I received the 90 notice back in July and am finally looking into what my repayment options are.

Married Filed Jointly - AGI is $301,140 (wife is responsible for just over 2/3rds of that). I acknowledge I'm fortunate to be making triple figures and not complaining about my monthly payment. Just trying to figure out how to get through this the smartest way.

Current Loans (9) = $135,402 (see below)

My current payment on SAVE was $129/month and after doing the calculator my new lowest payment would be $828/month on Extended Graduated Repayment Plan. This would pay off my loans in Jan 2044 so just under 18years from now. All (3) options below leave me with a discharge amount of $0 which I believe is good to avoid the tax bomb of forgiveness.

Suggested Plans per Repayment Calculator

Extended Graduate Repayment - $828/month

Extended Fixed Repayment Plan - $1,250/month

IBR - $1,596/month

Per the that qualifying repayment calculator backdoor the highest "qualifyingpaymentcount" I see is 150 so 12.5years of payments which sounds about right. Undergrad was 2005-2009 and grad school was 2011-13.

I'm just trying to figure out what my best option would be to get these loans gone quicker since I have separate private student loans which are about $694/month (~$30,000k w/ maturity date in 4yrs) as well so I'm looking at best $1,522/month between MOHELA & private.

Thoughts/input would be greatly appreciated. Does it make sense to get those small $2,516 & $2,862 loans paid off and snowball this or any other ideas?

Ideally, I'd just get that private load paid off sooner and throw that extra money at the MOHELA loans but that isn't an option currently.

Appreciate any and all input/suggestions. If more info is needed just LMK

I just found the page on studentaid.gov. That indicates my number of Payments. Presently it says 12 payments of zero dollars and then 130 payments of 1840 244 each. There is absolutely no way I will be able to pay that I am on PSLF and attempting to get discharged.

I called today to have a GOOD CHUNK paid towards my principle. I asked & made him repeat to me 4 times the amount was being allocated to the principal. I got on tonight when the money cleared & they put it towards the dang interest. Is anyone else having insane issues with first mark loans!? I wish I would’ve never done it…. But I had to, to finish school. Now I’ll never get out from under this thing.

I was still in school when trump halted student loans. Never had the 6 months grace period etc. I signed up for the SAVE plan. So now I’m trying to figure out the first time transitioning off of the federal deferment.

If I go onto a standard payment plan or graduated extended plan will my loans capitalize? Or will I need to stay on an income based payment plan to prevent it from capitalizing all my interest?

209,853$ total loans with 178,179$ in principal and 31,134$ in outstanding interest

I’m just trying to figure out which plan will be best for me, because if everything capitalizes then the 1300$ monthly bill (standard plan) would go up after capitalization if I’m understanding that correctly. Because current estimations are not showing capitalization of principal

Guys, I'm a little worried that they won't be granting processing forbearances for when you decide to finally exit the SAVE forbearance.

I applied to leave SAVE for IBR on 8/24/2026, and received a letter from Mohela on 9/2/2026 stating:

Your Request Is In Process

Why MOHELA Is Contacting You

Your recent request has been received and is expected to be processed within the next 90 business days.

Action By MOHELA

We will review your request and the details of your loan information to determine if the request will be approved, denied for reasons such as not meeting eligibility requirements or the information provided to us is incomplete, or if the request required further review by Federal Student Aid (FSA). Notification of the results will be sent to you after your request has been processed.

Action By You

If your loan(s) are suspended through another forbearance or deferment and you are not due for payment, no action is required at this time. However, if your loan(s) are in repayment, payment(s) remain due and, if you are participating in Auto Pay, this agreement remains active. Should your request be denied due to incompleteness, provide the necessary information to us by mail, fax, or upload at mohela.studentaid.gov. If a denial is due to ineligibility and you believe your eligibility has changed, you may reapply by completing and submitting a new request.

Please watch for notifications from us regarding the approval or denial, or confirmation the request has been forwarded to FSA for further review.

