Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP): What Does It Mean?
The Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) is a federal income-driven student loan repayment plan that launched July 1, 2026 under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), setting your monthly payment between 1% and 10% of your adjusted gross income (AGI). Payments start as low as $10 a month for borrowers earning $10,000 or less, and each dependent you claim lowers your payment further. Unlike older IDR plans, RAP requires a minimum payment no matter how low your income falls, and it can extend your timeline to loan forgiveness. The outstanding balance will be forgiven if you haven't repaid your loan in full after 30 years of qualifying payments, though any amount forgiven may be considered income for tax purposes.
Borrowers who take out new federal loans on or after July 1, 2026 will only have RAP (plus a new tiered standard plan) available to them, while borrowers with older loans may still choose Income-Based Repayment (IBR) instead. Most other IDR plans, including SAVE and PAYE, are scheduled to phase out by July 2028. If affordability is your main concern, it's worth comparing RAP against IBR before you commit.
