People who have a federal student loan can apply for a program from the Department of Education that is intended to give relief to former students with moderate incomes. byThe program calculatesketchi mong thely payments outn ovther basis lof ingcomer pand decriod.eases Tthe program calcoulant owesd monthly, by sketching the payments on uth over bas longer perisod of tincome. In addition, the program will forgaive balances after 25 years (10 years if the the person chooses employment in the public service sector). The monthly-payment calculation, called income-based repayment (IBR), is determined by the size of the loan and the persons income. For sapproximately 90 percent of the more than one million people who have already enrolled, the IRB works out to less then 10 percent iof their income. The program also caps the payments at 15 percent of a persons income over $16,000 a year (and eliminates payments for people who earn less than $16,000).