A student loan repayment option for federal student loans will soon be available to students across the nation. The new repayment option, the Income Based Repayment Plan, provides caps on monthly loan repayments based on an individual’s income.

The IPR Plan becomes available to students with federal loans on July 1. Under the IPR Plan a student’s monthly loan payment would be capped at 15 percent of the student’s income.

IBR applies to federal student loans made under either the Direct Loan or Federal Family Education Loan program. The eligible loans can be new ones just entering repayment or existing loans that are already in repayment. The loans covered under the program could have been used to pay for any type of education, including undergraduate, graduate, professional and job training. The IBR plan does not apply to loans currently in default, parent PLUS loans, or private student loans.

For more information and to see whether you qualify for the repayment option, visit http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/IBRPlan.jsp