Free student loan calculators for the 2026 rules
SAVE has ended and seven million borrowers are moving to a new plan. Work out your new payment in seconds, then dig into any of the nine calculators.
RAP charges you on your whole income, not just part of it
SAVE only counted the income you earned above 225% of the poverty line. Everything below that was protected. RAP drops that protection and applies its percentage to your entire adjusted gross income.
Same salary, much bigger base. For most people who were on SAVE the monthly payment goes up, and forgiveness moves from 20 or 25 years out to 30.
- Unpaid interest is waived, so your balance can never grow
- $50 of principal is credited every month regardless
- $50 a month off for each dependent child
A tool for each question this raises
Each one works on its own, explains how it got the number, and answers the questions people actually ask.
Compare repayment plans
See every plan you qualify for, side by side, with what each costs monthly and in total.
Payoff accelerator
Find out what paying a little extra each month takes off your loan.
PSLF estimator
Public service forgiveness: how far along you're and what gets written off.
Refinance comparison
Private refinancing against staying federal, including what you give up.
Forgiveness tax estimator
The tax bill that arrives the year an income-driven balance is canceled.
Affordability check
Whether a payment actually fits your income before you commit to it.
Amortization schedule
Every payment for the life of the loan, and where each dollar goes.
Consolidation rate
Your weighted average rate, and why consolidating rarely saves money.
Cost of pausing
What a forbearance adds to your balance and to every payment after it.
The single most expensive mistake available right now
PSLF still exists and RAP counts toward it. The Tiered Standard Plan doesn't. If you work for a government body or a qualifying non-profit and you're counting months, moving onto Tiered Standard stops your clock dead.
Check before you choose. Ten years of qualifying payments is worth tens of thousands of dollars, and PSLF forgiveness isn't taxed.
See what small changes are actually worth
Most of the money in a student loan is decided by a handful of ordinary choices. Whether you round the payment up. Whether you pause during a hard month. Whether you consolidate. Each has a number attached, and you can see it here.
- An extra $200 a month on a typical $42,000 balance clears it almost four years early
- A twelve-month pause on $50,000 at 6.8% adds $3,400 you never borrowed
- A forgiven balance outside PSLF can arrive as a five-figure tax bill
Four situations, four different right answers
The same balance and the same salary can point at completely different plans depending on who you're. Find yourself below.
You work in public service
PSLF is almost certainly worth more than any monthly saving. RAP counts toward it, the Tiered Standard Plan does not, and choosing wrong quietly stops a ten-year clock.
You support a household
Household size changes everything. IBR subtracts a poverty threshold that grows with each person, while RAP only takes off a flat $50 per child. Above three people IBR usually wins.
Your income is unstable
Commission, seasonal or self-employed income makes a fixed payment dangerous. Income-driven plans recalculate every year, and RAP has a $10 floor.
You borrowed after July 2026
You have exactly two options, RAP and the Tiered Standard Plan, with no route back to the older plans. Consolidating an older loan puts it under the same restriction.
What the comparison actually tells you
Not a single number. Eight plans simulated month by month, with the reasoning shown.
Your starting monthly payment on every plan
Worked out from your income, household size, dependants and state using the published 2026 formulas, not a rule of thumb.
What each plan costs over its whole life
Every payment to the end of the term, so a low monthly figure cannot hide a much larger total.
How much would eventually be forgiven
Shown per plan, because a plan that costs more monthly but cancels a large balance can still be the better deal.
Whether your balance grows or shrinks
A balance curve for each plan, so you can see where a payment fails to cover the interest and the debt climbs.
Your personal 90-day deadline
Enter the date on your servicer notice and see exactly when you must have chosen by.
Which plans are closed to you
Eligibility is applied properly. If a plan is unavailable it says so and explains why, rather than quietly omitting it.
What this can and can't tell you
A calculator that overstates its own certainty is worse than no calculator at all.
