Student Loan Payoff Calculator
See how long it will take to pay off your student loans, how much interest you will pay overall, and how much faster you could be debt-free by adding a little extra each month.
Time to pay off
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Total paid
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Total interest
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Effective monthly
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Year-by-year breakdown
| Year | Principal paid | Interest paid | Remaining balance |
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How this calculator works
Each month, the lender charges interest on the balance you still owe. Your payment first covers that month’s interest; the rest reduces the principal. As the principal drops, less of each payment goes to interest and more knocks down the balance — which is why paying a little extra early on saves so much.
- Loan balance — the combined principal you still owe across all your student loans (federal plus private).
- Average interest rate — if your loans have different rates, use a weighted average. Most federal undergraduate loans issued recently sit between 5% and 7%; grad loans and private loans can be higher.
- Monthly payment — what you actually send each month. The standard federal repayment plan stretches over 10 years; income-driven plans stretch longer.
- Extra monthly payment — anything above the minimum. Federal loans never charge prepayment penalties, so every extra dollar goes straight to principal.
Tip: If you can spare it, paying 0–00 extra each month often cuts a 10-year loan to 7–8 years and saves thousands in interest. Direct the extra payment to your highest-rate loan first (the avalanche method) for the biggest savings.
This calculator assumes a fixed interest rate, constant monthly payments, and that extra payments are applied to principal at the time of payment. It does not model income-driven repayment, forgiveness programs, deferment, or capitalized interest during forbearance. This is not financial advice.
Student loan debt sticks around longer than most borrowers expect — not because the balance is unmanageable, but because most payments are barely outrunning the interest. This calculator shows you exactly how long payoff will take at your current payment, how much total interest you’ll hand over along the way, and what happens to both of those numbers the moment you add even a modest extra amount each month. The year-by-year breakdown table makes the math visible: you can watch the principal balance shrink and see how quickly the interest portion of each payment falls as it does.
Loan balance — the combined principal you still owe across all your student loans, both federal and private. If you have multiple loans, add the current balances together and use that total. The default is $35,000, which is close to the national average for bachelor’s degree borrowers.
Average interest rate — the rate the lender charges annually on your outstanding balance. If you have multiple loans at different rates, you can approximate a weighted average by dividing total annual interest by total balance. Federal undergraduate loans issued in recent years have generally fallen in the 5–7% range; graduate and private loans tend to run higher.
Monthly payment — what you currently send each month, or what you’re planning to. The standard federal repayment plan is built around a 10-year payoff. Income-driven plans set a lower payment but extend the timeline considerably, which is why total interest paid on those plans is often much higher than borrowers realize.
Extra monthly payment — any amount above your required minimum. Federal loans carry no prepayment penalty, so every extra dollar goes directly to reducing the principal rather than prepaying future interest. Even $50 to $100 extra per month can cut a decade-long loan down to seven or eight years and save thousands in total interest — the calculator shows the exact comparison when you enter a non-zero amount, expressed as time saved and interest avoided versus paying the base payment alone.
The green savings banner that appears when an extra payment is entered is worth paying close attention to. The interest savings from extra payments are front-loaded: money paid early reduces the balance on which future interest accrues, which is why the benefit compounds far beyond what the extra payment amount alone would suggest.
Paying off student loans alongside other debt? The Debt Payoff Calculator handles any fixed-rate balance and lets you model different monthly payment amounts.
Once your loans are paid off, redirect those payments to savings — the Compound Interest Calculator shows what that freed-up cash could become.
Student loan balances count as liabilities in your Net Worth Calculator — tracking them there gives you the full financial picture.
This calculator assumes a fixed interest rate, constant monthly payments, and that extra payments are applied immediately to principal. It does not model income-driven repayment plans, loan forgiveness programs, deferment, or interest that capitalizes during forbearance. This is not financial advice.