ALT Q: How did OBBBA affect the FAFSA form? A: Financial assets that are counted when students and parents fill out the 2026–27 FAFSA form will now better reflect a family's financial need. OBBBA includes exclusions for small businesses, family farms, and commercial fishing businesses.

ALT Q: What is partial financial hardship? Can borrowers without partial financial hardship enroll in the IBR Plan? A: Borrowers were previously required to have partial financial hardship in order to be eligible to enroll in the IBR Plan. OBBBA removed that requirement. When determining whether a borrower has partial financial hardship, a formula (based on income and family size) is used to determine what that borrower's monthly payment amount will be. If the calculated amount is less than what the amount would be under the 10-year Standard Repayment Plan, then that borrower is considered to have partial financial hardship. If the calculated monthly payment amount is greater, then the borrower is considered not to have partial financial hardship. If you previously applied for the IBR Plan and were denied due to a lack of partial financial hardship, we encourage you to reapply using the online IDR application. StudentAid.gov/idr

ALT Q: Can borrowers still access the IBR, ICR, and PAYE Plans? A: If you have eligible loans taken out before July 1, 2026, you're permitted to access the IBR, ICR, and Pay As You Earn (PAYE) Plans on or after July 1, 2026. There will be no restriction on enrolling in the IBR, ICR, or PAYE Plans unless you receive a disbursement on a new loan on or after July 1, 2026. If you receive disbursements on new loans or on a new consolidation loan on or after July 1, 2026, then you won't have access to the IBR, ICR, and PAYE Plans even if you were previously enrolled in those plans. OBBBA eliminates the ICR and PAYE Plans entirely in the future. More information will be published about this at a later date.

ALT Q: Will all borrowers have access to the IBR Plan? A: No, some borrowers will continue not to have access to the IBR Plan: • Parent PLUS borrowers whose PLUS loans have not been consolidated • Recipients of Perkins loans and other smaller loan programs who haven't consolidated those loans into a Direct or Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program consolidation loan

ALT Q: What changes were made to the Income-Based Repayment (IBR) Plan? (continued) A: Monthly payments under IBR will continue to be capped at an amount equivalent to the Standard Repayment Plan with a 10-year repayment period. Additionally, the following formulas to calculate a borrower's monthly payment amount remain in effect: • If you borrowed before July 1, 2014: The IBR Plan monthly payment amount calculation is based on 15% of your discretionary income, with a 25-year repayment period. • If you first borrowed on or after July 1, 2014, or had no outstanding balance at the time you received a new loan on or after that date: The IBR Plan monthly payment amount calculation is based on 10% of your discretionary income, with a 20-year repayment period.

ALT What changes were made to the Income-Based Repayment (IBR) Plan? With the passage of OBBBA, the IBR Plan has updated eligibility criteria that allows the following types of borrowers to enroll: • Borrowers who don't have partial financial hardship • Parent PLUS borrowers who have consolidated their parent PLUS loans into Direct Consolidation Loans and who have enrolled in the Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) Plan and made one full payment after entering the ICR Plan before enrolling in the IBR Plan

ALT How Does the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA)* Affect My Student Loans *On July 4, 2025, OBBBA was signed into law

ALT A chart infographic detailing what’s changing with income-driven repayment (IDR) plans. Features compared between existing IDR plans and Repayment Assistance Plan include student loan eligibility, borrower eligibility, minimum monthly payment, family size versus dependents, income basis used for monthly payment amount, percentage of income basis used for monthly payment amount, dependent-based reductions in monthly payment amount, discharge timeline, interest subsidy, and matching principal payment. For details, visit StudentAid.gov/announcements-events/big-updates/definitions#rap

ALT Tips for Protecting Your Identity Apply for federal student aid by filling out the FAFSA form at the official website (fafsa.gov); don’t tell anyone your StudentAid.gov account username and password, even if that person is helping you fill out the FAFSA form; if you have questions about an offer of aid or about your student loan account, ask your college or ask Aidan, our StudentAid.gov virtual assistant; keep receipts and documents with personal information in a safe place; and immediately report all lost or stolen identification to the issuer.