Every federal plan open to you, priced on your own balance and income: the monthly payment, how long it runs, what it costs in total, and what is left to forgive. The plans you can use depend on when your loans were made, so start there.
The Repayment Assistance Plan charges a percentage of your whole adjusted gross income, from 1% to 10% depending on the bracket, less $50 a month for each dependent and never under $10. Interest your payment does not cover is waived instead of added to the balance. If a payment takes less than $50 off the principal, the Department makes up the difference. Whatever is left after 360 payments is discharged.
A balance discharged under an income-driven plan counts as federal taxable income again from 2026, because the temporary exemption expired at the end of 2025. Public Service Loan Forgiveness is still tax-free. State treatment varies.
Interest accrues monthly at the rate you enter, on the balance at the moment repayment starts, after any grace period. Standard and Extended pay a fixed amount, never under $50 a month. Tiered Standard, for loans made on or after July 1, 2026, runs 10, 15, 20 or 25 years depending on whether the balance is under $25,000, under $50,000, under $100,000, or more. Extended needs more than $30,000 in Direct Loans. RAP's payment is reset once a year from your income, grown at the rate you choose.
Graduated is an approximation. The rules only require ten years, rising payments, a first payment at least as large as the interest, and no payment more than three times any other. Servicers set the actual schedule and do not publish a formula. This uses five two-year steps, each a fixed multiple of the last, so your servicer's quote may differ by a few dollars a month.
Income-Based Repayment is still open to borrowers whose loans predate July 1, 2026, but it is not modeled here: its payment depends on the federal poverty guideline for your family size and on how many qualifying payments you have already made. The federal Loan Simulator at studentaid.gov will price it on your actual loans. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere. The link button copies your numbers into the page address and nowhere else.
It depends on when your loans were disbursed. If all of them were disbursed before July 1, 2026 and you have taken none since, you can use Standard, Graduated, Extended and Income-Based Repayment, or the new Repayment Assistance Plan. Any loan disbursed on or after July 1, 2026 limits you to the Tiered Standard plan or RAP. How student loans work covers the change.
It is a fixed monthly payment that pays the loan off over a term set by how much you owe when repayment starts: 10 years under $25,000, 15 years from $25,000, 20 years from $50,000 and 25 years at $100,000 or more. It applies to loans disbursed on or after July 1, 2026. Choose that option at the top of the calculator to see your payment and total cost.
Tiered Standard almost always costs less in total, because it pays the loan down on a fixed schedule. RAP ties the payment to income, so it is usually lower each month when income is modest, runs longer, and may leave a balance to be discharged after 360 payments, which counts as taxable income. The comparison shows both on your own numbers.
It is a percentage of your whole adjusted gross income, from 1% to 10% depending on the bracket, divided by 12, less $50 a month for each dependent, and never less than $10. Unpaid interest is waived, and the balance is discharged after 360 qualifying payments.
Usually not. A longer term or an income-based payment lowers the monthly amount but raises the total paid. The comparison table marks both the lowest first payment and the least total cost.