Key keywords: SAVE plan termination, federal student loan borrowers, income-driven repayment plans, student debt relief, U.S. Department of Education, monthly student loan payments, student loan interest capitalization, Biden administration student loan policy, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Starting October 1, 2024, the U.S. Department of Education officially terminated the original Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, the most generous income-driven repayment (IDR) program in U.S. history, rolling out a revised replacement plan that shifts significant financial burdens to millions of student loan holders across the country. First launched by the Biden administration in 2023, the original SAVE plan capped monthly undergraduate loan payments at 5% of a borrower’s discretionary income, waived all monthly payments for borrowers earning less than 150% of the federal poverty level, and eliminated interest capitalization for borrowers who made on-time payments, even if their monthly contribution did not cover accruing interest. Following the termination, the revised IDR plan raises the monthly payment cap for undergraduate debt to 10% of discretionary income, lowers the payment exemption threshold to 125% of the federal poverty level, and restores interest capitalization for all unpaid monthly interest, meaning balances will grow even for borrowers who make consistent, on-time payments. Data from the Department of Education confirms that nearly 28 million borrowers were enrolled in the original SAVE plan as of September 2024, 16 million of whom qualified for $0 monthly payments under the old eligibility rules. Of that group, an estimated 8.7 million will now owe between $100 and $300 per month starting in the fourth quarter of 2024, while another 3.2 million will see their monthly payments increase by 50% or more compared to their SAVE plan rates. Borrower advocacy groups have raised alarms about widespread confusion surrounding the transition, with a recent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) survey finding that 62% of enrolled SAVE plan borrowers had not received clear, personalized notification of their new payment amounts as of mid-October, raising risks of a wave of missed payments and defaults in the coming months. The Department of Education has urged all borrowers with federal student loans to log into their Federal Student Aid (FSA) accounts to verify their new repayment plan details and update their income information if their financial circumstances have changed in the past year. For borrowers with combined undergraduate and graduate student debt, the changes are even more severe: the original SAVE plan used a weighted average to calculate payment rates for mixed debt, while the new plan applies a 10% cap to undergraduate portions and a 15% cap to graduate portions, leading to payment increases of up to 200% for some borrowers with advanced degree debt.