1.5 million student-loan borrowers left Biden's key repayment plan. Here's what's at stake for the 6 million others.

The Education Department is encouraging student-loan borrowers to leave the SAVE repayment plan. Al Drago/Getty Images 1.5 million student-loan borrowers have left the SAVE repayment plan. Sept. 29 is the first deadline for borrowers to transition off the plan. Those who don't take action by their deadline will be placed in the most expensive repayment plan. Millions of student-loan borrowers have yet to leave a key repayment plan — and the first deadline is approaching. A Department of Education spokesperson confirmed that 1.5 million of the 7.5 million borrowers on the SAVE plan had selected a new repayment plan as of Monday morning, "allowing them to make progress toward paying down their balances and access loan discharge benefits that current SAVE borrowers are missing out on." SAVE was a Biden-era repayment plan that offered borrowers lower monthly payments and a shorter timeline for debt relief.