Student Loan Payoff Calculator

The 10-year baseline, and what stretching does

Every federal repayment conversation starts from the standard plan: 120 equal payments over 10 years. Other plans are priced against it, and the trade is always the same shape: a lower payment now for more months of interest later. On a $35,000 balance at 6%, the standard plan costs about $389 a month and $11,600 in interest; stretched to 25 years the payment drops to about $226 but the interest nearly triples. Neither choice is wrong. A payment you can actually make beats an ambitious one you miss. But the stretch should be a decision you price, not a default you drift into, which is what the two modes above are for.

Extra payments vs. investing

Every extra dollar sent to principal earns a guaranteed return equal to your loan's rate. That makes the decision surprisingly clean: against long-run stock returns, loans much above 5% are worth attacking, loans well below it are usually worth carrying while you invest, and right around 5% it's a coin flip that your temperament gets to call. Our save-or-invest guide walks the full ordering, and if you're juggling student loans alongside cards or a car note, the debt payoff calculator will sequence them by rate.

The balance follows you into every application

Student loans rarely stop you from borrowing later, but the monthly payment sits in your debt-to-income ratio every time a lender sizes you up for a mortgage or auto loan. Our DTI guide covers the thresholds; the short version is that a $400 student loan payment occupies room a mortgage payment would otherwise fill. Knowing your payoff date, and watching the balance actually fall toward it, is the difference between a loan you manage and a loan that manages you. Keeping that picture current alongside the rest of your money is the job Stoia was built for.