Income-Contingent Repayment Plan Options

The Department of Education (Department) adopts as final, without changes, the interim final rule published in the Federal Register on November 15, 2024. This final rule amends the regulations governing income-contingent repayment plans available to Federal student loan borrowers to satisfy the Department's statutory obligation under the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, (HEA) to offer borrowers access to an income-contingent repayment plan. The scope of this rule is narrow. It revises the last date for most borrowers to enroll in the Income-Contingent Repayment or Pay As You Earn plans from July 1, 2024, to July 1, 2027. Changing the eligibility restrictions that went into effect on July 1, 2024, to July 1, 2027, allows the Department to meet its statutory obligations while it undertakes the necessary administrative changes to make its repayment plans compliant with the terms of an injunction pending appeal from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (Eighth Circuit).