The SAVE interest subsidy may not get much attention, but I’d argue that this rarely discussed benefit makes SAVE the best federal student loan repayment plan.
Though the calculations might first appear complicated, the SAVE interest assistance can save borrowers thousands of dollars per year.
Want to calculate your subsidy? Check out our SAVE subsidy calculator to estimate the value of the monthly SAVE subsidy for your loans.
Sherpa Note: The REPAYE plan is getting phased out and replaced by the new SAVE plan.
REPAYE was the first repayment plan to offer borrowers an ongoing interest subsidy, but the SAVE subsidy is a huge improvement.
What is the Saving on A Valuable Education (SAVE) Interest Subsidy?
Only certain borrowers will qualify for the SAVE interest assistance. To qualify, a borrower’s monthly payment on SAVE must be less than the monthly interest generated by the student loan. In other words, if your loan is growing faster than you can make payments, the government will help pay your interest.
No special enrollment is required. Borrowers just need to sign up for the SAVE plan.
Those receiving the interest subsidy will see a monthly transaction each month labeled “interest subsidy.” As interest assistance, it does not change the principal balance. However, it does reduce the outstanding interest on the loan.
The size of the subsidy depends entirely upon the borrower’s balance and income.
SAVE Interest Subsidy Calculations
The best way to make sense of the SAVE interest subsidy is to look at a simple example.
Suppose a borrower has a federal student loan balance that generates $500 per month in interest. That same borrower has a monthly payment on SAVE of $100.
In this situation, the borrower’s balance is actually going up by $400 per month.
The SAVE subsidy covers 100% of the excess interest. In this case, the loan generates $500 per month of interest, but $400 of it is in excess of the borrower’s monthly payment.
Thus, the borrower in this example would receive a $400 per month interest subsidy on SAVE. This is significant because it means the borrower’s balance doesn’t grow even though the monthly payments are less than the monthly interest charges.
Calculate your subsidy: The SAVE Subsidy Calculator allows borrowers to see their monthly payment on SAVE and how much interest the subsidy will cover.
The SAVE Subsidy and the REPAYE Subsidy
Right now, borrowers are in a state of transition. The SAVE plan is partially available, but borrowers currently on REPAYE can get some of the benefits.
One notable benefit is that the SAVE subsidy covers 100% of the excess interest. Previously, REPAYE only covered 50% of the excess interest.
Borrowers who have interest charges greater than their monthly payment should sign up for SAVE if they are not already signed up for REPAYE. The REPAYE plan will automatically convert to SAVE.
Why Does SAVE Assist Borrowers with Interest?
The point of the interest subsidy is to prevent balances from spiraling out of control.
Those getting the maximum subsidy, the borrowers making $0 payments, will essentially have a 0% interest rate.
The interest assistance helps borrowers stay on track during a period of unemployment or underemployment. Before SAVE, a prolonged job search could make successful repayment seemingly impossible. Under SAVE, borrowers get a little more breathing room.
Interest Subsidies for IBR, PAYE, and ICR Borrowers
Sadly, the repayment plans of IBR, PAYE, and ICR do not qualify for an interest subsidy.
REPAYE/SAVE is the only plan that offers this protection to borrowers who cannot afford to keep up with their federal student loan interest.
When Isn’t REPAYE/SAVE the Best Option? The best choice for most borrowers with larger balances and lower incomes is usually SAVE. However, there is at least one circumstance where other IDR plans might be better.
Graduate Borrowers Planning on IDR Forgiveness – On PAYE and IBR for New Borrowers, student loan forgiveness comes after 20 years. Under REPAYE/SAVE, borrowers have to wait 25 years if they have graduate school debt. Borrowers in this situation will need to compare the benefit of an interest subsidy against the value of forgiveness five years earlier.
Signing Up for SAVE
Enrollment in SAVE works just like all of the other IDR repayment plans. No extra steps are necessary for the interest subsidy.
Borrowers unsure of whether or not to sign up for SAVE should use the SAVE calculator to get an idea of their monthly bills going forward.
Hi Michael
This article is so helpful. I was little confused about the interest portion of the SAVE plan. I have $1100 interest occurring every month and my monthly payment under SAVE is $750. Does all $750 goes toward interest? If so for how long? If that’s the case then would i ever touch the principal? If i decide to make extra payment of $250 with total of $1000 per month, would $750 goes toward interest and $250 goes toward the principal? Thank you
If your loans charged $1100 per month in interest and your SAVE payment was $750, that $750 payment would go entirely toward interest, and you would get a subsidy of $350 to cover the unpaid interest.
By paying an extra $250 per month, that money would reduce the principal balance.
However, I’d encourage you to think about the optimal strategy for eliminating your debt. Given that the interest charges are larger than the SAVE payment, working toward forgiveness might be the best bet. If you eventually got your loans forgiven, the extra payments would just leave you with less debt to forgive and less money in your bank account.
Thank you so much for the info Michael. For how long would the $750 keep going toward the interest? Would it keep going for 25 years? Does it mean that i would never touch the principal in 25 years?
You are correct. If your payments remained at $750 for the entire 25 years, the principal balance wouldn’t go up or down, but it would be forgiven at that time.
However, just to make sure we are on the same page, you will have to certify your income yearly, so your payments will increase or decrease as your income changes.
One last question i promise
In reply to “ You are correct. If your payments remained at $750 for the entire 25 years, the principal balance wouldn’t go up or down, but it would be forgiven at that time”
It would never go down even if my payment changes right? I would either stay same or go up. Am i right?
