Millions of Student Loan Borrowers Face 90-Day Deadline as SAVE Plan Shutdown Continues
The fallout from the biggest overhaul of the US federal student loan system in decades is still unfolding a month after the changes took effect July 1. Roughly 7 million borrowers who were enrolled in the Biden-era SAVE repayment plan — struck down by a federal court in March — are now receiving servicer notices giving them 90 days to switch to a legal repayment option before being automatically defaulted into the Standard or new Tiered Standard plan.
The overhaul also ends Graduate PLUS loans for new borrowers and caps most graduate borrowing at $257,500 over a lifetime, with tighter annual limits for professional-degree students. The Department of Education frames the changes as simplification — cutting the number of repayment plans from seven down to two going forward — while financial-aid advocates warn that borrowers who miss their individual 90-day window risk being defaulted into a plan that doesn't fit their income.
With notices still going out on a rolling basis through March 2027, financial aid offices are seeing a steady stream of borrower questions — making this one of the most-searched education finance topics of the summer.
