You have a choice of repayment plans. Your loan servicer can help you determine your eligibility for the repayment plans.
Under this plan, your monthly payments are a fixed amount of at least $50 each month made for up to 10 years (not including periods of deferment or forbearance). This repayment plan saves you money over time because your monthly payments may be slightly higher than payments made under other plans, but you'll pay off your federal student loans in the shortest time. For this reason, you will pay the least amount of interest over the life of your federal student loan.
Under this plan, your monthly payments start out low and increase every two years for up to 10 years (not including periods of deferment or forbearance). Your monthly payment will always be at least equal to the amount of interest that accrues between your payments and will never be more than three times greater than any other payment.
This is a good plan if you need to make smaller payments over a longer period of time as the repayment period can be extended up to 25 years. You must have $30,000 in Direct Loans and have the option of standard or graduated payments.
The Pay As You Earn plan is a repayment plan with monthly payments that are limited to 10% of your discretionary income (the difference between your adjusted gross income and 150% of the poverty guideline amount for your state of residence and family size, divided by 12). To initially qualify for the Pay As You Earn plan and to continue to make income-based payments under this plan, you must have a partial financial hardship (and be a new borrower).
The Revised Pay As you Earn plan is a repayment plan with monthly payments that are limited to 10% of your discretionary income (similar to the PAYE plan). Any borrower may qualify for this program; you do not need to be a new borrower or have a partial financial hardship to qualify.
The Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) plan is a repayment plan with monthly payments that are the lesser of (1) what you would pay on a 12-year standard repayment plan multiplied by an income percentage factor or (2) 20% of your discretionary income divided by 12. Discretionary income for this plan is the difference between your adjusted gross income and the poverty guideline amount for your state of residence and family size.
Under this plan the required monthly payment will be based on your income during any period when you have a partial financial hardship. Your monthly payment may be adjusted annually. The maximum repayment period under this plan may exceed 10 years. If you meet certain requirements over a specified period of time, you may qualify for cancellation of any outstanding balance of your loans.
If you're still not sure which payment plan is right for you, use the Repayment Estimator to see estimates of your monthly and total loan payments.
Here are some additional links and resources about loan repayment.
Some borrowers with certain characteristics, like field of study, profession, location, and income, may qualify for loan forgiveness, cancellation, or discharge. The links below provide you with some information about these programs and how you can qualify.
University of Portland
5000 N. Willamette Blvd.,
Portland, Oregon 97203-5798
503.943.8000