Not quite. If you reach the point where your monthly SAVE payment is greater than the monthly interest charges, your total balance would start to decrease.
Hi! I owe 254k in graduate student loan debt. I am currently on the PAYE plan, with 8 years of repayment left. I am interested in signing up for SAVE, as the monthly repayment is about $200 less, but I am dissuaded by the fact that this plan would put me on a 25-year forgiveness plan. I noted your comment that it might be better for some individuals to stay on PAYE and have a faster track to forgiveness vs. tacking on an additional 5 years of payments when switching to SAVE. But, I was wondering, since interest does not accumulate on SAVE, when the loan balance is ultimately forgiven and taxed as income, wouldn’t the outstanding loan amount to be forgiven under SAVE be less than what it would be under PAYE, where the interest is not subsidized, meaning that I would be paying taxes on a lower amount? I hope I am being clear.
I have two more brief questions:
If I switch to the SAVE plan, would the interest accrued thus far capitalize?
And, will my progress toward forgiveness restart?
Thank you sooo much!
Great questions, Christen!
Your first one is really hard to answer. You are essentially balancing 8 years of higher payments against 13 years of smaller payments. Your income for those 5 extra years will have a huge influence on which plan is best. That said, you are also right about the SAVE forgiveness amount potentially being smaller. If your PAYE payment doesn’t cover the interest, your balance will continue to grow, which could mean a bigger tax bill. However, the tax bill is yet another variable. I’m hopeful that there will not be one, but I’m also saving money to prepare for it.
Traditionally, changing plans caused interest capitalization. However, the new policy is that interest only capitalizes if required by statute. For example, if you were on IBR, it would definitely capitalize. I don’t think switching from PAYE will, but you should call your servicer to confirm.
Lastly, switching to SAVE should not restart your progress toward IDR forgiveness.
Hi Christen, My understanding is that if you have enrolled for PAYE you automatically receive the benefits of SAVE without having to change plans. Perhaps Michael can verify this, but everything I’ve read on my servicer’s and the DOE website confirms this.
You are close, but not quite accurate, Timothy.
If you have signed up for REPAYE, you automatically get the benefits of SAVE. PAYE borrowers will have to switch to REPAYE/SAVE to get the subsidy.
Suppose I’m on SAVE, have monthly interest greater than my monthly obligation, but voluntarily overpay such that I’m actually covering more than the charged interest. Do you know if I’ll still receive the subsidy? I’ve looked but haven’t found guidance on this yet.
My understanding is that you will still receive the full subsidy amount. Once I have confirmation on this detail, this article will be updated accordingly.
Thanks!
I have been making regular payments of $600 for 19 years on my graduate loan debt, and reach zero balance in 2034. However I’m nearing retirement and my income will drop to $33,000. 1) what would my SAVE payment be at that time, 2) do I have to stay on the program 25 years to get the loan forgiven?
If you have graduate debt, SAVE forgiveness does take 25 years. If you only have undergraduate debt, it would be 20 years.
However, you may have already made a lot of progress from your previous payment activity. I’d encourage you to dig into the details of the one-time payment count adjustment.
If I am not employed and sign up for the SAVE plan and make a $0 payment, what happens when I am later employed? Can I switch to the Standard Repayment Plan? What happens to the interest that I did not pay in the meantime? Does it somehow get added back into the loan if I do not stay on SAVE? The studentaid.gov website says that over time the SAVE plan is more expensive than the standard repayment plan. I am also trying to figure out how that is the case.
If you are making $0 payments, you can continue with the $0 payments, even if you find a new job, until your next income certification. At that point, you can either continue making payments based on your income or you can switch to the SAVE plan.
As far as the interest, SAVE has a subsidy that covers all of the unpaid interest, so your balance won’t grow.
If your SAVE payment is larger than the standard payment, it usually means one of two things. Either you are using a large salary, or you have a small loan balance.
If I switch from the SAVE plan to the Standard plan once I’m working, does the interest that was subsidized under SAVE get capitalized when I leave SAVE? Should I wait a year for rectification before switching to the Standard Repayment Plan?
I have good news for you! You don’t have to repay that subsidy!
If your loan charges $120 per month and you make a $30 payment, normally, your balance would grow by $90 per month and eventually get capitalized. With the subsidy, you pay your $30 per month, the subsidy covers the remaining $90, and your balance doesn’t grow. This is one of the biggest benefits of the new SAVE plan.
As for switching plans, you can switch whenever you want, but from a strategy standpoint, it would only make sense if you had a high-paying job that resulted in a SAVE payment that was much larger than the standard repayment amount. If you are getting a SAVE subsidy, it is a much better deal than the standard repayment plan.
Hi. Great info. here. Best I’ve found so far. I am trying to consolidate. Have been at 0 payments under IBR for several years due to underemployment in mental health. Income up a bit w/ contract job so want to get into the best position e.g. fixed % vs. variable. When I go to Studentaid.gov to fill out consolidation form, it shows my 4 FELL loans at 0% and therefore generates an autofill of 6.8% expected interest. My servicers have declined to send interest rate info. to SA.gov for correction. Using the weighted mean average, my % should 2.380 across the board going off all loans (older grad. loans). Will my new servicer calculate this or am I stuck w/ 6.8 which makes my loan payments way too high to manage. Thank you.
I don’t think there is any way around the weighted average calculation when you consolidate. It is designed so that consolidation doesn’t hurt or help your interest rate.
Also, as an FYI there are few programs happening right now, such as the limited waiver on PSLF and the IDR count update, that might make it much better to consolidate right away rather than waiting.