It’s official: The administration of President Joe Biden launched a student loan repayment plan Tuesday that it describes as the “most affordable” option yet for reducing that debt.

Through the plan, called Saving on A Valuable Education (SAVE), participating borrowers could see their payments cut in half, while some will see their amounts zero out.

Borrowers can begin enrolling at StudentAid.gov/SAVE as of Tuesday. Those who participated in the Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE) Plan, the previous iteration of this option that generally capped payments at 10% of borrowers’ monthly discretionary income, will be automatically enrolled.

“This plan is a game changer for millions of Americans, many of whom are putting off having children, buying their first home or even starting a business because they can't get out from under their student loans,” said White House Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden in a call with reporters Monday. “This administration is using every tool at our disposal to get student loan borrowers the help and the relief they need to reach their dreams and (Biden’s) SAVE plan is the next step in this effort.”

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As with REPAYE, the amount borrowers pay back through SAVE is based on their income and family size. Generally speaking, it’s not tied to their loan balance. After a certain number of years, borrowers who participate in SAVE will see their remaining balances cleared.

Here are some other specifics:

◾ For borrowers who have undergraduate loans only, their payments will now be capped at 5% of their discretionary income. (Those with graduate loans as well will pay between 5% and 10%, a weighted average based on their loans’ original principal balances.)

◾ Discretionary income in this case is defined as the difference between one’s adjusted gross income and 225% of the federal poverty line as determined by a family’s size. Borrowers who, per this formula, have zero discretionary income would pay nothing. A single borrower who makes roughly $15 an hour wouldn’t have monthly payments, for example.

◾ As part of the plan, the Education Department will no longer charge monthly interest that isn’t covered by the income-driven adjustments. A borrower who owes $50 in accumulating interest every month but just $30 per month under SAVE, for instance, wouldn’t be charged the remaining $20 as long as she keeps up with her payments.

◾ Borrowers whose original principal balances were $12,000 or less will see their loans forgiven once they’ve made 120 payments. Under other income-driven repayment options, even borrowers who only attended for a semester were subject to 20 or 25 years of repayments before being eligible for relief.

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The Biden administration is aiming to show Americans that it intends to make good on the president’s promises of widespread student loan forgiveness. Already, it’s forgiven $116 billion in student loans for 3.4 million borrowers, largely through targeted relief for people who work in public service, for example, or who’ve been defrauded by their colleges.

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SAVE is one of several prongs the administration is now leveraging as it separately wades into a protracted rulemaking process in an attempt to salvage mass loan forgiveness. Earlier this summer, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Biden’s Plan A for forgiveness, for which more than 40 million borrowers would have been eligible.

But if the Education Department’s experiences with other income-driven repayment strategies are any indication, one key challenge will be the logistical feat of raising awareness and then facilitating enrollment.

The federal government has already made live a beta version of the SAVE plan, with prospective participants saying they were given processing times of nearly a year. Some components of the SAVE plan itself won’t go into effect until next summer.

As part of Tuesday’s launch, the department also announced it will partner with half a dozen or so advocacy groups and community partners to get the word out.

Meanwhile, some critics worry the SAVE plan will disproportionately benefit higher-income borrowers and amount to a handout.

The administration, however, stresses that low- and middle-income borrowers, including those who attended community college or now work in public service, will be among the plan’s biggest beneficiaries.

Contact Alia Wong at (202) 507-2256 or awong@usatoday.com. Follow her on X at @aliaemily.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: With loan forgiveness paused, Biden's new student debt plan steps in