federal or private student loans, refinancing may also help ease the financial burden. However, refinancing federal loans means losing federal protections and perks. 

Here’s how different types of student loan repayment help can work for you.

Income-driven repayment plans

Until July 1, 2026, there are three income-driven repayment (IDR) plans and one blocked plan that adjust borrower payments based on their income and family size:

• Pay As You Earn (PAYE): With the PAYE Plan, your payment is set at 10% of your discretionary income. Your monthly payment can't exceed what you'd pay on the Standard Repayment Plan, and you must update your income and family size every year, even if they remain unchanged. Any outstanding loan balance is forgiven after 20 years of on-time payments.
• Income-Based Repayment (IBR): New borrowers on or after July 1, 2014, have payments set at 10% of discretionary income, but the payment can’t exceed what you'd pay on the Standard Repayment Plan. Borrowers who took out their loans prior to July 1, 2014, must pay 15% of their discretionary income. The remaining balance will be forgiven after 20 or 25 years, depending on when you took out your loan. 
• Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR): Under the ICR Plan, your payment is set at either 20% of your discretionary income or at the amount you’d pay if you had a fixed repayment plan for a 12-year term, adjusted based on income. After 25 years, any remaining balance is forgiven.  
• Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE): On this plan, your payment is 5% of your discretionary income if you have undergraduate loans, and a weighted average between 5% and 10% of your discretionary income if you have undergraduate and graduate loans. After 20 years (or 25 if you took out loans for graduate or professional study), any remaining loan balance is forgiven. You must recertify your income and family size each year. This plan has faced legal challenges since 2024, and any borrowers on it have been placed in administrative forbearance.

Changes coming to income-driven repayment plans in 2026

Income-driven repayment options for federal student loans will be changing in 2026. Mark Kantrowitz, student loan expert and author of “How To Appeal for More College Financial Aid,” explains that there will be only one income-driven repayment plan, the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP), for new borrowers starting July 1, 2026.

“The RAP payment bases your monthly payment on a percentage of your adjusted gross income (AGI), from 1% to 10%,” says Kantrowitz. “It starts at 1% for borrowers with an AGI up to $10,000 and increases by a percentage point for each additional $10,000 until it reaches 10% for borrowers with an AGI of $100,000 or more.”

Borrowers will see their monthly payments reduced by $50 per dependent, but no borrower will have a monthly payment less than $10. This differs from current IDR plans, which may give borrowers a payment as low as $0.

If you’re not a new borrower, your IDR plan is grandfathered in, but SAVE, ICR, and PAYE will be phased out for all borrowers on July 1, 2028. “These borrowers will need to switch to IBR or RAP before then,” explains Kantrowitz.

You May Also Like: How To Change Your Student Loan Repayment Plan

Deferment and forbearance options

Deferment and forbearance are two methods of temporarily pausing student loan payments. 

Typically, deferment is available only for federal student loans, though some private lenders offer it. Most loans continue to accrue interest while payments are deferred. 

Forbearance, on the other hand, can be an option for all federal student loans and many private student loans, although availability and rules will vary from one private lender to another. When you enter forbearance, your payments are paused for a period of time, but interest generally continues to accrue. Forbearance works best as a temporary solution for a borrower facing short-term financial hardship.

Student loan forgiveness and assistance programs

Federal student loan borrowers can be eligible for a number of forgiveness and assistance programs that can make student debt more affordable. Here’s how these programs work:

• Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF): Borrowers who work full-time for an eligible not-for-profit organization or government entity can become eligible to have their remaining student loan balance forgiven after making 120 qualifying on-time payments on an income-driven repayment plan. These rules will remain the same for borrowers who make 120 qualifying on-time payments on the RAP Plan.
• IDR forgiveness: Borrowers with one of the existing IDR plans prior to July 2026 (SAVE, PAYE, IBR, or ICR) will see their remaining loan balance forgiven after 20 or 25 years of payments, depending on the plan. This will change with the new RAP Plan, however. “Under the RAP Plan, the remaining debt is forgiven after 30 years of payments (360 payments),” explains Kantrowitz.
• Teacher Loan Forgiveness: Educators in this loan forgiveness program can see up to $17,500 of their student loans forgiven if they have a qualifying Direct Loan or FFEL program loan and teach full-time for 5 complete academic years in a low-income school or educational service agency. Keep in mind that it’s not possible for this 5-year period to also count toward PSLF.
• Employer repayment assistance: More and more private employers have started to provide student loan repayment help as a workplace benefit. While this kind of benefit isn’t the same as loan forgiveness, it can offer tuition reimbursement to employees or repay a certain amount of their student loans.

Student loan refinancing 

Refinancing your student loans may also offer some repayment relief, depending on your situation. This process involves getting a new, private loan, ideally at better terms than your existing debt. You then use the loan proceeds to pay off your previous lender(s).

Refinancing may help you lower your interest rates or monthly payments if you are a borrower with strong credit and a stable income, or if you can refinance with a cosigner who has excellent credit and a good income.

Just remember that refinancing federal student loans means losing federal protections and perks, including access to income-driven repayment plans, deferment and forbearance options, and PSLF and other forgiveness programs.

See More: Lower Your Student Loan Interest Rate: Best Ways To Save on Interest

How to choose the right repayment help

To figure out which repayment assistance option is best for you, start by contacting your loan servicer. Communicating with your lender and explaining your situation could give you a little breathing room as you figure out your longer-term options. In many cases, lenders have the ability to give one-time or short-term assistance that won’t affect your credit or increase your loan costs.

From there, determine what repayment assistance programs you’re eligible for. Once you have that list, start ranking these options based on how well they fit your current budget and financial goals.

While this can feel overwhelming, know that you have options to find help.

“There are places borrowers can go to get free guidance if they are struggling,” says Kantrowitz. “Start with your college financial aid administrator, even if you are no longer at the school.”

You can also find resources at StudentAid.gov that can help you determine which repayment assistance is right for you if you have federal loans. But Kantrowitz also recommends three other excellent, free resources: The Institute of Student Loan Advisors (TISLA), The National Consumer Law Center (NCLC), and The National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC).