Student Loan Calculator: Estimate Your Payments Before You Borrow

A student loan calculator helps you estimate key details about your loan, including:

• Monthly payment based on the loan amount, interest rate, and term
• Total interest paid over the life of the loan
• Loan payoff timeline, including how extra payments or shorter terms affect your total cost

Credible’s student loan calculator gives you fast, clear insights you can use to plan your repayment and compare private or federal student loan options more effectively.

To get the most accurate student loan estimate, you’ll need to enter the following:

• Loan amount: The total amount you plan to borrow
• Interest rate: The annual rate (fixed or variable) you expect to pay
• Loan term: The repayment period, typically between 5 and 20 years

A student loan calculator makes it easy to project your monthly payment based on your loan details. Here’s an example:

If you take out a $25,000 loan at a fixed 5.5% interest rate with a 10-year term, your estimated monthly payment would be around $272. Over the full repayment period, you’d pay approximately $32,640 in total, about $7,640 of which would be interest.

The calculator also breaks down how each payment is split between interest and principal, so you can see exactly where your money is going. If you want to pay off your loan sooner, you can adjust the term length and see how contributing more each month helps reduce interest and shorten your payoff timeline.

Student loan interest rates play a critical role in determining your monthly payment, and how much you’ll ultimately pay in total over the life of your loan. Even the difference of just one or two percentage points can result in significant savings, or added expense, over the life of the loan.

For instance, a $30,000 loan at a 6% interest rate over 10 years would come with a monthly payment of about $334 and total interest around $10,000. If the rate dropped to 5%, that same loan would cost about $319 per month, and the total interest would fall to around $8,300, saving you approximately $1,700.

There are two main types of student loan interest rates:

• Fixed interest rates: These stay the same throughout the life of the loan. This means your monthly payment won’t change, which provides predictability and can make budgeting easier.
• Variable interest rate: A variable rate can go up or down over time, depending on market conditions. While it might start lower than a fixed rate, it also carries the risk of increasing, which could raise your monthly payment and total repayment cost.

It’s also helpful to understand how to calculate student loan interest:

• Simple interest is based solely on the outstanding principal. Each payment goes partly toward interest and partly toward reducing your loan balance.
• Capitalized interest occurs when unpaid interest is added to your principal balance, typically after a grace period or deferment. Once capitalized, you pay interest on a higher amount, which increases your overall cost.

Learn more in our guide to student loan interest, and use Credible’s student loan calculator to compare scenarios with different rates, terms, and payment strategies.

Lowering your student loan cost is possible with a few smart strategies:

• Make payments while in school: Even small payments during school can reduce your balance and interest.
• Choose a shorter loan term: Cutting down your student loan payoff schedule to, say, a 5- or 7-year term may increase monthly payments, but it’ll also reduce your total interest payments.
• Refinance to a lower interest rate: If you qualify, student loan refinancing can significantly lower your total repayment cost. However, note that refinancing federal student loans means losing access to federal protections like income-driven repayment plans.
• Make extra monthly payments: Putting more toward your loan each month reduces interest and shortens the payoff timeline.