Fill Out IDR Plan Request Online
Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) Plan Request
Federal Student Aid
Requests enrollment in or annual recertification of an income-driven repayment plan for federal student loans.
Reviewed July 2026
How it works
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Open the form. The official PDF loads straight into the editor, no download needed first.
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Fill it out in the editor. Click anywhere to type, add checkmarks and place your signature.
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Download your PDF. Save the completed form, ready to print or submit.
The Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) Plan Request is the paper application for repayment plans that set your monthly federal student loan payment based on your income and family size. The same form is used to enter a plan for the first time, complete the required annual recertification, ask for an early recalculation after your income drops, or switch between income-driven plans.
You can complete every borrower field in the Universal PDF editor, download the finished PDF, sign it, and send it to your loan servicer with your income documentation. Federal Student Aid notes on the form that applying online at StudentAid.gov is faster, but the paper route works for borrowers who prefer it or who are asked by a servicer to submit the form directly.
What the IDR Plan Request is used for
Income-driven plans calculate your payment from your discretionary income rather than your loan balance, and payments can be low or even zero for borrowers with little or no taxable income. The current edition of the form covers the Income-Based Repayment (IBR), Pay As You Earn (PAYE), and Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) plans for Direct Loans and, for IBR only, FFEL Program loans.
Federal student loan repayment options have changed repeatedly in recent years, and the form itself notes upcoming transitions, including that PAYE and ICR borrowers must move to a different plan before July 1, 2028 and that borrowers who take out or consolidate loans on or after July 1, 2026 will repay under newer plans. Check StudentAid.gov/idr for the plans currently open to new enrollment before you file.
Who should use the IDR Plan Request
Borrowers who want a payment tied to income, borrowers already on an income-driven plan who must recertify their income and family size each year, and borrowers whose income has dropped and who want an immediate recalculation. Income-driven plans are also the usual route for borrowers pursuing Public Service Loan Forgiveness, since they are qualifying plans that leave a balance to forgive.
Not every loan qualifies. Parent PLUS loans are excluded from these plans, and consolidation loans that repaid parent PLUS loans are only eligible for ICR, with a path into IBR described on the form after at least one ICR payment.
How to fill out the IDR Plan Request
The form branches based on your answers, so read each item's skip instructions carefully:
- Section 1: your identifying and contact information
- Section 2: the reason you are submitting the form and, if you are entering or changing plans, which plan you want
- Section 3: family size, counting children and other dependents who receive more than half their support from you
- Sections 4A to 4C: marital status and the income questions that determine what documentation you owe
- Section 5A: an optional authorization letting the Department retrieve your federal tax information from the IRS each year, which enables automatic annual recertification for Direct Loan borrowers
- Section 5B: instructions for documenting current income with pay stubs or employer letters dated within 90 days of your signature, used when a tax return does not reflect your situation
- Section 6: your requests, understandings, and signature
How to submit it
Mail the signed form and your income documentation to the address shown in Section 7 of your copy; if no address is printed there, send it to your loan holder or servicer. Write your name and account number on every attached document.
If your loans are held by more than one servicer, you must send a separate request to each. Your servicer may place your account in a short forbearance while it processes the application or to cover an existing delinquency.
Frequently asked questions
The current edition lists IBR, PAYE, and ICR. Availability rules differ by loan type and by when you borrowed, and federal repayment plans have been changing, so confirm what is open to you on StudentAid.gov/idr or with your servicer before submitting.
Yes. All income-driven plans require annual recertification of income and family size. Missing the deadline can raise your payment to the 10 year standard amount and, on some plans, cause unpaid interest to capitalize. If you approve the IRS data authorization in Section 5A, recertification can happen automatically each year.
If your latest federal tax return still reflects your income, a copy of the return or a tax transcript is enough. If your income has changed or you have not filed recently, provide a pay stub or employer letter for each source of taxable income, dated within 90 days of the date you sign the form, with a note on how often you receive that income.
It depends on the plan and how you file taxes. Payments under IBR, PAYE, and ICR are based on joint income and loan debt when you file a joint federal return. Borrowers who are separated or cannot reasonably access a spouse's income information are treated as single on this form.
If you have no taxable income, the form does not require income documentation and your calculated payment on an income-driven plan can be zero. Months with a zero scheduled payment still count as payments made under the plan.
The form itself says applying at StudentAid.gov is faster and easier, and the online flow can pull tax data directly. The paper form is useful when a servicer requests it, when you want to prepare everything offline first, or when you cannot use the online tool.
Related forms
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