SAVE plan deadline: when MOHELA, Nelnet, Aidvantage, Edfinancial and CRI send the 90-day notice

A court order ended the SAVE repayment plan on March 10, 2026. If your federal student loans were in SAVE, or you had applied for it, you have to pick a new repayment plan. The clock is not the same for everyone: each loan servicer sends its own notice, and your 90 days start from yours.

As of September 23, 2026 (Eastern time):

• Your deadline is the one on your notice. The Department of Education says “Servicers will notify borrowers of their specific 90-day deadline.” Notices began on July 1, 2026, so the earliest deadlines fall at the end of September.
• The servicers send notices on different schedules: Edfinancial from July 1 to Aug. 15, MOHELA from July to October, Nelnet by the end of 2026. Aidvantage says it sends them in waves from July 1 with no end date, and CRI's site gives no dates. The last deadlines run to about the end of March 2027.
• If you do not choose, a plan is chosen for you. The Department says borrowers who miss the 90 days “will be automatically enrolled into either the Standard Repayment Plan, or the new Tiered Standard Plan”. MOHELA and Nelnet say which one depends on when your loans were disbursed.
• You do not have to wait for the notice. But once a new plan is processed, your SAVE forbearance ends, even with days left on the clock (MOHELA and Nelnet).
• A separate deadline: to get the 1-point autopay interest cut on eligible Direct Loans, enroll by 11:59 p.m. Eastern on Sept. 30, 2026. What it saves on your loans.

How the 90 days work

The Department of Education's announcement of March 27, 2026 set the process: “Starting on July 1, federal loan servicers will begin issuing notices to borrowers”, who then have 90 days to enroll in another plan. Those who do not “will be automatically enrolled into either the Standard Repayment Plan, or the new Tiered Standard Plan that will be available beginning July 1.” It also says a borrower “may contact their servicer at any time to enroll in a lawful repayment plan.” The Department counted more than 7.5 million borrowers in SAVE.

Some examples of the arithmetic, if the 90 days run from the day the notice is sent:

• A notice sent July 1, 2026 runs out about Sept. 29, 2026.
• A notice sent Aug. 15, 2026 (Edfinancial's last) runs out about Nov. 13, 2026.
• A notice sent Oct. 31, 2026 (the end of MOHELA's window) runs out about Jan. 29, 2027.
• A notice sent Dec. 31, 2026 (the end of Nelnet's window) runs out about March 31, 2027.

Aidvantage counts the day the notice is sent as the start of the countdown, and Nelnet and MOHELA say you must switch within 90 days of the notice. None of the five sites we read mentions an extension.

Sources: U.S. Department of Education, press release, March 27, 2026; Federal Student Aid, IDR Plan Court Actions: Impact on Borrowers (updated July 1, 2026); the servicer pages in each section below.

The plans you can pick

Federal Student Aid's court actions page says “Eligible borrowers can apply for or recertify under the Income-Based Repayment (IBR), Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR), and Pay As You Earn (PAYE) Repayment Plans.” Two new plans opened on July 1, 2026. Under the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP), the Department says, “a borrower’s monthly payment is based on that borrower’s income and number of dependents”. The Tiered Standard Plan has “fixed terms – 10, 15, 20, or 25 years – based on a borrower’s total outstanding loan balance”. MOHELA, Aidvantage and Edfinancial point borrowers to the Repayment Calculator at StudentAid.gov to compare plans and apply; Nelnet points them to the Repayment Options & Resources steps in its own account.

Sources: Federal Student Aid, IDR Plan Court Actions: Impact on Borrowers (updated July 1, 2026); U.S. Department of Education, press release, March 27, 2026.

Servicer by servicer

Each section quotes what the servicer itself publishes and links the page we read. Your servicer is shown in your StudentAid.gov account.

