Please provide any three values below to calculate the fourth.
Use the calculator below to evaluate student loan payoff options and the interest you can save. The remaining balance, monthly payment, and interest rate can be found on your monthly student loan bill.
Use the calculator below to estimate the loan balance and repayment obligation after graduation. This calculator is mainly for those still in college, or who haven't started yet.
A student loan calculator is the fastest way to understand the true cost of borrowing for college and to build a realistic plan to pay it off. Whether you are still in school, just graduated, or several years into repayment, knowing your monthly payment, total interest, and payoff date lets you make smart decisions instead of guessing. This page brings together three complementary calculators - a Simple Student Loan Calculator, a Student Loan Repayment Calculator, and a Student Loan Projection Calculator - so you can answer almost any question about your loans in one place.
The Simple Student Loan Calculator works from any three of four values: your loan balance, the remaining term in years, the annual interest rate, and the monthly payment. Leave one field blank and the calculator solves for it. This flexibility makes it useful in many situations. If you know your balance, rate, and term, it tells you the monthly payment you will owe. If you know how much you can pay each month, it tells you how long the loan will take to clear. It also reports your total interest and total payments, and shows a chart splitting your payments into principal and interest so you can see exactly how much of your money goes toward the debt itself versus the cost of borrowing.
The Student Loan Repayment Calculator is designed for borrowers already in repayment who want to pay off their debt faster. Enter your current balance, your required monthly payment, and your interest rate, then choose a payoff strategy. You can model extra payments - a fixed amount added every month, an annual lump sum, a one-time payment, or any combination - and the calculator shows how much sooner you will be debt-free and how much interest you will save. You can also see the result of a normal repayment with no extra payments, or what it would take to pay the loan off altogether right now. Comparing these scenarios side by side makes the value of extra payments crystal clear.
The Student Loan Projection Calculator is built for students who are still in school or who have not yet started borrowing. It estimates what your balance will grow to by the time you graduate and what your monthly payment will be once repayment begins. Enter how many years until you graduate, how much you expect to borrow each year, any current balance, your loan term, the grace period, and the interest rate. Crucially, it lets you choose whether you will pay interest while you are in school. Because unpaid interest on most student loans is added to your balance (a process called capitalization), this single choice can change your total cost dramatically.
Student loans are amortizing loans, which means each monthly payment covers the interest that has accrued since the last payment plus a portion of the principal. The standard monthly payment formula is:
M = P × r / (1 − (1 + r)−n)
Here M is the monthly payment, P is the loan principal (your balance), r is the monthly interest rate (the annual rate divided by 12), and n is the total number of monthly payments (the term in years multiplied by 12). For example, a $30,000 balance at a 6.8% annual rate over 10 years has a monthly rate of 0.5667% and 120 payments, producing a monthly payment of about $345.24. Over the life of that loan you would pay roughly $11,429 in interest on top of the $30,000 you borrowed.
Early in repayment, most of each payment goes toward interest because the balance is large. As the balance shrinks, a growing share goes toward principal. This is why making extra payments early has an outsized effect: every extra dollar reduces the balance that future interest is charged on.
Understanding which type of loan you have is essential, because the rules differ significantly.
Federal student loans are issued by the U.S. Department of Education. They offer fixed interest rates set by Congress, access to income-driven repayment plans, deferment and forbearance options, and potential loan forgiveness programs. The main types are Direct Subsidized Loans (for undergraduates with financial need, where the government pays interest while you are in school), Direct Unsubsidized Loans (available regardless of need, where interest accrues from disbursement), and Direct PLUS Loans (for graduate students and parents, which carry higher rates and require a credit check).
Private student loans come from banks, credit unions, and online lenders. Rates can be fixed or variable and depend on your credit score and income, so a creditworthy co-signer often lowers the cost. Private loans generally lack the flexible repayment and forgiveness options of federal loans, so most financial advisors recommend exhausting federal options before turning to private lenders.
One of the most expensive features of student loans is interest capitalization. When unpaid interest is added to your principal balance, you begin paying interest on that interest. Capitalization commonly happens at the end of school, at the end of a grace period, and when deferment or forbearance ends. The Projection Calculator on this page models exactly this: if you choose not to pay interest during school, the interest that accrues each month is added to your balance, and after graduation a six-month grace period (the default) accrues even more before repayment begins.
Consider the difference. A student who borrows $10,000 per year for two years (plus a $20,000 starting balance) at 6.8% and pays nothing during school can see the balance grow well beyond the $40,000 borrowed by the time the grace period ends. The same student who pays the interest as it accrues keeps the principal from ballooning. Even modest interest-only payments while in school - sometimes just $25 to $75 a month per loan - can save thousands of dollars over the life of the debt.
Federal borrowers can choose among several repayment plans, and the right choice depends on your income, family size, and goals.
Use the Simple and Repayment calculators above to compare how different monthly payment amounts change your payoff date and total interest, then match that to the plan that fits your budget.
Paying off student loans ahead of schedule frees up income and saves interest. The Repayment Calculator lets you test each of these strategies before committing:
These two terms are often confused but mean different things. Federal loan consolidation combines multiple federal loans into a single Direct Consolidation Loan with one monthly payment and a weighted-average interest rate; it can simplify your life and unlock certain repayment plans, but it does not lower your rate. Refinancing replaces one or more loans (federal, private, or both) with a brand-new private loan, ideally at a lower interest rate. Refinancing can reduce your total cost, but refinancing federal loans forfeits income-driven repayment, generous deferment, and forgiveness programs - a trade-off worth modeling carefully before you proceed.
If you hit financial hardship, federal loans offer deferment and forbearance, which temporarily pause payments. During deferment on subsidized loans the government may cover the interest; in most other cases interest continues to accrue and may capitalize when you resume payments, increasing your balance. These tools can prevent default, but because of capitalization they should be used thoughtfully. Whenever possible, paying at least the accruing interest during a pause keeps your balance from growing.
The cheapest student loan is the one you never take out. Before borrowing, exhaust scholarships, grants, and work-study, which never need to be repaid. Choose an in-state public school or community college for the first two years where it fits your goals, and borrow only what you truly need for tuition and essential living costs rather than the maximum offered. Our related financial calculators can help you budget the rest of your money so loans cover only the gap.
It uses the standard amortization formula based on your balance, interest rate, and remaining term. The Simple Student Loan Calculator above performs this calculation instantly and also shows your total interest and total payments.
If you can afford it, yes. Paying interest during school prevents it from capitalizing (being added to your principal), which keeps your balance from growing. The Projection Calculator shows the difference between paying interest in school and letting it accrue.
Yes. Because interest is charged on your remaining balance, extra payments reduce the principal that future interest is based on. The Repayment Calculator shows precisely how much sooner you'll be debt-free and how much interest you'll save for any extra-payment plan.
No. Federal student loans and virtually all private student loans have no prepayment penalty, so you can pay extra or pay off the entire balance at any time without a fee.
They use standard financial formulas and produce reliable estimates for planning. Your servicer's figures may differ slightly due to daily interest accrual, fees, or the exact dates of your payments. Always confirm final numbers with your loan servicer.
No. Everything runs in your browser. No loan details are sent to any server, so your information stays private.
This Student Loan Calculator is provided for educational and planning purposes only and does not constitute financial advice or a loan offer. Actual loan terms, interest accrual, fees, and repayment options depend on your lender, loan type, and current regulations. Always verify details with your loan servicer before making decisions.