On June 30, 2026, 6.52 million federal student loan recipients had loans in the SAVE plan, with $354.3 billion outstanding. That was down from 7.73 million a year earlier and from 8.0 million on Sept. 30, 2024, the highest count in the file. Income-Based Repayment had 3.99 million recipients, up from 3.00 million a year earlier.
These figures cover federally managed loans (Direct Loans and federally held FFEL loans) in repayment, deferment or forbearance. Loans in default, in school or in their grace period are not included.
What changed for SAVE
Federal Student Aid says a court order ended the SAVE plan in March 2026 and that SAVE borrowers must choose a different repayment plan. Servicers began sending notices on July 1, 2026, and FSA says every SAVE borrower will be notified before the end of 2026. Borrowers then have 90 days to choose a plan; FSA says those who do not choose will be placed in a plan. The data below end June 30, 2026, before the notices began. The Repayment Assistance Plan, which FSA lists among the plans now available, does not appear in this file yet.
Balances and recipients by plan
| Repayment plan | Balance, June 30, 2026 | Recipients, June 30, 2026 | Balance, June 30, 2025 | Recipients, June 30, 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level 10 yrs or less | $273.3B | 11.99M | $341.4B | 15.04M |
| Level over 10 yrs | $80.1B | 1.54M | $100.3B | 1.90M |
| Graduated 10 yrs or less | $63.4B | 2.13M | $69.6B | 2.49M |
| Graduated over 10 yrs | $37.4B | 0.65M | $38.9B | 0.70M |
| Income-Contingent | $55.9B | 1.32M | $51.7B | 1.22M |
| Income-Sensitive | $0.1B | 0.00M | $0.0B | 0.00M |
| Income-Based | $244.9B | 3.99M | $152.6B | 3.00M |
| Pay As You Earn | $136.8B | 1.61M | $102.9B | 1.33M |
| SAVE | $354.3B | 6.52M | $432.9B | 7.73M |
| Alternative | $12.0B | 0.39M | $22.9B | 0.69M |
| Other | $9.2B | 0.09M | $11.7B |
Balances on loans in all plans totaled $1,267.4 billion on June 30, 2026 (our sum of FSA’s rounded figures). We do not add up recipients: FSA counts them per loan, so one person can appear in more than one plan.
Recipients by plan, each quarter
| Quarter ending | SAVE recipients (M) | Income-Based recipients (M) | Pay As You Earn recipients (M) | Income-Contingent recipients (M) | Level 10 yrs or less recipients (M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-06-30 | 6.52 | 3.99 | 1.61 | 1.32 | 11.99 |
| 2026-03-31 | 6.99 | 3.64 | 1.53 | 1.30 | 12.32 |
| 2025-12-31 | 7.19 | 3.41 | 1.48 | 1.32 | 13.37 |
| 2025-09-30 | 7.43 | 3.27 | 1.46 | 1.32 | 14.79 |
| 2025-06-30 | 7.73 | 3.00 | 1.33 | 1.22 | 15.04 |
| 2025-03-31 | 7.84 | 2.81 | 1.30 | 1.19 | 15.09 |
| 2024-12-31 | 7.94 | 2.75 | 1.32 | 1.21 | 14.84 |
| 2024-09-30 | 8.00 | 2.76 | 1.34 | 1.24 | 14.19 |
| 2024-06-30 | 7.96 | 2.80 | 1.35 | 1.24 | 14.03 |
| 2024-03-31 | 7.83 | 2.92 | 1.39 | 1.21 | 14.14 |
| 2023-12-31 | 6.87 | 3.05 | 1.47 | 1.14 | 14.49 |
| 2023-09-30 | 4.91 | 3.18 | 1.61 | 1.00 | 15.19 |
| 2023-06-30 | 3.29 | 3.30 | 1.52 | 0.82 | 11.40 |
| 2023-03-31 | 3.31 | 3.33 | 1.52 | 0.82 | 11.16 |
| 2022-12-31 | 3.34 | 3.36 | 1.52 | 0.82 | 11.14 |
| 2022-09-30 | 3.35 | 3.41 | 1.52 | 0.80 | 11.09 |
| 2022-06-30 | 3.37 | 3.45 | 1.53 | 0.80 | 11.14 |
| 2022-03-31 | 3.36 | 3.47 | 1.52 | 0.79 | 11.17 |
| 2021-12-31 | 3.36 | 3.51 | 1.52 | 0.78 | 11.24 |
