RAP starts from your adjusted gross income (AGI), not your loan balance. Your AGI lands in a band that sets an annual base payment: $120 a year if your AGI is $10,000 or less, then 1% of AGI up to $20,000, 2% up to $30,000, and so on — one percentage point per $10,000 band — until income above $100,000 pays 10% of AGI.

That annual amount is divided by 12, and $50 a month comes off for each dependent you claimed on your tax return. If the result lands below $10, you pay $10 — the plan’s monthly floor (only a final payoff payment can be smaller).

If you are married, filing status matters: file separately and only your own AGI counts. File jointly and the combined AGI is used, but when both spouses have eligible loans the payment is prorated by each spouse’s share of the loan balance, so two incomes are not double-counted. This calculator uses the single AGI you enter.

On-time payments earn two subsidies. Any interest your payment does not cover that month is waived — your balance does not grow. And if your payment cuts your principal by less than $50, the Department adds a matching principal payment: the match tops you up toward a $50 principal reduction, capped at your payment amount. Pay late, pay ahead in a way that advances your due date, or sit in deferment or forbearance, and those subsidies do not apply for the month.

Whatever balance remains after 360 qualifying monthly payments — about 30 years — is forgiven. You recertify your income and dependents every year, so the payment moves with your finances.

Tiered Standard is a fixed-payment plan. Your income is irrelevant; the payment is whatever amortizes your balance over the term your debt size assigns:

• Less than $25,000 — 10 years

• $25,000 to $49,999 — 15 years

• $50,000 to $99,999 — 20 years

• $100,000 or more — 25 years

The tier is legally set by your total Direct Loans at the time you enter repayment — this calculator uses the balance you enter as a stand-in. Payments are at least $50 a month unless your whole remaining balance is smaller than that.

There is no forgiveness on this plan and no interest subsidy — the trade is a higher payment now for a paid-off loan in 10 to 25 years, usually with less total interest than three decades on RAP. A lower starting payment is not automatically the cheaper path.

RAP and Tiered Standard are the two plans offered for federal Direct Loans made on or after July 1, 2026. If you only have older loans, nothing here forces you off IBR, PAYE, or the other legacy plans — you keep those options. Borrowers with loans from both periods pick between RAP and Tiered Standard only for the newer loans.

Parent PLUS is the exception. Parent PLUS loans — and consolidation loans that repaid a Parent PLUS loan — cannot use RAP. Tiered Standard is their only plan in this pairing, so if that is your loan type, ignore the RAP column entirely.

Switching between the two plans works in both directions, at any time, for these loans. That voluntary switch is different from what happens if you fail to recertify your income on RAP: the plan then bills you a 10-year standard payment based on the balance your loans had when they entered repayment — usually a much bigger number.

One warning if you still have pre-2026 loans: do not take out a new loan or consolidate just to reach these plans. New federal borrowing on or after July 1, 2026 can permanently cut off the older income-driven plans on your existing loans. If RAP looks tempting compared to what you pay now, talk to someone before you borrow or consolidate your way into it.

If you work in public service, this choice is bigger than the monthly payment. RAP is a qualifying repayment plan for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Tiered Standard payments generally are not — a payment only counts toward PSLF if it is at least what a 10-year standard plan would charge, which in practice means only the under-$25,000 tier. A PSLF-track borrower who picks Tiered Standard for the lower-stress fixed payment can quietly stop earning PSLF credit.

On forgiveness: RAP wipes whatever remains after 360 qualifying payments, and that forgiven balance may be taxable as income when it happens. Tiered Standard has no forgiveness — and no tax question — because you simply pay the loan off.

The calculator gives you the numbers. Whether RAP or Tiered Standard is the right move depends on your income trajectory, your loan types, and whether PSLF is in play — worth confirming with your servicer or a student loan attorney before you lock anything in.

Primary sources: RISE final rule, 91 FR 23768 (effective July 1, 2026) and Public Law 119-21, section 82001. The payment formulas above follow 34 CFR 685.208 and 685.209 as amended; the PSLF treatment follows 34 CFR 685.219(b)(28).