Student Loan Repayment Calculator

Estimate your monthly student loan payment, total interest, payoff date, and how repayment changes under different plans, extra payments, grace periods, and capitalization assumptions.

Burrow Tip: The biggest mistake with student loans is only looking at the required payment. You should also compare the total interest and how fast the balance actually declines.

Use the extra-payment field to see how much faster you could get out of debt without changing lenders or refinancing.

Loan details

Standard payment Fixed monthly payment

Loan balance

Use your current principal balance. If unpaid interest has already capitalized, include it in this number.

Interest rate (%)

Repayment term (years)

For standard repayment this is often 10 years, but you can model longer or shorter terms here.

Fixed monthly payment

Use this to model “I can pay $X per month.” The calculator will estimate how long payoff takes and total interest.

Repayment start month

Extra monthly payment

Target monthly budget (optional)

Advanced assumptions

Grace / deferment months before repayment

This models a period before payments begin. Interest can still accrue during this period depending on the loan type.

Capitalize accrued interest after grace period

Checked = unpaid accrued interest is added to principal before repayment starts.

Origination / added fees

One-time extra payment

Apply lump sum in payment month #

Opportunity return on extra cash (%)

Optional: estimate what your extra payments might have earned elsewhere. This is not advice, just a tradeoff lens.

Results

Required monthly payment

$—

Base payment before optional extra

Total monthly outflow

$—

Base payment + extra monthly amount

Total interest paid

$—

Over the full modeled payoff period

Total repaid

$—

Principal + interest + fees + extra payments

Payoff date

—

Includes grace period if modeled

Budget comparison

—

Compared against your optional monthly budget

Loan balance over time

Shows how quickly the balance declines under the selected repayment assumptions.

Cost breakdown

—

Repayment summary

—

Amortization schedule

The table below shows the first 12 payment months by default. Use “Show full table” to expand.

Month	Date	Payment	Extra	Interest	Principal	Balance	Cumulative interest

Repayment timeline (Mermaid code)

If your site supports Mermaid elsewhere, you can paste this snippet into a Mermaid block. This tool does not load Mermaid.

How to use these results

Student loans often feel slow to pay down because the required payment can barely dent principal early on. The useful comparison is not just “Can I make the payment?” but also “How long will I stay in debt and how much interest will I give up?”

Test extra monthly payments: even a modest extra amount can cut years off payoff and materially reduce interest.
Check capitalization impact: letting accrued interest capitalize after a grace period can make the balance grow before repayment even starts.
Use fixed-payment mode realistically: if you know how much you can actually afford each month, that is often the most decision-useful scenario.
Compare budget vs payoff speed: the cheapest long-run strategy may still be too tight for your monthly cash flow.

This calculator is best used for planning and understanding tradeoffs. Final terms, servicer behavior, and federal repayment options may differ.

Estimates only: This calculator is for educational use and does not constitute legal, tax, debt, or financial advice.

Assumptions: The tool models a simplified amortizing student loan with optional grace period, capitalization, extra monthly payments, and lump-sum prepayments. Actual federal and private loan programs may have different rules, payment formulas, subsidies, and capitalization triggers.

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