Student loan calculator
See your standard monthly payment, total interest, and how much an extra payment each month actually saves you.
Your loan details
Your standard repayment plan
Student Loan Calculator
Why your “standard” payment might not be what you’re actually paying
Most federal student loans default to a 10-year standard repayment plan, but a lot of borrowers end up somewhere else without fully realizing they switched — extended plans, graduated plans, income-driven repayment. If your monthly payment doesn’t match what a 10-year amortization would predict, that’s usually why. This calculator shows you the standard math so you have a baseline to compare your actual plan against, even if you’re not on the standard plan.
Stretching the term from 10 to 20 years cuts the monthly payment noticeably, which is exactly why people do it. But it roughly doubles the total interest paid over the life of the loan in a lot of cases, since you’re carrying the balance twice as long. Neither choice is wrong — it depends on whether you need the lower payment now more than you need to save money long-term — but it’s worth seeing both numbers side by side before deciding, rather than just picking based on which monthly figure feels more comfortable.
The extra payment trap that catches people off guard
Throwing extra money at a loan to pay it off faster is usually smart. Student loans are the one place where it can actually backfire, and it happens more than you’d think.
If you’re on an income-driven repayment plan working toward forgiveness after 20 or 25 years, or pursuing Public Service Loan Forgiveness through qualifying employment, paying extra can shrink or eliminate the amount that eventually gets forgiven — you’re essentially pre-paying debt that was going to disappear anyway. This calculator will show you what extra payments save on a standard plan, but that math doesn’t apply if forgiveness is part of your plan. Worth checking your loan servicer’s specific rules before assuming more is always better here.
A few things worth checking before you commit to a number
Federal loans and private loans behave differently enough that it’s worth treating them separately if you have both. Interest rates, repayment flexibility, and forgiveness eligibility can all vary significantly, and refinancing federal loans into a private loan gives up federal protections (income-driven plans, forgiveness eligibility, deferment options) permanently. That trade can make sense if the rate difference is big enough and you’re confident you won’t need those protections, but it’s not reversible, so it deserves real thought rather than a quick decision based on the rate alone.
Does refinancing always lower my rate? Not automatically — it depends on your credit, income, and the lender’s current offers. Worth shopping multiple lenders rather than taking the first quote, since rates can vary meaningfully between them.
What happens if I can’t make a payment? Contact your servicer before you miss one, not after. Deferment, forbearance, and income-driven plans exist specifically for this, and using them proactively protects your credit far better than letting a payment lapse and dealing with it afterward.