Student Loan Payoff Calculator

Enter your student loan balance, rate, and monthly payment to calculate your payoff timeline against the standard 10-year schedule.

How to Use the Student Loan Payoff Calculator

Enter your loan balance, annual rate, and current monthly payment. An optional extra-payment field shows what paying more than your standard amount would do — leave it at zero to see your existing plan's numbers alone.

Student loans get compared against one reference point more than almost any other kind of debt: the standard 10-year repayment plan. This calculator runs that comparison automatically, showing what the standard payment would be on your exact balance and rate, right alongside what your actual payment is doing.

Two Numbers, Side by Side

Standard 10-year payment (n = 120, r = rate ÷ 1200):
Payment = balance × r(1+r)¹²⁰ ÷ [(1+r)¹²⁰ − 1]

Your payoff, simulated month by month:
interest = balance × monthly rate
balance = balance + interest − your payment

The standard payment is a closed-form calculation — plug in the numbers and it's done. Your actual payoff timeline is simulated month by month instead, because a payment that's higher or lower than standard doesn't fit neatly into the amortization formula the same way; it has to be worked out one month at a time until the balance clears.

The defaults illustrate the point well: a $30,000 balance at 5.5% has a standard payment of about $326, and the example's $320 payment — just $6 under that — stretches payoff to roughly 123 months instead of 120. A small, easy-to-overlook gap between what's "standard" and what's actually being paid adds real months even when it looks negligible on a statement.

Paying Below vs. Above Standard

If your monthly payment sits below the standard 10-year figure, payoff takes longer than ten years and costs more in total interest — extended and income-driven plans work this way deliberately, trading a lower payment now for more interest later. Pay above standard, and the reverse happens: fewer months, less interest, visible immediately in the extra-payment comparison once that field holds anything above zero.

The gap between your payment and the standard one is worth watching on its own. A payment even modestly below standard can turn a 10-year loan into 15 or more once the math compounds month after month.