FAFSA Updates

Choosing a Repayment Plan After July 2026: IBR vs. RAP vs. Tiered Standard

Since July 1, 2026, the federal repayment plans you can use depend on when your loans were made and what kind they are. One new loan can close IBR to you, Parent PLUS loans have their own short list, and the plan you get by default doesn't count toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness. This tool works out which plans are open to you and estimates each one's monthly payment.

By Moises Lopez, Educator (10+ yrs, LAUSD & nonprofits) · Published

Important: FAFSA Updates is an independent educational resource and is not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Education or any government agency. This calculator gives estimates for informational purposes only and is not financial or legal advice. Your school and your loan servicer make the actual determinations.

Calculator

Your loans

Which loans are you choosing a plan for?

Choose the loans in your own name.

The calculator runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or saved.

How to use it

  1. Choose which loans you're looking at: your own student loans, Parent PLUS loans you took out for a child, or both.
  2. Say whether any of your Direct Loans was first disbursed on or after July 1, 2026. A consolidation loan counts. This one answer decides most of the result.
  3. Answer the follow-up questions that appear. They decide which version of IBR you'd get and whether an older Parent PLUS consolidation rule applies to you.
  4. Enter your balance, interest rate, AGI, family size, and dependents. They're used only for the payment estimates.
  5. Select Show my options. Each plan is marked open, not available, or dependent on an answer you weren't sure of, with the reason, a first-year payment estimate, and whether it counts toward PSLF.

Worked examples

Two borrowers, each with an AGI of $55,000, single, with no dependents. The student borrower owes $45,000 at 6.52%. Every loan was made before July 1, 2026, and they had no older loan balance when they first borrowed after July 1, 2014. The parent owes $60,000 in Parent PLUS loans at 9.07%, all taken out before July 1, 2026 and never consolidated.

Student borrower, RAP: 5% of AGI, divided by 12 $229 a month
Student borrower, IBR (10% version) $259 a month
Student borrower, Standard plan (10 years) $511 a month
Student borrower, Tiered Standard (15 years at this balance) $392 a month
Parent, RAP Not available
Parent, ICR (needs a consolidation loan made before July 1, 2026) Not available
Parent, Standard plan (10 years) $762 a month
Parent, Tiered Standard (20 years at this balance) $543 a month

For the student borrower, RAP has the lowest payment at this income. The payment isn't the only difference, though: IBR forgives any remaining balance after 20 years, while RAP takes 30. If the same borrower had even one Direct Loan first disbursed on or after July 1, 2026, only RAP and Tiered Standard would remain. For the parent, Tiered Standard's longer term lowers the payment to $543 a month, but it runs 20 years instead of 10 and doesn't count toward PSLF. If the parent took out a new Parent PLUS loan for a younger child, the Standard plan would close too, leaving Tiered Standard as the only plan for all of their Parent PLUS loans.

How the chooser works

The key test is the date each Direct Loan was first disbursed. If any loan in your name, including a consolidation loan, was first disbursed on or after July 1, 2026, all of your Direct Loans can be repaid only under RAP or the Tiered Standard Plan. If none was, you also keep IBR and the older Standard, Graduated, and Extended plans. These rules come from the Department of Education's May 2026 final rule and its studentaid.gov definitions page.

Parent PLUS loans can never use RAP. A parent with no Direct Loan first disbursed on or after July 1, 2026 keeps the older Standard, Graduated, and Extended plans as well as Tiered Standard. One new loan, including a Parent PLUS loan for another child, leaves Tiered Standard as the only plan for all of their Parent PLUS loans. A Parent PLUS consolidation loan disbursed before July 1, 2026 has one more option: as long as the parent takes out no new Direct Loans, it can use ICR until July 1, 2028, then move to IBR if at least one income-driven payment has been made by then.

RAP is 1% to 10% of AGI depending on the income bracket, divided by 12, minus $50 for each dependent, and at least $10. IBR is 10% of AGI above 150% of the 2026 poverty guideline ($15,960 for one person plus $5,680 for each additional person) for borrowers who had no older balance when they borrowed on or after July 1, 2014, and 15% for everyone else, divided by 12 and never more than the 10-year Standard payment. ICR is shown at its upper limit, 20% of AGI above the poverty guideline, divided by 12.

The Standard plan repays the balance in 10 years. Tiered Standard repays it in 10, 15, 20, or 25 years, depending on whether your total Direct Loan balance when you enter the plan is under $25,000, under $50,000, under $100,000, or $100,000 and up. Both require at least $50 a month.

PSLF labels follow the federal rule on qualifying repayment plans: RAP (on-time, full payments only), IBR, and the 10-year Standard plan count, ICR counts only through June 30, 2028, and Tiered Standard doesn't count.

What the chooser can't tell you

  • What your servicer will decide. The chooser relies on your answers about loan dates and types. Your loan servicer has each loan's actual disbursement date and applies the rules.
  • Married borrowers. It doesn't model a spouse's income or loans. If you file a joint tax return, RAP generally uses your combined income and lowers the payment if your spouse also has federal student loans.
  • Changes over time. Payments are first-year estimates. Income-driven payments are recalculated every year, and the chooser doesn't add up the total cost over the life of the loan. The RAP vs. IDR calculator does.
  • Plans it leaves out. PAYE and ICR for student loans (both close on July 1, 2028), the Graduated and Extended plans, and the Standard term for consolidation loans aren't estimated.
  • Older loan programs. FFEL, Perkins, and HEAL loans can't use RAP or Tiered Standard. They're repaid separately under an older plan, and the chooser doesn't cover them.
  • Taxes. Outside PSLF, a forgiven balance may be taxed as income. The chooser doesn't estimate how much would be forgiven.

Sources

Checked against these sources on September 24, 2026. If something here looks wrong, please tell us through the contact page.