The Education Department is ramping up pressure on millions of student loan borrowers to change repayment plans, even as loan servicers appear to extend key deadlines . But now, the department is sending out “Final Notices” to borrowers urging them to take action on their student loans. If they don’t, the department warns, the consequences could be devastating.

The pressure campaign centers on the SAVE plan. More than seven million borrowers enrolled in the repayment program, which was created to provide borrowers with affordable payments based on their income and a pathway to eventual student loan forgiveness. But borrowers were involuntarily thrown into a forbearance more than two years ago after legal challenges led to a court order that halted the program. Then, earlier this year, the Trump administration finalized a settlement agreement with the GOP states that had challenged the plan. That settlement agreement, which was approved by a court this spring, ultimately terminated the SAVE program.

Now, the Education Department and its contracted loan servicers are giving millions of student loan borrowers still in the SAVE plan a final opportunity to take action and change repayment plans. If they don’t, the department warns that they’ll be put into unaffordable programs. But the problem for many borrowers with student loans in SAVE is that any of the other available alternative repayment plan options may just be too expensive.

Student Loan Borrowers In SAVE Plan Told To Switch Plans

The Education Department has been repeatedly telling borrowers in the SAVE plan for months now that they must move their student loans to another income-driven repayment plan. If they don’t, the department says, borrowers will be put into a Standard plan instead.

“A court order ended the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan, and, as a result, you must choose a different repayment plan,” said the department in an article updated this week on its website. “If you don’t, you’ll be enrolled in a fixed payment repayment plan.”

“Your loan servicer will contact you with details about choosing a different repayment plan,” continued the department. “You may have received your notice already. Most borrowers will receive notification from their servicer via email.”

Indeed, student loan servicers began sending out notices in July giving borrowers 90 days to switch out of SAVE and enroll in a different income-driven repayment plan. If they don’t, the notices warned, borrowers would be forced into a Standard repayment plan. The notices have been going out in waves roughly every two weeks since July 1.

At least 1.2 million student loan borrowers had already left the SAVE plan by July 1, according to Education Department data released over the summer.

Education Department Sends Student Loan Borrowers 30-Day Final Notices

Some borrowers in the SAVE plan who received their 90-day notices in early July reached the deadline to change repayment plans at the end of September . But then, nothing happened. Instead, these borrowers began receiving a second warning, a “final notice” giving them another 30 days to move their student loans to another plan. This essentially has operated as a quiet deadline extension.

“Got my Final Notice - SAVE PLAN - 30 days to pick a new plan,” wrote one borrower on a Reddit forum last week. “So basically I got my final notice to pick a plan. I have 30 days. If I don’t pick a plan I’ll be placed on standard repayment.”

“Yup, got the same,” replied another borrower. “We had 90 days, now we get an extension... Sure seems like they want us to click that button that we can’t unclick after pressed.”

The Education Department confirmed in an update on its website this month that student loan servicers are indeed sending out “final notices” to borrowers giving them another 30 days to enroll their student loans in a different income-driven repayment plan. That means student loan borrowers now effectively have 120 days from the date of their first notice to act.

“Servicers started sending notices to SAVE borrowers on July 1, 2026,” explained the department. “Because servicers are notifying SAVE borrowers in groups, it’s possible that borrowers with the same servicer will have different deadlines to choose a different repayment plan. Before the end of 2026, servicers will notify every SAVE borrower.”

“Once you hear from your servicer, you’ll have 90 days to choose another repayment plan that you’re eligible for,” continued the department. “For example, if you received a notice from your servicer on July 1, 2026, your deadline to select a different repayment plan was Sept. 29, 2026. If you don’t act within that 90-day period, your servicer will send you a final 30-day notice. If you don’t choose a different repayment plan before the final deadline, you’ll be automatically enrolled in a fixed payment repayment plan.”

Other Student Loan Repayment Plans May Be Unaffordable

For many federal student loan borrowers, a fixed or Standard repayment plan may simply be unaffordable. A borrower with a total loan balance of around $80,000 with a standard interest rate of 6.8% and an annual income of $60,000 and two dependent children could have had a monthly student loan payment of as low as $80 per month under the SAVE plan. But if they are moved to a 10-year Standard plan, their payments could jump to $920 per month, a more than 10-fold increase.

“Your monthly payment on the Standard Repayment Plan or the Tiered Standard Repayment Plan may be higher than if you enroll in an income-driven repayment (IDR) plan,” said the Education Department on its website.

The problem for many borrowers is that payments under other income-driven plans may also be much higher than what they had been paying under SAVE. For example, the same borrower above who moves their student loans to the Income-Based Repayment plan would have a payment of around $240 per month. That’s much better than the $920 per month they would be paying under a Standard plan, but still four times what they had been paying under SAVE. Even under the new Repayment Assistance Plan (or RAP) , which Republican lawmakers intended to be a more affordable option, the borrower’s payment would be around $150 to $200 per month.

When factoring in major cost of living increases (particularly for food, housing, and gas) many Americans are not able to absorb such a sudden increase to their expenses.

What Student Loan Borrowers Can Do

Borrowers with student loans in the SAVE plan should thoroughly explore their repayment options. In some cases, there may be mechanisms to reduce monthly payments under other income-driven repayment plans. For example, married borrowers can explore filing taxes as married-filing-separately to exclude their spouse’s income from consideration. And borrowers who have experienced a decrease in their income since their last tax filing can use alternative documentation of their current income as the basis of their repayment calculation to get a lower monthly payment.

But for some student loan borrowers, the new payments under any available repayment plan will simply not be affordable. For these borrowers, the only option may be a temporary forbearance.

“Contact your loan servicer immediately to explore other repayment options or request temporary forbearance or deferment to keep your account in good standing,” suggested the National Consumer Law Center in an article posted earlier this month.

Borrowers who don’t utilize a forbearance (or can’t, because they have already used up their available forbearance options) may wind up defaulting on their student loans. More than nine million student loan borrowers are already in default, according to Education Department data, and that number is expected to increase in the coming months, with potentially dire consequences for Americans.