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Across the United States, students are graduating from college deeply in debt with no guarantee their diploma will land them a job, let alone one with a substantial salary.

"They're going out into a marketplace which has been very unforgiving right now with the economy and the condition that it's in," says Adam K. Levin, the chairman and co-founder of Credit.com.

However, a new income-based repayment plan from the U.S. Department of Education can help some students in debt. Under the new plan, monthly payments on certain federal student loans will be capped at 15 percent of incomes over 150 percent of the poverty line.

For instance, under the standard plan, a single person who owes $25,000 in student loan debt would have paid $288 a month. Under the income-based system, if the same student earns roughly $30,000, the payment will now be $172, 40-percent drop. Based on family size and income, certain individuals may pay nothing at all.

"It could save hundreds of dollars for you and certainly over the period of a year, thousand of dollars for young people," says Levin.

Yet lower monthly payments do come at a cost. It will likely take students longer than the standard 10 years to pay off the loan, which means paying more in interest. However, those who still have outstanding student debt after 25 years on the plan will have the remainder forgiven.

Those who take a career in public service could receive forgiveness even quicker.

"If you are classified as a public service employee, which also includes people who work for 501c3s, there is a forgiveness of indebtedness after 10 years," says Levin.

Not all students will qualify for the new repayment plan and not all students will benefit from it. Levin says it is important to do research and make sure the loan matches all the criteria.

He estimates that one million people will be impacted by the plan, which he stresses, only applies to federal student loans.

"If it's a private student loan or it was a student loan that was taken by your parents, you're not necessarily going to take advantage of this," says Levin.

Payment amounts will be recalculated on an annual basis to account for changes in family size or income. The new plan is effective immediately.

To find out if you qualify for the income-based repayment plan, the U.S. Department of Education has set up with a website with information and a calculator at studentaid.ed.gov.