Every calculator
Twelve calculators for student debt in the United States and Canada: capitalization, repayment, income-driven plans, forgiveness, the cost of attending, and saving ahead. Every assumption is shown and editable.
Interest and capitalization
Repayment
Both countries
What will my monthly payment be?
A fixed payment over a fixed term, with the interest it costs over the whole loan, and what putting anything extra against the principal does to both.
United States
What would I pay on an income-driven plan?
The Repayment Assistance Plan against Income-Based Repayment and the ten-year Standard plan, with the bracket cliffs RAP introduces shown rather than smoothed over.
Canada
Would I qualify for a reduced payment in Canada?
What the Repayment Assistance Plan asks for at a given family income and household size, federally and, in Ontario, on the provincial half of the same loan.
United States
Should I refinance my federal loans privately?
The interest a lower rate saves, priced against the protections a private loan does not carry. One of those two is arithmetic and the other is not.
United States
What rate would a consolidation loan carry?
The weighted average of your loans, rounded up to the next eighth of a percent as the Department rounds it, which is why consolidating is never quite rate-neutral.
Both countries
Which loan should I put the extra money against?
Highest rate first against smallest balance first, run to the end, so you can see what the difference actually is before choosing on feel.
Forgiveness
What it costs
Both countries
What will this degree cost me in total?
Four years of a real institution's published cost, the borrowing it implies, and the interest that accrues before the first payment is due.
Both countries
How much debt is too much for this career?
Total borrowing against a starting salary, and what the standard payment takes out of it. The bands are this site's own judgement and are labelled as such.
Saving ahead
Canada
What would an RESP be worth by the time they start?
Contributions, the Canada Education Savings Grant they actually earn, and growth. The grant is capped in ways a flat percentage does not capture.
United States
What would a 529 be worth by the time they start?
Contributions and growth over the years you have. No grant and no tax treatment, because a 529's tax value is set state by state and this site has not transcribed those.