Our College Planning Specialist Gives a BIG Update for Student Loan Borrowers!

We have something big to share with all student loan borrowers around Buffalo and Western New York today! Our very own Jeff Boron just did an interview with Buffalo’s local Channel 4 News (WIVB) to talk about the new update for student loan borrowers who are currently on the SAVE plan. The Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) student loan plan has officially ended due to federal court rulings. It was an income-driven repayment program for federal student loans to help those who needed debt forgiveness. 

In this blog, we are going to summarize everything Jeff talks about that relates to the changes that are happening for borrowers following the end of the SAVE plan.

What Loan Borrowers Need to Do NOW!

43 million Americans are affected by student loan debt, and more than 7 million Americans are expected to be affected by this removal of the plan. While this update primarily impacts current federal student loan borrowers, it also serves as a reminder for future college students and their families. Understanding how to repay your student loans might end up being just as important as deciding how to pay for college to begin with. This means you must act now!

Borrowers who are currently enrolled in the SAVE plan will begin receiving notices from their loan providers on what the next steps are in this process of transitioning out. Once you are given the heads up by them, you will have 90 days to choose a new repayment plan. If you are not able to come up with a different option for your plan, you might be placed into a standard repayment plan. This unfortunately will make you pay significantly higher on your monthly payments depending on what your loan balance is.

For any borrowers with loans issued before July 1, 2026, several repayment options are still on the table for you to choose from, including Income-Based Repayment (IBR) and other plans like it. However, borrowers taking out new federal loans after July 1, 2026 will be limited to just two repayment choices: the new Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) or a Tiered Standard Repayment Plan. Jeff Boran talks about this in his video interview with Channel 4. To learn more about these plans, read up on the official U.S. Department of Education website and the Federal Student Aid government website!

Why This Matters for Future College Students

Our job at Send Your Kids to College is to prepare you for eventual elements like this that everyone needs to be ready for. Every day is a new day, and things can change just like that. Even though this news is going to primarily focus on current loan borrowers, these changes will alter how families of new students prepare for college and how they factor in their borrowing decisions to see where it affects the college they go to and how they can manage their financial flexibility for years to come.

The new repayment system is more limited than previous options. In addition to the removal of the SAVE plan, there have been other recent federal changes that will introduce new borrowing limits for some students and eliminate the Grad PLUS loan program for future graduate students. This update will prepare you to build a new college funding strategy that helps to minimize the amount of unnecessary debt you may accrue over time.

Families need to get together and have honest conversations around what to do here and understand not only how much they may need to borrow but also what repayment options could be available by the time those loans enter repayment. 

One of the ways Send Your Kids to College can help through that is by having The College Money Talk and avoiding the Student Loan Crisis. These pages are two of the most important resources around college financial aid. We can’t recommend enough that you read them! If you have any questions about this topic and want to learn more about what we can do to help, give us a call or reach out through our contact form, and we will get back to you as soon as we can!