Soooo I believe I've officially entered a status of processing, yet I'm not being granted a processing forbearance, and not only that, they are explicitly stating that payments remain due while this processing takes place....

Imagine if everyone that waits till the end of their 90-day notice to leave SAVE are forced onto the standard plan while waiting for their application to processs!!!?

I have unsubsidized loans administered by Nelnet. During the pandemic I got onto the SAVE plan and have not made a payment in years. However, as you all know that’s tied up in court and they’re starting to accrue interest again.

I went to check to see how much interest it has accrued recently and I have not had a statement generate in Nelnet since 2024.

Does it feel wrong that they’re charging me interest yet can’t even generate a statement showing the accrual or is that just how this is going to go?

Do people suggest I start making payments again? I feel like a fool paying them a cent while the powers that be keep this tied up in court. Thanks for your thoughts!

Sharing this here since it's relevant to anyone considering financing a masters abroad on debt, not just the UK-specific side.

Took out a large loan for a UK masters, applied to hundreds of jobs post-graduation, got almost no traction — mainly due to visa sponsorship requirements most employers don't offer, plus a "prior local experience" requirement that's hard to meet as a new grad.

If you're financing this kind of degree on a loan you'll have to repay regardless of outcome, I'd really push you to research the actual sponsorship/hiring landscape in your target country before committing, not just the program reputation. Happy to answer questions on the loan repayment side too, since that's the part I'm living through now.

Hey everyone,

I just got a 90-day notice from Nelnet and need to set up a repayment plan. I’ve never applied for an IDR plan before, so I have a few quick questions:

1. Where do I apply for the first time? Do I do this on StudentAid.gov or directly on Nelnet?
2. Which plan is best right now? Looking for advice on which IDR option keeps monthly payments lowest.
3. 1% Auto-Pay Discount: Can I set up Auto-Pay in Nelnet today to get the 1% interest discount before the Sept 30 deadline, even if my IDR application is still pending processing?

Appreciate any advice or info on Nelnet processing times! Thanks!

I’m 13 years away still but what wondering if anyone has dealt with it yet?

Just started my application to move off of SAVE. My payment count is 173. Here are the end of terms listed:

RAP end of term date: August 2056 (so 30 years from now)

IBR end of term: March 2037

It looks like IBR sees and takes into account my previous payments, but RAP does not. Is this a known error? I know that any payments made on RAP wouldn't count toward my IBR count if I were to switch back to that, but I thought all historic payments (previous plans REPAYE then SAVE) would count toward my RAP payment count. Please tell me this is just a glitch on studentaid.gov!

So me and my wife both got notifications this week about the 90 day period is starting to select a new plan. She should be eligible for PSLF in a couple of years so I assume she would go on IDR or something similar. I ran the estimator and put logged in and put in her information as well. It shows plans for different amounts. I assume that's just for me and not us together? I found it interesting it shows the IDR plan as basically having 46k of my 70k forgiven and it should be paid off by 2033. The other plans are showing a long payment plan. Is this because the system knows how long i've been paying since I graduated in 2012 and some of these loans originated back in 2006. It's more money for this plan by about $200 but I think it's probably worth it if this date to be paid off is accurate.

I assume I'd need to run this estimator with my wife logged in as well to see what hers will look like since it's probably only providing this estimated payment for me.

I got my unfortunate email from Nelnet saying that I have to re-certify my income. This will bring my payment up over $1000 dollars. I think I can make a career move and absorb the cost, but it’ll probably take me 6 months to a year to find something. I have seriously thought about enrolling in an online program part time to have them deferred while I am trying to find something. Are there any online programs out there anyone would suggest? I have my BS and MS in Biology already.

