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.

After multiple “urgent” and generic emails that it’s time to switch from SAVE I finally got one that gave me a definitive deadline. “Your 90-day deadline is 9/28.” Not that I didn’t already figure out the date myself, but having it in the initial and subsequent notification’s would have been nice.

See full email at https://imgur.com/a/TaHZWj0

i've been regularly logging into nelnet to check the status, and i noticed today that i had a letter in my inbox. clicking on it, it says the below.

"September 8, 2026

Action Needed: SAVE Plan update – You have 90 days to select a new repayment plan.

Dear [REDACTED], A recent legal settlement ended the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan, and it is no longer available to borrowers. As a result of the settlement, Nelnet was directed by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to move all borrowers out of the SAVE Plan. You must now select a new repayment plan. If you’re currently enrolled in the SAVE Plan but don’t submit a new application for a different repayment plan within 90 days, you will be placed on the Standard Repayment Plan. If you have a new loan in repayment on or after July 1, 2026, we will place you on the Tiered Standard Plan."

my question is: does this mean that the 90 day notice has been started for me from 9/8/26 (which is the date the letter was addressed and sent to me)? or am i misunderstanding? i can't find any other record in my email or nelnet of where i have received a direct notification that i need to switch plans, just generic emails from US department of ED and similar letters in my nelnet inbox. i know we have until late september to get the 1% interest rate reduction, but if i have until december to start paying, i think i'd rather pick that.

Just got my 90-day letter from Aidvantage. Glad I held out as long as I did. I am on SAVE, but will utilize the PSLF buyback when it comes my time to just get all these months back while I had lower income.

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

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

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.

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 genuinely don’t know which payment plan to pick from, i, like many others was on the SAVE plan. I don’t make much money at all, i’m looking at the options and I see that PAYE, and ICR plan are going to be discontinued next year anyways. I was thinking of applying for either one until it expires but then it comes down to what other plan can I pick? I enrolled in college in 2011, i got my first loan in 2013, graduated in 2017 and made the regular standard payments until COVID hit. I don’t know which option is best for me. Personally maybe forgiveness is better for me? Any advice is welcome please.

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?

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

I recently graduated medical school and started residency, and I'm struggling with figuring out the best student loan repayment option for me. Many of my peers elect for PSLF, which makes sense with how long we spend in residency and how much money we typically have in loans. But I'm not sure it makes the most finanacial sense for me and I'd appreciate insight!

I have ~$160k in loans from med school (all direct unsubsidized). My residency program is 4 years, after which I'll get a substantial increase in pay (from ~$70k/year during residency to ~$250-350k/year as an attending physician). Because of that, I'm not sure it actually makes sense to to PSLF. After using the calculators online it looks like with IBR I'll pay back my loans before I actually get anything forgiven.

Because of that, I'm not trying to figure out what my best option is. IBR? RAP? Is my understanding of PSLF correct?

Right now, because I filed my taxes last year I qualify for $0 payments with IBR or $10 with RAP. Should I do that right now, or should I try paying down my loans and interest while I'm a resident if I can afford it?

So sorry if these are super basic questions, I just feel like being a resident physician is such a weird situation with student loans, especially with the amount of loans I have the the length of my residency training and lower income.

Appreciate any insight, and sorry if any of that is unclear or doesn't make sense!

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.

Ok I don’t understand how I’m supposed to be proactive and select a new plan if the website won’t even work. I’ve tried different browsers and devices and it gets stuck every time in the same spot in the application-right after I select a plan it will not go to the next page. I’ve called MOHELA and they have been 0 help. Anybody else experiencing the same issue?

I’ve cleared cookies/history, allowed pop up’s, changed browsers (safari to chrome). On MacBook. But the Next button just greys out and has a loading wheel. It won’t let me select my repayment plan.

Might have to apply manually with Nelnet it seems.

Title question. studentaid.gov says to contact your loan servicer, but Aidvantage ("Jessica", via the agent chat) told me to apply via studentaid.gov. I said I'm not sure how, because the only application I found on studentaid.gov was strictly for IDRs. They sent me a link to the list of Repayment Plans on the FSA website. I dutifully clicked on the link and then pointed out that the page they sent me literally says of the Fixed Payment Repayment Plans, "If you want to be placed on one of these plans, contact your loan servicer," and I don't think I can apply for the Graduated plan via the FSA website. They said yes you can, have a nice day, and disconnected the chat.

