Student Loan Payoff Calculator

A student loan is the only debt most people take on before they have an income, and it is the only one whose repayment rules were rewritten while millions of borrowers were already paying. Enter the balance, the rate, and the payment, and the ledger prices the payoff three ways: the standard 10-year plan the loan was written on, a fixed payment of your own, and the two income-driven plans that survived the 2026 overhaul, RAP and IBR. The standard plan is the cheapest way out. The income-driven plans are the cheapest way through a tight month. The difference between those two sentences is the whole decision.

Sources: Federal Student Aid, on 2026-27 Direct loan interest rates (undergraduate 6.52 percent, graduate 8.07 percent, PLUS 9.07 percent, fixed for loans first disbursed July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027, origination fee 1.057 percent) and on the Repayment Assistance Plan and Income-Based Repayment rules in effect July 1, 2026; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2026 poverty guidelines (single borrower $15,960 in the contiguous states, $5,680 per additional household member); Education Data Initiative and Federal Student Aid portfolio data as of March 31, 2026 (average federal balance $39,547 per borrower, median $20,281, 42.6 million borrowers, $1.69 trillion federal). Model: standard plan is fixed amortization over 120 months; a fixed payment is simulated month by month, interest equals balance times APR divided by 12, final payment capped at balance plus interest; RAP charges 1 to 10 percent of AGI by $10,000 bracket, minus $50 a month per dependent, $10 minimum, unpaid interest waived so the balance cannot grow, 360-payment term; IBR charges 10 percent of discretionary income for new borrowers (first loan on or after July 1, 2014) and 15 percent for older borrowers, capped at the standard payment, 240-month term for new borrowers and 300 for older ones. Income and household size are held constant, as the plans recertify annually in real life. This is a planning estimate, not financial or tax advice.

Step 1 — The loan

The defaults are a typical undergraduate total: $30,000 at 6.52 percent, the rate on Direct loans first disbursed in the 2026-27 academic year. The average federal borrower owes $39,547 and the median borrower owes $20,281, so $30,000 sits between the typical borrower and the average one. Graduate loans disbursed in 2026-27 carry 8.07 percent and PLUS loans 9.07 percent. Use the rate on your own loan, not the advertised rate for new borrowers, because each year's loans keep the rate set when they were disbursed.

Step 2 — The monthly payment

The standard 10-year payment on the defaults is $340.95 a month. The payment above is set to $400 to show what an extra $59.05 a month buys: 23 fewer months and $2,276.23 less interest. Set it to the standard payment to see the baseline, or to any amount the budget actually allows. A payment below the month's interest, $163.00 on the defaults, does not reduce the balance at all under a fixed plan, which is the first thing the ledger checks.

Step 3 — Income, for the income-driven plans

RAP charges a percentage of the whole adjusted gross income, so the household size does not change the RAP payment, only the $50 a month per dependent. IBR charges a percentage of discretionary income, which is income minus 150 percent of the poverty guideline for the household size, so every extra person in the household lowers the IBR payment. The 2026 guideline is $15,960 for a single borrower and $5,680 more per person. Alaska and Hawaii use higher figures, and this calculator uses the contiguous-states figures.

The ledger

AHEAD OF THE STANDARD

The first month's interest is $163.00. Of a $400 payment, $163.00 is interest and $237.00 reduces the balance. The first year of the standard plan costs $1,891.02 in interest and leaves a balance of $27,799.63 on the original $30,000.

The three plans, side by side

Standard, RAP, and IBR on the same balance, rate, and income. The standard plan costs the least in total and asks the most each month. RAP and IBR ask less each month and cost more in total, because the balance lives longer and interest is charged on every month it lives. At these defaults both income-driven plans still clear the loan before forgiveness, which is the common case at a $30,000 balance and a $55,000 income. At lower incomes or larger balances, forgiveness does the work, and the forgiven column is where to look.

What extra payments buy

Four amounts above the standard $340.95 payment, on the defaults. The first $25 of extra payment saves $1,099.01, which is more than a fifth of what the full $200 saves. The early dollars buy the most months, because every dollar of principal removed in year one stops charging interest for the nine years that follow.

What other balances cost on the standard plan

Six balances at 6.52 percent, each on the standard 10-year plan. Interest is a little over a third of the balance at every size, because the term and the rate are fixed. The $39,547 average balance costs $449.45 a month and $14,387.09 in interest. The $20,281 median balance costs $230.49 a month and $7,378.17.

Year by year: the balance under each plan

The standard column falls by about $2,200 a year in the early years and faster later, as the interest portion of the fixed payment shrinks. Your payment column falls faster from the start, because the extra $59.05 meets a smaller interest charge every month. When your column reaches zero, the loan is gone, and every dollar after that is money that stays with you.

No new borrowing is assumed, and no interest that capitalized while the borrower was in school. Unsubsidized loans accrue interest from disbursement, so a real balance at repayment is usually larger than the amount borrowed. Income-driven payments are recertified every year from the tax return, so a real RAP or IBR payment moves with income. If the payment is unmanageable, the income-driven plans exist for exactly that month, and the standard plan is the target to return to when income allows. The direction matters more than the size: a payment above the standard plan's is what breaks the ten-year clock.