Student Loan Calculator
Estimate your monthly payment, total interest, and payoff time for federal, private, or Parent PLUS loans — in your own currency, with real support for extra payments, deferment, and income-driven repayment.
This loan type repays as a percentage of income, not a fixed schedule
A fixed monthly-payment calculator can't model this accurately — the payment depends on your income, not the balance, and the balance can grow before it shrinks. Use the dedicated calculator instead.
Open the Income-Driven Repayment Calculator →Extra payments
Monthly payment
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- Total interest
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- Total repaid
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- Payoff time
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With your extra payments
Paid off sooner, saving in interest.
Balance over time
Year-by-year schedule
| Year | Payment | Principal | Interest | Balance |
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Compare scenarios
Adjust the term, rate, or extra payments above, then add each version here to compare up to 3 side by side.
A student loan calculator built for the whole world, not just the US
Most tools that call themselves a student loan calculator are really a US calculator with a currency symbol bolted on. This one is built currency-first: pick a country preset and the calculator switches to that currency's own number formatting — including grouping conventions a US-built calculator gets wrong, like India's lakh/crore system — and pre-fills typical loan types and rates for that country. Prefer a currency with no matching country preset? Choose "Other / worldwide" and pick from a dozen currencies directly.
As a student loan payment calculator, it's built to answer the question people actually ask first — "what will I owe every month?" — instantly, before any of the supporting detail below. Change any input and the monthly payment, total interest, total repaid, and payoff time all update immediately, with no page reload and nothing to sign up for.
Federal, private, and Parent PLUS student loans — modeled correctly
Loan type matters more than most calculators let on. As a federal student loan calculator, this tool separates Federal Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized loans, Direct PLUS loans, and private loans — each with its own typical rate pre-filled, because a single default "student loan" rate hides real differences between them. Select a loan type from the country picker and the rate updates to match.
Used as a Parent PLUS loan calculator, the same standard amortization math applies: enter the amount, PLUS loan rate, and repayment term, and get an accurate monthly payment and total cost — the same figures a parent co-signer needs before agreeing to borrow.
For private loans, this doubles as a private student loan calculator: since private lenders price by credit risk rather than a fixed government rate, enter your actual quoted rate and term to see the real cost of that specific offer, and compare it against a federal loan's numbers side by side using the built-in comparison panel.
What the numbers mean
- Monthly payment — the fixed amount due each month to pay the loan off over your chosen term, before any extra payments.
- Total interest — what the loan costs you beyond what you borrowed. This is the number worth minimizing.
- Total repaid — principal plus total interest: everything that leaves your account over the life of the loan.
- Payoff time — how long until the balance reaches zero, which shortens automatically if you add extra payments.
See exactly what your loan costs: interest, amortization, and payoff time
A monthly payment alone hides the real cost of a loan. Used as a student loan interest calculator, this tool separates every payment into principal and interest from day one, so the total interest figure — what the loan costs beyond what was borrowed — is always visible, not buried in a document you'd have to request.
The year-by-year table under the results is a full student loan amortization calculator: it shows exactly how much of each year's payments go to principal versus interest, and how the balance declines, without forcing you to scroll through hundreds of individual monthly rows — long terms are automatically rolled up into yearly totals so the table stays readable regardless of loan length.
And because payoff time moves automatically as extra payments are added, this also works as a student loan payoff calculator in the fullest sense — not just "when does the term end," but "when will I actually be debt-free if I pay more than the minimum."
Extra payments, deferment, and comparing repayment terms
Open Extra payments to add a recurring monthly amount, a one-time lump sum, or both. As a student loan calculator with extra payments built in from the start — not bolted on as an afterthought — it shows exactly how much time and interest each one saves versus your baseline. If your loan has (or had) a study-period deferment, set the deferment length and choose whether accrued interest gets added to your balance (unsubsidized-style) or waived (subsidized-style) — most calculators skip this entirely.
To compare repayment terms — say, 10 years versus 15, or with and without extra payments — adjust the inputs and press "+ Add current result" under Compare scenarios. Do it again with different numbers to see up to three scenarios side by side. Used this way, it works as a complete student loan calculator repayment planner: not just one answer, but a way to actually decide between options.
Income-driven repayment, forgiveness, and REPAYE
Some loans don't repay on a fixed schedule at all. As an income driven repayment calculator — and, for the US specifically, a REPAYE student loan calculator — the dedicated Income-Driven Repayment Calculator models US IDR plans (where the payment is a percentage of discretionary income, the same shape REPAYE uses), UK Plan 1/2/4/5, and Australia's HECS-HELP: schemes where the monthly payment depends on income, not the loan balance.
Because those plans forgive any remaining balance after a set number of years, it also functions as a student loan forgiveness calculator — enter the loan balance, income, and the plan's forgiveness term, and see the projected forgiven amount alongside the total paid, including a clear warning for years where the balance is projected to grow before it shrinks, something a fixed-payment calculator can't show at all.
Thinking about refinancing or consolidating?
Refinancing and consolidating are different decisions with different math. Model a potential refinance by setting up your current loan's numbers, adding it to Compare scenarios, then changing the rate and term to match a refinance offer and adding that too — used this way, the comparison panel works as a practical student loan refinance calculator, showing total interest and total paid side by side instead of just a headline rate.