| 2021-09-30 | 3.34 | 3.53 | 1.52 | 0.77 | 11.02 |
| 2021-06-30 | 3.28 | 3.52 | 1.50 | 0.76 | 11.13 |
| 2021-03-31 | 3.27 | 3.54 | 1.50 | 0.76 | 11.17 |
| 2020-12-31 | 3.25 | 3.55 | 1.50 | 0.75 | 11.25 |
| 2020-09-30 | 3.22 | 3.55 | 1.49 | 0.75 | 11.24 |
| 2020-06-30 | 3.20 | 3.55 | 1.48 | 0.74 | 11.27 |
| 2020-03-31 | 3.10 | 3.54 | 1.47 | 0.73 | 11.34 |
| 2019-12-31 | 2.99 | 3.54 | 1.44 | 0.72 | 11.62 |
| 2019-09-30 | 2.90 | 3.54 | 1.39 | 0.71 | 11.41 |
| 2019-06-30 | 2.80 | 3.55 | 1.37 | 0.70 | 11.78 |
| 2019-03-31 | 2.68 | 3.57 | 1.34 | 0.69 | 11.89 |
| 2018-12-31 | 2.56 | 3.58 | 1.31 | 0.68 | 12.17 |
| 2018-09-30 | 2.45 | 3.58 | 1.27 | 0.66 | 11.64 |
| 2018-06-30 | 2.34 | 3.58 | 1.24 | 0.65 | 11.96 |
| 2018-03-31 | 2.17 | 3.60 | 1.22 | 0.64 | 11.99 |
| 2017-12-31 | 2.00 | 3.60 | 1.19 | 0.63 | 12.28 |
| 2017-09-30 | 1.79 | 3.60 | 1.14 | 0.62 | 11.96 |
| 2017-06-30 | 1.59 | 3.60 | 1.11 | 0.62 | 12.34 |
| 2017-03-31 | 1.52 | 3.62 | 1.10 | 0.61 | 12.21 |
| 2016-12-31 | 1.23 | 3.61 | 1.06 | 0.60 | 12.48 |
| 2016-09-30 | 0.89 | 3.60 | 1.02 | 0.60 | 12.11 |
FSA reports one SAVE column for all quarters. FSA describes SAVE as the plan that replaced REPAYE, so earlier counts in this column reflect REPAYE.
Loans by status
On June 30, 2026, $234.1 billion in federally managed loans was in default (more than 360 days delinquent), held by 9.3 million recipients, compared with $116.6 billion and 5.3 million a year earlier.
| Quarter ending | Repayment ($B) | Deferment ($B) | Forbearance ($B) | Cumulative in Default ($B) | In default, recipients (M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-06-30 | 658.5 | 149.7 | 459.2 | 234.1 | 9.3 |
| 2026-03-31 | 632.8 | 156.5 | 484.6 | 220.3 | 9.0 |
| 2025-12-31 | 647.3 | 138.2 | 503.6 | 180.5 | 7.7 |
| 2025-09-30 | 635.0 | 148.2 | 544.5 | 117.3 | 5.2 |
| 2025-06-30 | 598.2 | 144.9 | 581.8 | 116.6 | 5.3 |
| 2025-03-31 | 603.7 | 146.3 | 564.9 | 115.8 | 5.3 |
| 2024-12-31 | 628.4 | 126.5 | 544.0 | 115.2 | 5.3 |
| 2024-09-30 | 630.0 | 132.4 | 507.9 | 123.7 | 5.6 |
| 2024-06-30 | 951.3 | 130.0 | 177.9 | 125.9 | 5.8 |
What these numbers are
FSA counts recipients at the loan level, so a person can be counted in more than one plan or status. The recipient is the student the loan paid for; for Parent PLUS loans the parent is the borrower and the student is counted. Quarters follow the federal fiscal year (Q3 of fiscal 2026 ends June 30, 2026). FSA notes that SAVE borrowers were moved into forbearance in the July–September 2024 quarter because of an injunction, and that pandemic-era rules shifted loan statuses from March 2020 through August 2023. Figures are rounded by FSA.
Source
U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid Data Center, Portfolio by Repayment Plan (sheet "FedManagedPortbyRepaymentPlan") and Portfolio by Loan Status (sheet "Federally Managed"), data from the National Student Loan Data System, downloaded October 18, 2026. SAVE status: FSA, SAVE Plan Borrowers: FAQs About Choosing a Different Repayment Plan, read October 18, 2026. U.S. government data. Our tables are available under CC BY 4.0. Credit "My Credit Guide (mycreditguide.org)".
Steven Reynolds, "Federal Student Loans by Repayment Plan," My Credit Guide, October 18, 2026, https://mycreditguide.org/data/student-loan-repayment-plans/.