August 2024 brought a major milestone when, on August 1, the Department of Education formally launched the SAVE plan, fully replacing REPAYE as the standard income-driven repayment option. Highlighted in announcements on studentaid.gov/save-news, this rollout marked the largest expansion of borrower-friendly IDR protections in over a decade.
Under SAVE, payments dropped to just 5% of discretionary income for undergraduate borrowers, with unpaid interest no longer piling up month after month. This meant balances finally stabilized or even began shrinking, pairing perfectly with the PSLF promise of tax-free forgiveness after 120 qualifying payments. Public service workers across the country quickly recognized the opportunity.
By August 15, the DOE shared that over 2.3 million applications for SAVE were being processed, the majority from borrowers already eyeing PSLF. Local school districts and nonprofit hospitals reported spikes in HR requests for fresh Employment Certification Forms as staff locked in their new repayment structures. The Department’s outreach emphasized that combining SAVE with timely annual certifications would offer the smoothest path to PSLF.
Despite the optimism, financial experts recommended weekly checks on loan servicer dashboards. Temporary backlogs meant some borrowers waited several weeks to see their new SAVE payments finalize. August closed on a hopeful note, with the DOE reminding borrowers to wrap up consolidations and SAVE transitions early to ensure all months counted toward PSLF under these improved conditions.