What it does well
- Applies the published 2026 rules exactly, including the RAP bands, the $10 floor and the $50 per child reduction
- Simulates month by month, so negative amortization and interest waivers are handled properly
- Models income growth across the term rather than freezing your payment at today figure
- Shows the arithmetic behind every number, so you can check it
- Costs nothing, asks for nothing, and stores nothing that identifies you
What it cannot do
- Replace your servicer figure, which uses your verified income and exact loan mix
- Know your loan types. Parent PLUS, FFEL and Perkins loans follow different rules
- Account for state tax on forgiven balances, which varies by state and changes
- Enroll you in anything. Only your servicer can do that, and it is free
- Predict future rule changes. Statutory parameters are updated every year
Why this decision is worth an afternoon
Produced by the comparison engine using the published 2026 rules. Your own numbers will differ, which is the entire reason to run them.
What to do once you have your numbers
Three situations, three different sets of actions.
- Apply through studentaid.gov before your 90-day window closes. It is free.
- Save the confirmation and keep paying until the switch is confirmed.
- If you are not chasing forgiveness, consider rounding the payment up. Even $50 a month removes years.
- Calendar your annual recertification. Missing it can jump your payment to the standard amount.
- Check the payment against your take-home pay, not your salary.
- Compare the income-driven plans specifically. IBR often beats RAP for larger households.
- Build one month of the payment into savings before committing.
- Do not take the cheapest total if you cannot sustain its monthly figure.
- Apply for an income-driven plan and tell your servicer the amount is unaffordable.
- On RAP the payment can be as low as $10 a month, and that still counts as a payment.
- Call before you miss a payment. Options disappear once you are delinquent.
- Never simply stop paying. Default brings collection costs and wage garnishment.
The words your servicer uses, translated
- Adjusted gross income (AGI)
- Your total income minus certain deductions, taken from your tax return. Every income-driven plan starts here.
- Discretionary income
- What is left after subtracting a multiple of the federal poverty line. IBR and ICR charge a percentage of this. RAP does not use it at all, which is exactly why RAP costs more.
- Capitalization
- When unpaid interest is added to your principal, so you then pay interest on that interest. RAP waives unpaid interest instead of capitalizing it.
- Negative amortization
- When your payment does not cover the month interest, so the balance grows despite you paying. This cannot happen on RAP.
- Qualifying payment
- A payment that counts toward forgiveness: made on time, on a qualifying plan, and for PSLF while in qualifying employment.
- Recertification
- The annual process of reporting your income so an income-driven payment can be recalculated. Miss it and your payment can jump.
- Forbearance
- An agreed pause in payments. Interest still accrues on every loan type, and most forbearance months do not count toward forgiveness.
Straight answers
What happens if I miss my 90-day window?
Your servicer places you on a plan of their choosing. That's often the most expensive one you qualify for, and it's not picked with your circumstances in mind. If your window has already closed, call your servicer today. Being late is recoverable; ignoring it is not.
Do I have to pay anything to enroll?
No. Enrolling in a repayment plan, applying for forgiveness and consolidating are all free at studentaid.gov. Anyone charging you a fee is running a scam, and you can report them to the FTC.
Is my payment definitely going up?
For most people who were on SAVE, yes, because RAP applies its percentage to your entire income rather than only the part above the poverty line. How much depends on your income, household size and dependants. The calculator at the top of this page gives you the actual figure rather than a guess.
Which plan should I pick?
The cheapest plan overall is only right if you can afford its monthly payment every single month for the whole term. Missing payments costs far more than choosing a slower plan. The results page ranks by total cost but shows the monthly figure just as prominently, and the affordability calculator checks it against your income.
Are these numbers official?
No. They're estimates built from the published 2026 rules applied to the figures you enter. Your servicer calculates the binding amount using your verified income and exact loan mix, and only they can enroll you. Use this to walk into that conversation knowing roughly what to expect.
Do you store what I enter?
A comparison is saved so you get a shareable link, and that record holds only the numbers you typed. No name, no account number, no email, nothing that identifies you. There are no accounts on this site.
Two minutes now beats a wrong plan for thirty years
Enter five numbers and see every option you have, with the deadline attached to your own notice date.
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