For combining multiple loans into one, the same standard calculator doubles as a student loan consolidation calculator: enter the combined balance and a blended or new rate to see the resulting single payment. Read the full refinancing and consolidation guide before deciding — refinancing a federal loan away can mean losing protections that are easy to overlook.
Frequently asked questions
- Is this student loan calculator free?
- Yes — every calculator on this site is free, with no sign-up and no data sent anywhere beyond your own browser.
- Does this calculator work outside the United States?
- Yes — that's the point. Pick a country preset for locale-correct currency formatting and typical local rates, or choose "Other / worldwide" to use any of a dozen supported currencies with your own numbers.
- What's the difference between this and the income-driven repayment calculator?
- This calculator models a standard fixed-schedule loan (a set rate, term, and monthly payment). The Income-Driven Repayment Calculator models loans where the payment is a percentage of your income instead — US IDR plans, UK Plan 1/2/4/5, and Australia's HECS-HELP all work this way.
- How does the deferment option work?
- Set the number of months before repayment starts (a study period, for example). Interest still accrues during that time; checking the capitalization box adds that accrued interest to your balance once repayment starts (typical of unsubsidized loans), while leaving it unchecked waives it (typical of subsidized loans).
- Can I calculate the effect of extra payments?
- Yes — open the Extra payments section to add a recurring monthly amount and/or a one-time lump sum. The results panel shows exactly how much time and interest you'd save compared to the standard schedule.
- How do I compare two different loan terms?
- Set up the first scenario and click "+ Add current result" under Compare scenarios, then change the term, rate, or extra payments and add the result again — up to 3 scenarios are shown side by side.
- Can I share my calculation with someone else?
- Yes — press "Copy link to this result" to copy a URL with your exact numbers pre-filled, ready to paste and send.
- How long will it take to pay off my student loan?
- The Payoff time figure in your results shows exactly that, calculated from your loan amount, rate, and term — and it updates automatically the moment you add extra payments, showing the new, sooner payoff date. Enter your real numbers and read the payoff time directly; there's no manual math required.
- How can I pay off my student loan faster?
- Add a recurring monthly extra payment, a one-time lump sum, or both under Extra payments — the calculator immediately shows how much sooner you'd be debt-free and how much interest you'd save. See the extra payments guide for which type of extra payment saves the most, depending on when you make it.
- What will my student loan payment be?
- Enter your loan amount, interest rate, and repayment term, and the Monthly payment figure updates instantly — that's your exact required payment based on standard amortization, before any extra payments you choose to add.
- How much will I pay back in total on my student loan?
- The Total repaid figure — principal plus total interest — is exactly this: everything that leaves your account over the life of the loan. Total interest, shown just above it, isolates what the loan costs you beyond what you borrowed, in case that's the number you actually want.
- Which student loan should I pay off first?
- If you have more than one loan, set up each one as its own scenario in Compare scenarios (with its own rate, term, and any extra payments) and compare total interest — the loan with the highest rate is usually the one where an extra payment saves the most, but running your actual numbers is the only way to be sure for your specific loans.
- How is student loan repayment calculated?
- For a standard fixed-rate loan, repayment is calculated with the same amortization formula this calculator uses — see the how it works page for the exact math. UK student loans work differently: Plan 1/2/4/5 and Postgraduate Loan repayment is a percentage of income above a threshold, not a fixed schedule — that's calculated on the Income-Driven Repayment Calculator instead. See how student loans work by country for more.
- How much student loan can I afford?
- Affordability really means "can my future monthly payment fit my expected budget." Enter a loan amount and term, check the resulting Monthly payment figure, and adjust the amount or term until that payment is one you'd be comfortable committing to for the full length of the loan. A common rule of thumb is keeping total student loan payments under roughly 10% of expected gross monthly income, though your own budget is the real test.
- How much can I borrow in student loans?
- This calculator estimates repayment on a loan amount you already know or are considering — it doesn't determine how much you're eligible to borrow, since that depends on your school's cost of attendance, financial need, and the specific loan program's rules. For US federal loan eligibility, check directly with studentaid.gov or your school's financial aid office; once you know the amount, come back here to estimate the payment.
- How do I use a student loan interest calculator?
- Enter your loan amount, interest rate, and term — the Total interest figure shows what the loan costs beyond what you borrowed, and the year-by-year schedule below breaks that down further, showing exactly how much interest (versus principal) each year's payments cover.
- Does this work as a Parent PLUS loan calculator?
- Yes — select Federal Direct PLUS as the loan type under the US preset (or enter your own PLUS loan rate directly) and the standard amortization calculator gives you the same monthly payment and total cost figures a parent co-signer needs.
- Is there a student loan refinance or consolidation calculator?
- There isn't a separate page for it — instead, model your current loan and a refinance or consolidation offer as two scenarios in the Compare scenarios panel to see total interest and total paid side by side. See the refinancing and consolidation guide for what to check before switching.
- Does this calculate REPAYE or student loan forgiveness?
- Yes — the Income-Driven Repayment Calculator models REPAYE-style, percentage-of-income repayment plans and projects the forgiven balance at the end of the plan's term, including a warning for years the balance is projected to grow instead of shrink.
- Is this financial advice?
- No. This calculator produces estimates based on the numbers you enter and the assumptions on the how it works page — it isn't financial, tax, or legal advice. See the disclaimer for details.