Navigating your student loan debt can be challenging, especially with all the different repayment plans and loan types available. We put together this student loan calculator to help you with the basics - understanding what your payment is, how paying down extra on your loans can help pay them off faster, and seeing if refinancing your student loan could make sense to save money.
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. After that, the calculator does the rest!
Student Loan Repayment Calculator
Please the details of your student loan into the calculator below to see your results.
What You Need To Know
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 amount 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.
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?
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.
You can shop student loan refinancing options here.
This calculator can help you figure it out:
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.
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 towards 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, Washington Post, Fox, ABC, NBC, and more. He is also a regular contributor to Forbes.
Editor: Clint Proctor