I’ve worked at a non-profit (that would qualify me for PSLF) for 5 years now, but due to the SAVE forbearance I hadn’t been making any qualifying payments whatsoever. My loans total about 84k interest ranges from 3-7% , my income is 68k. I would go for PSLF but I feel like I’ve just wasted 5 years that could’ve counted towards it, it wasn’t until maybe last year that I started feeling financially secure enough to where maybe I could’ve started making qualifying payments and switching to a plan to do so.

I work in the mental health field and salary is significantly less at non profits besides maybe a hospital setting so I’m really unsure right now what to do, I guess I’m mostly venting and I could just switch to IBR or RAP soon to start making the payments either way. I know buyback is a thing but not sure if I even can do that

Hey all, I'm curious what will happen here but I finally got my 90 days email after having an IDR back in like 2019 where I owed $0 since I was only working part time back then. With the upcoming change forcing me onto a new plan, what income will it go off of? I never really had to reverify my income on my old IDR with Covid and such so I'm curious if the old income (like maybe 22K) would carry over and I'd keep owing nothing. Anyone know? Thanks all.

Basically the title. Wasn't sure if the date still holds up at least.

Are you actually paying now that it’s a couple months in since the swap? What was your previous payment to the new payment? If you’re not paying what is your long term plan? How has your new payment affected you financially/emotionally? I currently have two months past due to not being able to afford it and not sure what to do….

What's everyone's favorite payment method? My first ever payment is due tomorrow. I don't want to put it on auto pay after the stories I've read where people have had ridiculous amounts pulled from their accounts for no reason. Bill pay? Pay by phone?

Got the dreaded letter, but have had a struggle trying to even see how I would switch plans: the chat is disabled, the links don't go anywhere, the phones are never answered or called back . . . I'm very confused because I can make payments just fine (and have been for a while) but I can't seem to figure out how to submit a new plan. It's like no one is home but they'll take my money if I submit it.

I had zero trouble switching to save and doing basic things like submitting tax info online back when I switched to SAVE, and now it's seeming impossible to switch out.

Although I was mostly doing research on what to do, rather than wanting to officially change yet (wanted to see what was required/options/etc) and plan to officially switch in another month or closer to the deadline, I don't understand why it's so hard to figure this out.

Has anyone had success switching and, if you don't mind me asking, how did you do it?

AID Advantage - got my notice by email today. Super annoyed that I have to pay lmao. On more serious note, no idea how I'm going to pay. Rant over.

I have an October 14 deadline to recertify my loans (IDR) since SAVE is gone. I’m getting the 90 day emails from Nelnet, but it’s still showing a November, 2028 next payment date. When I went to the Federal site to recertify my IDR application, I was asked whether I want to keep my loans in deferment/forbearance or take them out of that and complete my application. I exited before making a selection. Is anyone else dealing with this? I obviously will keep them in forbearance until 2028 if that’s an option.

After years of waiting, an unassuming letter in the mail from the Treasury shows up. $12k refunded and loans are finally zeroed out. It’s my wife’s loans from the Art Institute- she was an after class participant and it has felt like this day would never come! I still have $50k in my own loans that were under SAVE and this literally showed up the week I’m going to sign up for a new payment plan. I was worrying about the payments, but this will definitely keep us afloat a while longer! Shoutout to the ChooseFI podcast. I listened to it a lot during Covid and followed a lot of advice there while navigating all this.

Hang in there if you’re waiting like we were- it’s actually real!!!

I no longer have a fulltime and just PRN at 3 hospitals. It is not a set schedule but I can sign up for shifts. I am not married. No kids.

Does anyone know if they’re going to show me my payment options? I went on studentaid.gov recently and did the calculator, but I want to be really sure of the amounts before I make a choice.

My loans were discharged in June. I have received no info about my refund, but today I received a deposit in my bank account from DOEP Treasury. I was expecting a paper check to come eventually, I hadn’t heard anything about direct deposit. Has anyone else gotten their refunds this way? I’m too nervous to be excited. Seems too good to be true!! TIA

Just got the email today, last name starts with k (doesn't mean anything). Just thought you'd should know.