Standard payoff, extra payments, refinancing and the cost of interest over time — plain amortisation maths on your numbers, in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.
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Compare a new rate on today's balance. Federal loans lose federal protections — income-driven plans, forgiveness, deferment — when refinanced privately, and that trade is not in these numbers.
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You may be able to deduct up to $2,500 of student loan interest a year. Here is the estimate for your first year, using the 2026 income phase-outs.
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Set a target date and see the monthly payment it takes.
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2026 student loan interest deduction: up to $2,500 of interest, phasing out between $85,000–$100,000 of MAGI for single filers and $175,000–$205,000 for married filing jointly (IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32); married filing separately cannot claim it. Income-driven repayment is not modelled — see the note in the input panel. Estimate only, not financial or tax advice.
Work out your student loan payoff: payment, interest, payoff date, extra-payment savings and a refinance check.
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Work out the real cost of a student loan: the monthly payment, total interest and payoff date, what extra payments and a lump sum save, whether refinancing helps, and a first-year estimate of the student loan interest deduction.
A $38,000 loan at 5.5% over 10 years costs $412.40 a month, $11,487.98 of interest and $49,487.98 in total. Adding $100 a month clears it in 91 months instead of 120 and saves $2,944.67 of interest.
Standard and Extended plans are level-payment amortisations — over the term you enter, or over 25 years for Extended. Graduated is modelled openly: payments step up by 5% every two years, with the starting payment solved so the loan still clears inside your term. Extra payments and the lump sum come straight off the balance in the simulation, month by month. The deduction estimate takes the interest you actually pay in the first year, caps it at $2,500 of interest, and applies the 2026 MAGI phase-out for your filing status.
On the standard plan it is the monthly payment times the number of months, minus the amount you borrowed. A $38,000 loan at 5.5% over 10 years pays $11,487.98 of interest — nearly a third again on top of the loan. Stretching the term lowers the payment but always raises this figure.
Every extra dollar goes to principal, so it stops generating interest for the rest of the loan. On the example above, $100 a month extra saves $2,944.67 and ends the loan 29 months early. A lump sum works the same way, and bites hardest when it lands early.
Only if the new rate is meaningfully lower and you can afford to give up the federal safety net. Refinancing a federal loan privately ends access to income-driven plans, federal forgiveness and federal deferment. The refinance card shows the interest saving on the loan alone — weigh it against those protections.
Up to $2,500 a year of student loan interest is deductible if you qualify, phasing out for 2026 between $85,000 and $100,000 of MAGI for single filers and $175,000 to $205,000 for married filing jointly; married filing separately cannot claim it (IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32). Your Form 1098-E shows the interest you actually paid.
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