This Loan Payment Calculator computes an estimate of the size of your monthly loan payments and the annual salary required to manage them without too much financial difficulty. This loan calculator can be used with Federal education loans (Stafford, Perkins and PLUS) and most private student loans. (The student loan calculator can also be used as an auto loan calculator or to calculate your mortgage payments.)
This loan calculator assumes that the interest rate remains constant throughout the life of the loan. Currently the 2020-2021 Undergraduate Federal Stafford Loan has a fixed interest rate of 2.75% (a record low) and the Federal PLUS loan has a fixed rate of 5.3%. (Perkins loans have a fixed interest rate of 5%.)
The calculator also assumes that the loan will be repaid in equal monthly installments through standard loan amortization (i.e., standard or extended loan repayment). The results will not be accurate for some of the alternate repayment plans, such as graduated repayment and income contingent repayment.
Loan fees are used to adjust the initial loan balance so that the borrower nets the same amount after the fees are deducted.
Some educational loans have a minimum monthly payment. Please enter the appropriate figure ($50 for Stafford Loans, $40 for Perkins Loans and $50 for PLUS Loans) in the minimum payment field. Enter a higher figure to see how much money you can save by paying off your debt faster. It will also show you how long it will take to pay off the loan at the higher monthly payment.
Need to compare several loans? Use our Loan Payment Comparison Calculator to compare up to 4 loans at one time: Loan Comparison Calculator.
