Use our free student loan calculator to estimate your monthly student loan payment under the various student loan repayment plans: Standard, Graduated, Extended, IBR, PAYE, SAVE, and ICR.
To use the student loan calculator, you do need to have some basics of your loan or loans - including the interest rate and payment amounts. Take the total of all your loans and the average interest rate. Or you can tackle each loan individually. After that, the student loan calculator does the rest!
Student Loan Repayment Calculator
* This calculator has been updated to reflect the latest SAVE repayment plan calculations as of 2024.
What You Need To Know For Our Student Loan Calculator
When you are planning the details of your student loan repayment, there are definitely a few things you need to know.
Loan Amounts
You need to know your student loan balance to accurately use the calculator. For this calculator, you should either: combine all your loans into one amount, or calculate each loan individually. We recommend you calculate each loan individually, which can then help you setup the best debt payoff method - either the debt snowball or debt avalanche.
Loan Term
Beyond the loan amount, how much time is left on your loans plays a huge part in your monthly payment amount. The standard repayment plan for Federal loans is 10 years. However, if you opt into another student loan repayment plan, your loan term may be longer (up to 25 years).
On the flip side, if you've been paying your student loans for several years, your loan term may be shorter.
This calculator assumes the full loan term, so if you've already been in repayment for a bit your numbers on the Standard Plan, Extended Plan, and Graduated Plan may vary.
Interest Rate
A lot of people are concerned about their student loan interest rate - and it does play a big factor (especially for private student loans). However, for Federal loans, it plays a much smaller factor.
In fact, recent loans may have a rate as low as 2%, while those a few years old may still see rates around 6%. Old loans could see rates pushing 8-10%. Those loans may be better being refinanced, unless you're seeking student loan forgiveness.
Related: How Much Does Your Student Loan Interest Rate Really Matter?
Repayment Plan Options
The output of the calculator will show you the various monthly payments under different repayment plans. Here's what those plans are: Standard 10-Year, Graduated, Extended, IBR, PAYE, SAVE, and ICR.
Important Note About SAVE: SAVE is currently blocked by the courts. Borrowers enrolled in the SAVE plan are currently in Administrative Forbearance. However, we anticipate that SAVE will be allowed to continue, at least for the monthly payment aspect.
Does Student Loan Refinancing Make Sense?
Student loan refinancing can make sense for some borrowers, especially those with private student loans. If you have Federal student loans, refinancing typically only makes sense if you are NOT going for any type of loan forgiveness, and plan to pay off your loan within 5 years.
Remember, you're going to get the best rate on a short-term (5 years or less) variable student loan. The longer the loan, the higher the rate typically will be. It may not even be much better than your current loans.
Additional Factors To Consider
The important thing to remember with student loans (especially Federal loans), is that payment isn't the only factor to consider.
Federal loans specifically have a lot assistance options that can be very beneficial. For example, student loan forgiveness options, hardship deferment options, and income-driven repayment plans. These benefits are likely worth more than a little extra interest.
However, for private student loans, you typically don't have any of these options available, in which case student loan interest rate and term length are the biggest factors.
Finally, if you are considering refinancing your student loans, credit score and debt-to-income ratio play a big factor in getting the best rate. Make sure you know your credit score before applying so you know what to expect.
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Robert Farrington is America’s Millennial Money Expert® and America’s Student Loan Debt Expert™, and the founder of The College Investor, a personal finance site dedicated to helping millennials escape student loan debt to start investing and building wealth for the future. You can learn more about him on the About Page or on his personal site RobertFarrington.com.
He regularly writes about investing, student loan debt, and general personal finance topics geared toward anyone wanting to earn more, get out of debt, and start building wealth for the future.
He has been quoted in major publications, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, ABC, NBC, Today, and more. He is also a regular contributor to Forbes.
Editor: Clint Proctor Reviewed by: Chris Muller
