What happens to your student loans now that the SAVE plan is dead?

After a long court battle, the SAVE plan is officially kaput. Launched in 2023, the Biden administration’s Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) federal student loan repayment plan was created to replace the outgoing REPAYE program–and help keep Biden’s campaign promise to forgive student loans. Under the SAVE plan, a borrower’s monthly payment would be calculated based on income and family size and could be set as low as $0 per month for the lowest-earning borrowers. The program also fast-tracked forgiveness for those who borrowed less than $12,000. Several states sued the Biden administration in 2024, arguing that the SAVE plan exceeded the administrative branch’s statutory authority. Payments were paused for borrowers enrolled in the SAVE program during the litigation process, but interest began accruing on the loans as of August 2025. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals decision on March 10 officially ended the SAVE plan for good–and borrowers are left with the less-than-reassuring