Student Loan Calculator
The monthly payment and total cost of one or more student loans, including interest capitalised while repayment is deferred.
Result
Monthly payment: $349.61
Standard repayment only. Graduated and income-driven plans are not modelled.
- Interest capitalised while deferred
- $4,400.00
- Balance when repayment starts
- $32,400.00
- Total interest, including capitalised
- $13,954.42
- Total repaid
- $41,954.42
- Months to clear
- 120
https://calcgallery.com/finance/student-loan-calculator/
Results are arithmetic estimates based on the values you enter. Rates, fees and terms are set by your lender or provider, and your actual agreement controls what you pay or receive. Confirm important figures with them or with a qualified adviser. Read the full disclaimer
How to use the Student Loan Calculator
- Add each loan with its balance and interest rate. Tick subsidised for a loan whose interest is paid for you while repayment is deferred.
- Enter the repayment term and how many years pass before repayment starts.
- Optionally add an extra monthly payment, and read the payment, the interest capitalised while deferred and the total cost.
How the payment is worked out
Each loan is treated separately, then added together:
- Deferment. For an unsubsidised loan, interest accrues at its rate for each year before repayment: balance × rate × years. That amount is capitalised, added to the balance on the day repayment begins.
- Repayment. Each loan’s balance at that point is repaid with a level monthly payment over the term: P × i ÷ (1 − (1 + i)⁻ⁿ), where i is the annual rate divided by 12.
- Together. Your monthly payment is the sum of the loans’ payments.
The payments are worked to the cent. The last payment absorbs the rounding, as a servicer’s schedule does.
What this page does not include
No interest rate is filled in. Federal student loan rates are set each year for new loans, and private rates vary by lender and borrower, so the rate on your own loan documents is the only one that applies.
Standard repayment is modelled. Income-driven repayment, graduated and extended plans, forgiveness programmes and interest rate reductions for automatic payment are not. They all exist, and your servicer can tell you what each would cost.
With your numbers
- Interest while deferred, on unsubsidised loans: balance × rate × 4 years = $4,400.00, added to the balance
- Each loan repays over 120 months; together $349.61 a month
- Total repaid $41,954.42, of which $13,954.42 is interest
Quick reference
Standard repayment only. Graduated and income-driven plans are not modelled.
| Example | Monthly payment |
|---|---|
| USD 20,000 at 5.5%, 10 years, no deferment | $217.05 |
| USD 20,000 at 5.5%, 4 years deferred | $264.80 |
| Same, subsidised | $217.05 |
| USD 20,000 at 5.5% with USD 100 extra | $217.05 |
| Two loans, 4 years deferred | $349.61 |
| USD 35,000 at 6.54% over 20 years | $261.78 |
Common questions about the Student Loan Calculator
- What is capitalised interest?
- Interest that builds up while you are not repaying, and is then added to the balance when repayment starts. From then on you pay interest on it too. On 20,000 at 5.5% deferred for four years, 4,400 is added, so repayment starts on 24,400 rather than 20,000 and the payment rises from 217.05 to 264.80.
- What is the difference between subsidised and unsubsidised loans?
- On a subsidised loan, interest is not charged to you while repayment is deferred, so the balance when you start repaying is the amount you borrowed. On an unsubsidised loan interest accrues from the start and is capitalised. Which of your loans is which is on your loan documents or your servicer’s account page.
- Why can I not choose an income-driven or graduated plan?
- Income-driven plans set the payment from your income against a poverty guideline and a percentage that are fixed by law and change every year, so any figure built in here would go out of date. Graduated plans step the payment up on a schedule the servicer sets, with no published formula to calculate it from. This page models standard repayment, which both are compared against; your servicer can quote the others.
- Where does the extra payment go when I have several loans?
- To the loan with the highest interest rate first, while every loan still gets its own payment. When that loan is cleared, its payment and the extra move to the next highest rate. That order saves the most interest.