Aidvantage

Aidvantage's repayment center says that on July 1, 2026 it “begins sending SAVE transition notices in waves”, and that “A 90-day countdown to choose a plan starts the day your notice is sent.” Its timeline continues: “You have 90 days from the day your notice is sent to select a new plan.” and “If no plan is selected by the deadline, your loans will be placed into the Standard Repayment Plan.” The same timeline shows the first payment due in October to November 2026, and its six steps include “Pick plan and wait 15 days” before setting up payments.

A notice across Aidvantage's site says “If action is required, we will contact you directly with your deadline.” The site does not say when the last notices will go out.

Sources: Aidvantage, Federal Loan Repayment Center; Aidvantage, site notice.

CRI (Central Research)

CRI's site carries the Department of Education's general notice that “The U.S. Department of Education will contact impacted borrowers, who can explore and apply for other repayment plans.” We found no page about the SAVE notices on CRI's site: its FAQ topics, including repayment plans, the Repayment Assistance Plan and the Tiered Standard Plan, have no section on the end of SAVE, and it gives no dates. The Department's own rule for what happens without a choice is below.

Source: CRI, home page notice.

Edfinancial

Edfinancial's site says: “If you are enrolled in the SAVE plan we will notify you between July 1st and August 15th, and you will have 90 days from the date the notification is sent to choose a different repayment plan.” That is the shortest window any servicer gives: a notice sent on Aug. 15 runs out about Nov. 13, 2026. Its repayment notice adds “If you need to take action, we will contact you with your 90-day deadline.” We did not find a statement on its site about which plan you get without a choice; the Department's rule is below.

Source: Edfinancial, home page notice.

MOHELA

MOHELA's FAQ on the end of SAVE says: “You'll receive your notice between July 2026 and October 2026.” Once you hear from MOHELA by email or mail, “you must make a switch within 90 days of the day of the notice.” Without a choice, “Borrowers enrolled in SAVE will be automatically placed in either the Standard Repayment Plan or the new Tiered Standard Plan, depending on your loan disbursement dates.” Borrowers who had only applied for SAVE “may be moved to the plan they were in before submitting their application.”

On switching early, MOHELA says that once your request is processed “your SAVE forbearance will end, even if you haven't reached the end of your 90-day period”.

Source: MOHELA, End of the SAVE Plan FAQ.

Nelnet

Nelnet's FAQ on the end of SAVE says it “is notifying nearly three million Nelnet borrowers, so we're reaching out in waves”, and “You'll receive your notice by the end of 2026.” After the notice, “you must make a switch within 90 days.” A notice sent at the end of December would run to about March 31, 2027, the latest of the five.

Without a choice, SAVE borrowers “will be automatically placed in either the Standard Repayment Plan or new Tiered Standard Plan (depending on your loan disbursement dates).” Like MOHELA, Nelnet says your SAVE forbearance ends when a new plan is processed, and adds “It's important that you not delay until the last minute to switch plans, however.” If your account shows a payment due long after your 90 days, Nelnet says the date “will be adjusted once you’re in your new plan.”

Source: Nelnet, FAQ - End of SAVE Plan.

How we checked

• Each servicer's site was read on September 23, 2026 (Eastern time): the end-of-SAVE FAQs at MOHELA and Nelnet, Aidvantage's repayment center and site notice, Edfinancial's home page, FAQ and income-driven repayment pages, and CRI's home page and FAQ topics. We did not log in to any account.
• The Department's rules come from its March 27, 2026 press release and Federal Student Aid's court actions page.
• We did not use other websites' reports of the notice dates.

What this page does not cover

• Which plan is best for you, or what each plan would cost you each month. The Repayment Calculator in your StudentAid.gov account uses your own loans and income.
• Public Service Loan Forgiveness and forgiveness under the income-driven plans.

Rechecks and changes

We will read every servicer's page again each month until the last deadlines pass in 2027, and as soon as the Department announces a change. Every change will be listed here with its date. If a date is wrong, tell us.

• September 23, 2026. First published.

This page reports what loan servicers and the Department of Education publish about the end of the SAVE plan. It is not advice on which plan to choose. We have no business relationship with any servicer on this page.