Every dollar you pay above the monthly interest goes straight to principal, so a small extra payment can cut years off student loans and save thousands in interest. Enter your balance, rate, and payment to see your payoff time, total interest, and what adding a little extra each month saves.
Your loan
$
%
Payments
$
$
Years to debt-free
9.92
Total interest paid
$12,565
Interest saved with extra
$0
The numbers
Months
119
Total paid
$47,565
↻ This page forgets your numbers when you leave. Want them to stick — offline & private?
US$9.99 · download & own it forever
Prices in
🎁 Send this calculator as a gift
After payment you'll get a gift link + printable card to send.
✓ Includes the full toolkit. One purchase — this calculator already does everything these do, no add-ons: Student Loan Refinance Calculator
How it's calculated
Enter your loan balance, interest rate, and what you pay each month.
Add any extra amount you can put toward the loan on top of that payment.
Each month we add interest, then apply your payment to the balance until it hits zero.
We compare your payment with and without the extra to show the years and interest you save.
A lot, because every dollar above the monthly interest reduces principal directly — which erases all the future interest on that principal. Even an extra $50–$100/month can shorten the loan by years and save thousands.
Should I use the avalanche method on student loans?
If you have several loans, the avalanche method targets the highest interest rate first, which minimizes total interest. Funnel any extra to the highest-rate loan while paying the minimum on the rest.
What if my payment barely covers the interest?
Then the balance hardly moves and the loan can run effectively forever — the calculator shows a dash instead of a misleading number when a payment is too small to cover the interest.