Student Loan Payoff Calculator
See your standard repayment schedule, how much of it is interest, and what extra payments would actually do to the payoff date — plus what this calculator doesn't cover, which for student loans matters more than most debts.
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EstimateThis calculator provides estimates for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, legal, accounting, or tax advice. Results are based on the assumptions and information entered and may differ materially from actual outcomes. Tax rules and financial regulations can change. Consult an appropriately qualified professional for advice specific to your situation.
Federal student loans offer income-driven repayment and forgiveness programs that work very differently from the standard fixed schedule modelled here — see the notice below before treating this as your only option.
- Models standard fixed repayment — 10, 15, 20 or 25 years.
- Clearly flags that income-driven repayment plans are not modelled and can produce a very different outcome.
- Shows the effect of monthly, annual or one-time extra payments on the payoff date and total interest.
- Notes the real trade-off in refinancing federal loans into a private loan.
How to use this calculator
Enter the current loan balance, the interest rate, and the repayment plan length. That produces the standard fixed payment, the total interest over the life of the loan, and the payoff date. Under Advanced, add a monthly extra payment, an annual lump sum, or a single one-time extra payment to see the effect on both the timeline and the total interest.
Standard repayment vs. income-driven plans
This calculator models the Standard Repayment Plan — a fixed payment over a fixed term, exactly like a mortgage or auto loan. For federal student loans specifically, that is one option among several:
- Standard Repayment — fixed payment, typically over 10 years (what this calculator models).
- Extended Repayment — a longer fixed term, lowering the payment but increasing total interest.
- Income-driven repayment plans (such as SAVE, IBR, PAYE) — the payment is based on income and family size rather than the balance, and any remaining balance can be forgiven after a set number of years. This is a fundamentally different calculation that this tool does not attempt to model.
For federal loans, the government's own repayment estimator at studentaid.gov models all of these plans against your actual loan data and is the right place to compare them directly. This calculator's value is in the standard fixed-repayment math — useful on its own, but not a substitute for that comparison if income-driven repayment is a real option for your situation.
A worked example
A $30,000 balance at 5.5% over the standard 10-year term produces a payment of about $326 a month, with total interest over the decade of roughly $9,070. Adding $100 a month in extra payments brings the loan balance to zero several years sooner and meaningfully reduces that total interest — the exact figures are computed live once entered.
How extra payments help
Every extra dollar applied to a student loan reduces the principal balance immediately, which reduces every future month's interest charge — the same mechanism as any other amortizing loan. The one student-loan-specific wrinkle: confirm with the servicer, in writing, that extra payments are applied to the current balance rather than held as an advance payment toward next month's bill, which some servicers do by default unless instructed otherwise.
Assumptions and limitations
- Standard fixed repayment only. Income-driven repayment, forgiveness programs, and employer-assisted repayment are not modelled.
- No capitalized interest events. Deferment, forbearance, or leaving an income-driven plan can cause unpaid interest to capitalize (get added to the principal), which then itself earns interest — not modelled here, and it can meaningfully change a real balance over time.
- A single fixed rate for the whole term. Loans with a variable rate, or multiple loans at different rates being tracked together, are not modelled — enter one loan at a time.
Common mistakes
Refinancing without weighing the trade-off. Refinancing a federal loan into a private one can lower the rate, but permanently forfeits federal protections — income-driven repayment, deferment, forbearance, and federal forgiveness programs. That's a real cost even when the new rate looks better on paper.
Assuming a lower payment on Extended Repayment saves money. A longer term almost always lowers the monthly payment and almost always increases total interest paid — the two are not the same thing.
Ignoring an income-driven plan without checking it first. For borrowers with a lower income relative to their loan balance, an income-driven plan combined with forgiveness can produce a dramatically different total cost than standard repayment — worth checking at studentaid.gov before assuming standard repayment is the default best option.
Frequently asked questions
A fixed monthly payment calculated to pay off the loan over a set term — typically 10 years for federal Standard Repayment. The payment amount doesn't change based on income; it's calculated the same way as a mortgage or auto loan payment.
Income-driven repayment plans set the monthly payment as a percentage of discretionary income rather than a fixed amortization schedule, and can lead to loan forgiveness after a set number of years (commonly 20–25). Modeling it requires income, family size, and specific plan rules that vary by program — a materially different calculation from the fixed-schedule math this calculator performs. The federal loan simulator at studentaid.gov is built specifically for that comparison.
It depends on the loan's rate compared to what you'd expect to earn investing, your risk tolerance, and whether an income-driven forgiveness path might make extra payments less valuable than they'd otherwise be. There's no universal answer — the rate comparison from the Amortization Schedule or Investment Return calculators can help make it concrete for your specific numbers.
It can lower the rate, but it permanently gives up federal protections: income-driven repayment eligibility, deferment and forbearance options, and federal forgiveness programs (including Public Service Loan Forgiveness). That trade-off is worth weighing deliberately, not just comparing rates.
On most federal loans, interest continues to accrue during deferment or forbearance (except on some subsidized loans during deferment), and if unpaid, it can capitalize — get added to the principal balance — at the end of that period, after which it itself starts earning interest. This calculator doesn't model that scenario; it assumes continuous standard repayment.
Generally no — extra principal payments shorten the loan rather than lower the next scheduled payment, similar to any other amortizing loan, unless the servicer specifically offers re-amortization. Confirm how your servicer applies extra payments, since this varies.