Unlike a home loan or auto loan, student loans have multiple repayment plans which are designed to help the borrow in being able to afford their monthly student loan payment.  There are six main repayment options, four of them which are calculated using your discretionary income and two which are calculated by the loan balance, term, and interest rate. Use this student loan payment calculator to see how much you should pay in each of the repayment plans.

Income-Driven Repayment Plan Calculator

This student loan payment calculator will provide you results on what your income-driven payment should be for your federal student loans.  All income-driven repayment plans are eligible for loan forgiveness after making your payments for either 20-25 years.  This calculator projects forgiveness at 25 years, so the actual forgiven amount could be more than what this student loan payment calculator displays.

Revised Pay As You Earn(REPAYE)

The revised pay as you earn payment plan is the most recently created income-driven plan which arguably is the best plan for most borrowers.  The payment is calculated at 10% of your discretionary income, and that amount is due annually.  REPAYE can offer significant interest forgiveness, and the payments qualify for public service loan forgiveness.  The REPAYE plan is available only to federal student loan borrowers.

Your Payment Might Be Higher in REPAYE if Married and Filing Taxes Separately

In the REPAYE plan, if you are married and filing taxes separately from your spouse, your spouses income is still considered when calculating your monthly student loan payment.  This is in contrast to every other income-driven repayment plan and should be considered before applying.  When using this student loan payment calculator, the payment will adjust according to your spouses income for the REPAYE plan if you are married.

Pay As You Earn(PAYE)

The pay as you earn plan provides for a payment of 10% of your discretionary income on an annual basis.  This payment plan was passed by President Obama on Dec 21st, 2012, and was a big improvement from the previously available income-based repayment plan by reducing the required payment by 33%.  Payments in the PAYE plan qualify for public service loan forgiveness. PAYE does not consider your spouses income unless you are married and file your tax returns jointly

Income-Based Repayment(IBR)

The IBR payment is calculated at 15% of your discretionary income.  IBR payment do count towards public service loan forgiveness. IBR does not consider your spouses income unless you are married and file your tax returns jointly

Income-Contingent Repayment(ICR)

The ICR payment calculates your payment based on 20% of your discretionary income.  The ICR will always have a higher monthly payment than the other income-driven plans except for in some cases where a married couple who files separately in the REPAYE plan.  The ICR plan does not have any interest forgiveness, which can amount to many thousands of dollars.

Standard and Graduated Repayment Plans

The two payment plans which are not based on your income are the standard and graduated loan repayment plans.  Both of these calculate the monthly payment based on your loan balance, interest rate, and term of the loan.  This student loan payment calculator does not require you to input the term of your loan because it is predetermined by the Department of Education based on the loan size.

Standard Repayment

The standard repayment plan is a very typical loan payment just like an auto loan or a home mortgage.  There is no forgiveness with a standard repayment plan because the loan would simply be paid off in full by the end of the term.  Every month your payment is broken down into interest and principal, and the longer you are paying more and more is applied to principal and less towards interest.  You can use this amortization schedule calculator to see how your monthly payment is broken down.

The standard repayment plan is what is used to calculate payments for a private student loan, but the term would not be limited to the above table.  When apply for private student loans the term would be dictated by the terms of your agreement with the private bank, and not confined to what is offered by federal student loans.  We do not recommend using this calculator to try and figure out what your private student loan payment would be.  For that, you would want to use this amortization schedule calculator.

Graduated Repayment

The graduated repayment plan only requires the interest to be paid on the student loan for the first two years of the loan, and then the payment gradually increases.  Your payment would start off less than the standard payment, but you would not be paying down the loan at all.

Student Loan Forgiveness Calculation

In all of the income-driven repayment plans, the balance on your student loans is forgiven after either 20 or 25 years.  If making income-driven repayments for 20-25 years, any balance on the loan is then forgiven at that time.  To get your student loan forgiveness amount, we calculate how much you would normally pay on your student loan in total, and subtract it by what you would pay in any of the income-driven plans after 25 years.

Assumptions This Student Loan Calculator Makes

Due to the nature of the income-driven repayment plans, it’s important to understand that this calculator makes some assumptions.

When Your Income Changes, So Does Your Payment

Our student loan payment calculator takes the income you enter and assumes you will have that same income for the next 25 years.  This obviously is probably not what will happen.  Most people tend to earn a little bit more each year.  To get an accurate number of how much forgiveness you would receive, and how much you would pay back on the student loan in total, we would need to know your exact income for the next 25 years.  With the income-driven repayment plans, you need to recertify your income on an annual basis, and your payment would fluctuate based on your new discretionary income.

If your Tax Filing or Dependants Change, So Does Your Payment

If your tax filing status changes or the number of dependants under your roof, your payment can change.  This calculator assumes that both of these will remain the same for the life of the loan.

Why The State Is Important for Income-Driven Plans

Your income driven payment plan depends on your discretionary income.  Discretionary income is calculated by using cost of living numbers, and some states have a higher cost of living according to the department of education.  For this reason, you need to enter the correct state in which you live or the payment may not be accurate.  In the future, if you move out-of-state then your payment may adjust depending on where you move.  You can use this discretionary income calculator to see how much your student loan payment would be based on.

Summary Of Our Student Loan Payment Calculator

Use this calculator to estimate what your payment could be, how much you would pay in total on the loan, and how much forgiveness you might receive.  Understand that this calculator makes some assumptions and in the end the final determination for all of the above is made by the department of education and your student loan servicer.