Student Loan Calculator
Calculate your monthly payments, total interest costs, and explore different repayment plans for your student loans.
Understanding Student Loans
Our Student Loan Calculator helps you plan your education financing by showing how much you'll pay each month under different repayment plans, the total interest costs over the life of the loan, and how adding extra payments can save you money and time.
Types of Student Loans
Federal Student Loans:
- Direct Subsidized Loans: For undergraduate students with financial need; government pays interest during certain periods
- Direct Unsubsidized Loans: Available to undergraduate and graduate students; interest accrues continuously
- Direct PLUS Loans: For graduate students and parents of dependent undergraduate students
- Direct Consolidation Loans: Combine multiple federal loans into a single loan
Private Student Loans:
- Offered by banks, credit unions, and online lenders
- Often require credit checks and/or co-signers
- May have fixed or variable interest rates
- Typically lack the repayment flexibility of federal loans
- Usually don't offer loan forgiveness options
Federal Repayment Plans:
- Standard Repayment Plan: Fixed monthly payments for 10 years
- Graduated Repayment Plan: Payments start low and increase over time (usually every two years)
- Extended Repayment Plan: Lower monthly payments spread over up to 25 years
- Income-Driven Repayment Plans:
- Income-Based Repayment (IBR): Payments are 10-15% of discretionary income
- Pay As You Earn (PAYE): Payments are 10% of discretionary income
- Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE): Payments are 10% of discretionary income
- Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR): Payments are the lesser of 20% of discretionary income or fixed payment on a 12-year plan
Key Student Loan Terms:
- Grace Period: Time after graduation before you must begin repayment (typically 6 months)
- Deferment: Temporarily postpones loan payments with no interest accrual on subsidized loans
- Forbearance: Temporarily postpones or reduces payments, but interest continues to accrue
- Loan Forgiveness: Cancellation of remaining loan balance after qualifying payments (typically 10-25 years depending on program)
- Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF): Program that forgives remaining balance after 120 qualifying payments while working full-time for a qualifying employer
Smart Student Loan Tips
- Borrow only what you need for education expenses
- Understand the differences between federal and private loans
- Take advantage of interest subsidies when available
- Consider making interest payments while in school to reduce capitalization
- Explore loan forgiveness programs if eligible
- Set up automatic payments to avoid late fees and possibly qualify for interest rate reductions
- Consider refinancing if you can qualify for a significantly lower interest rate