Can they help me?

Income-Based Repayment (IBR)

IBR is designed to help borrowers whose income makes a Standard (10-year) loan payment hard to afford. Anyone with eligible loans can apply to see if his or her payments will be more affordable under IBR, which will be available starting July 1, 2009.

IBR can help you if:

  • You have federal student loans in either the Direct or Guaranteed (FFEL) Loan program.
  • Your loans include Stafford, Grad Plus, and federal Consolidation loans that do not include Parent PLUS loans. Perkins loans are eligible if you consolidate them into a federal Guaranteed (FFEL) or Direct loan.
  • You borrowed before or after IBR was created, for either graduate or undergraduate study.
  • Your debt-to-income ratio qualifies you for reduced payments.

Use our calculator to check if you might meet this test.

IBR is not available for:

  • PLUS loans made to parents, or Consolidation loans that include Parent PLUS loans.
  • Private (or "alternative") student loans, state loans, and other loans not guaranteed by the federal government.

If you want to know more about how to qualify for IBR and when you can apply, register here, and we will notify you as more details become available.

Finaid.org has a helpful calculator to help determine what your payments might be with IBR.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness

This benefit is for people who work in certain "public service" jobs in government and nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations (for details see What are eligible jobs?). The program will forgive remaining federal student loan debt after 10 years of eligible employment and qualifying payments.

You may qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness if:

  • You have federal student loans in the Direct Loan program.
    • Covered loans include Stafford, Grad PLUS, or Consolidation loans through the Direct Loan program.
    • If your federal loans are not in the Direct Loan program, you may be able to switch (see box on the right to find out more).
  • Your Direct loans originated before or after the loan forgiveness program was created, for either graduate or undergraduate study.
  • You work full time in an eligible job.
  • While working in an eligible job, you make qualifying payments for a total of 10 years (120 monthly payments which do not have to be consecutive). As long as you are in the Direct Loan program, these payments can be made through the Standard (10-year) repayment, Income Contingent Repayment (ICR), and/or Income Based Repayment (IBR) plans.
  • You are still working full time in an eligible job and have debt remaining after 120 qualifying payments.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness is not available for:

  • Private (or "alternative") student loans, state loans, and other loans not guaranteed by the federal government.
  • Payments made on federal loans in the Guaranteed (or FFEL) program.
    • If your federal loans are not in the Direct Loan program, find out how to switch (see box on the right to find out more).
  • Payments made under graduated or extended repayment plans.
  • Payments made or work performed before October 1, 2007.

How do I get them?

 

register and stay informed

 

Will I qualify
for IBR?

Where do you live?


What is your family size? *


What is your income? *


IBR would cap your monthly payments at:


If the standard (flat 10-year) payment amount on your current balance of loans would be more than the amount
above, you would likely be eligible to enter IBR.

* Important note: if your family size includes a spouse, your income
should include your spouse's
income.

How to switch to the Direct Loan program

If your federal loans are in the Guaranteed (FFEL) program – where your lender is a private entity like Sallie Mae or Citibank – and you have not yet consolidated them into one single loan, you can consolidate into the Direct Loan program now to qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

If you have already consolidated your loans in the FFEL program, you may re-consolidate into the Direct Loan program starting in July 2008 to take advantage of this new benefit. We will update registered users about this reconsolidation process as soon as we have more information.
IBRinfo is a service of the Project on Student Debt