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If you have student loans, July may have already changed your entire repayment future (and you may not even know it yet).
This past summer, a federal overhaul reshaped the whole student loan system. SAVE got killed off, new repayment plans rolled in, and buried in all of it is a tax surprise that’s about to hit a lot more of us than people realize.
Most borrowers are still catching up on what actually happened, so let’s break it down, because this is way less scary when you see it coming.
Wait, forgiveness gets taxed?
When your federal loans get forgiven under an income-driven plan, the IRS treats that wiped-out balance like income you “earned” that year. Get $60,000 forgiven? The government sees $60,000 of income and taxes you on it at your regular rate.
For years, a federal exemption shielded us from this. That exemption expired on December 31, 2025. So starting with any forgiveness processed in 2026, that canceled balance is taxable again. Depending on your loan size and bracket, we’re talking a four- or five-figure bill the same year your loans disappear.
Two big exceptions: PSLF forgiveness is still permanently tax-free, and so is disability discharge. But if you’re on IBR, PAYE, or ICR waiting out the 20 or 25-year clock, this is your reality now.
What actually changed in July
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act reshuffled the whole system as of July 1. The headline: SAVE is dead. The plan that gave 7.5 million borrowers $0 payments is being wound down, and servicers are giving people 90 days to pick a new plan or get auto-placed on one. If you haven’t heard from your servicer yet, you will soon.
PAYE and ICR are also on the way out (both close by July 2028). That leaves two main long-term options:
IBR: Still open if you have pre-July 2026 loans. Payments run 10 to 15% of discretionary income, forgiveness after 20 or 25 years.
RAP: The new one. Payments are a percentage of your adjusted gross income, unpaid interest gets waived each month so your balance stops ballooning, and forgiveness comes after 30 years.
The distinction matters for the tax math. If you’re on IBR and close to the 20 or 25-year mark, forgiveness (and the tax bill that comes with it) is closer than you think. RAP pushes that timeline to 30 years, which delays the tax hit but doesn’t erase it.
Heads up if you borrowed after July 1, 2026: IBR isn’t available to you. New borrowers only get RAP or the Tiered Standard Plan.
One bright spot in the fine print: auto-pay now scores you a full 1% interest reduction (up from 0.25%) through June 2028. Worth setting up before the September 30, 2026 deadline, which is coming up fast.
What to do this week
Log in to StudentAid.gov and check your IDR tracker. A ton of us assume forgiveness is decades out when it’s actually five or ten years away.
If you’re on SAVE, PAYE, or ICR, pick your new plan now instead of waiting for your servicer to choose for you. That 90-day clock is already ticking for a lot of people.
And start treating the future tax bill like a real expense. If you’ve got $70K getting forgiven in five years, a 22% federal bracket means roughly $15,400 owed. That’s money worth saving for now, not panic-Googling later.
The forgiveness is still real and still worth it. We just want you walking in with eyes open, not blindsided six months from now.
This isn’t tax advice, and everyone’s situation is different. A tax pro can help you figure out your specific numbers, including whether the IRS insolvency exclusion applies to you.
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My energy was actually fine. That’s what threw me. I’ve always associated feeling exhausted with anemia, so when my hair started shedding more than normal and my nails turned brittle and started peeling at the edges, I figured it was just stress.
Turns out it was iron deficiency anemia (IDA), and once I started reading about it, I realized how much I didn’t know.
Here’s the short version: iron deficiency anemia happens when your body doesn’t have enough iron to make hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. But you can run low on iron well before you’re technically anemic.
Your ferritin, which is your iron storage level, can drop for months or years while your hemoglobin still reads normal on a standard blood panel. That’s exactly what got me.
My energy felt fine because my hemoglobin hadn’t dropped yet, but my ferritin had, and that’s often what shows up first in your hair and nails, not your energy.
Common causes: heavy periods, pregnancy, a diet low in iron-rich foods, or something that’s reducing how much iron you actually absorb, like low stomach acid or celiac disease. Mine turned out to be a combination my doctor and I are still sorting out, which is its own annoying process.
If any of this sounds familiar, here’s what I’d tell a friend:
1. Ask for a ferritin test, not just hemoglobin. A standard CBC can look completely normal while your ferritin is in the basement. If your hair, nails, or energy have changed and you can’t explain why, ask your doctor to check ferritin specifically.
2. Pair your supplement with vitamin C. Vitamin C can significantly boost how much iron your body absorbs, so a glass of orange juice or a vitamin C tablet alongside your iron pill actually helps.
3. Keep it away from coffee, tea, calcium, and antacids. All four block absorption. I take mine first thing in the morning and wait at least two hours before my coffee.
4. Ask about every-other-day dosing. This one surprised me. Newer research suggests taking iron every other day, instead of daily, can actually improve how much your body absorbs, because it gives your body’s iron-regulating hormone time to reset between doses.
5. Layer in iron-rich food too. Red meat, poultry, and seafood contain the type of iron your body absorbs most easily. Plant sources like spinach, lentils, beans, and fortified cereals help too, especially paired with something high in vitamin C, like bell peppers or strawberries.
6. Expect a slow, occasionally unpleasant timeline. Iron can upset your stomach or leave you constipated, so my doctor and I adjusted the dose until we found one I could tolerate. Rebuilding iron stores can take months, so give yourself grace with how slow it feels.
I’m not a doctor, so this is what worked for me, and I ran every change by mine first. But if something in your hair, nails, or energy has felt off lately, it might be worth asking for that ferritin number.
It’s one blood draw, and for me, it explained a lot.
Kristel (Marketing Ops)
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