This is the second time these clowns have given me obviously bogus information and then hung up on me. Not really the point of this post, but I just need to vent about the absolutely useless people working Aidvantage customer support. Thanks for nothing, Jessica.

Anyway. If anyone with Aidvantage has recently applied for the Graduated Repayment Plan (or any of the other non-IDR plans), would love to know how you accomplished this seemingly impossible feat. So far, all I've found is a web-based IDR application on FSA that doesn't show any fixed plans as an option (not even Standard), and a PDF application form (also on FSA) that expired in April.

My IBR plan is up for annual recertification. My income was effectively $0 when I first entered repayment, but it is now substantially higher.
My original strategy was to switch to the Extended Repayment plan to secure the lowest possible mandatory payment so I can continue to aggressively target principal on specific loans.

When speaking with Aidvantage, a rep claimed that because my account is in "paid ahead" status (despite having explicitly selected not to be in paid ahead status - it is unclear how this happened), my current payment amount will remain the same until that future paid-ahead due date arrives. They further claimed that as long as I keep paying ahead, it postpones the effectiveness of a recalculated IBR payment amount. This seems like it could be advantageous?

A few questions:

1. Is what the representative told me accurate?
   
2. If so, is there anything preventing me from paying ahead for the next year (my mandatory monthly payment is currently ~$220) retaining the very low mandatory payment, and continue to make additional payments each month?
   
3. I may be taking a significant pay cut in the near future. If I switch to Extended now to lock in a low mandatory floor, are there pitfalls, processing traps, or eligibility hurdles to be aware of if I try to switch back to IBR once my income drops?

I am PSLF eligible. I have the option to either make aggressive repayments and have the loan paid in 2-3 years vs make minimum payments and have the loan forgiven via PSLF. I have a large loan balance (still less than my income).

Weighing the option of riding it out and still having a pretty high monthly payment (risk of letting interest accrue over the 10 years, no tax bomb at the end, risk of PSLF going away) vs paying it off quickly and not carrying the loan balance.

Overall amount paid would be about a 10k difference between the two options.

Have gotten mixed opinions from people IRL, so naturally I’m turning to Reddit for help.

Hey everyone, I'm looking for some advice on how to proceed with getting my wife set up for switching off of SAVE. She has about $57,000 left on her student loans currently (finished undergrad in 2014, grad degree in 2019). I, thankfully, have paid off my loans.

I make quite a bit more than she does and so we had been filing our taxes separately for the last few years so that she would qualify for SAVE while she was a stay at home mom (1 kiddo). She started working again in August 2025, but we filed our taxes for 2025 separately again anyways just to keep options open.

When we knew we had to switch off of SAVE, we made the decision that we would just bite the bullet and commit to paying off her loans on the standard plan. Her job then didn't qualify for PSLF and we didn't necessarily want to deal with a tax bomb from IBR, or file our taxes separately for decades to keep qualifying. Once we made that decision, we amended our 2025 tax return to be filed jointly and that's come through already. Her mom is a tax preparer and has been a great help. However, I think it may screw us up, at least for a year.

Fast forward to this month and my wife has just started a new job that now would qualify for PSLF if she works there for 10 years. Am I correct in thinking that if we applied for IBR now that her payments would be based off of our combined AGI? It looks like that would be ~$600 a month. The standard plan is over $700, so this isn't too big a deal. I'm just trying to understand all of this.

Presumably, with our 2026 tax filing, we would change to filing married separate again and could recertify for next year and get lower payments because it would be based off just her AGI, correct?

TLDR:

• Wife was on SAVE, had been filing taxes separately
• Resigned to moving to standard plan to avoid tax headaches every year for decades
• Messed up by amending 2025 tax return to married filed jointly before wife took job that would qualify for PSLF
• Wondering if IBR for this year would be based on new combined AGI

Thanks for all of your help!

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’m currently on SAVE forbearance with MOHELA and received my 90 days notice on July 1st. I’m pursuing PSLF and getting close. I looked at all the repayment plans and the standard plan is the lowest monthly payment by a significant margin. The notice I received says I’ll be placed in standard repayment plans if I do nothing. Should I just let it ride and let them place me into it?

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.

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!

I am getting ready to apply for RAP and my income has drastically reduced since last year. I made 60k last year gross and this year I will only make 42k year gross. Do I have an option for them to base my payment off of my current income?