When is my student loan payoff?
Enter your student loan balance, rate and monthly payment. The student loan payoff calculator shows when the loan is paid off and how much extra payments save.
- Months to pay it off
- 86
Paying $340.00 plus $100.00 a month clears $30,000.00 in 7 years, 2 months, saving $3,363.82 of interest.
- Time to pay it off
- 7 years, 2 months
- Last payment
- November 2033
- Total interest
- $7,545.21
- Total paid
- $37,545.21
- Months at the current payment
- 121
- Months saved
- 35
- Interest saved
- $3,363.82
- Months
- 86
Answer for the example date Friday, October 2, 2026. It changes to today's date when the page loads.
Months to pay it off: 86. Paying $340.00 plus $100.00 a month clears $30,000.00 in 7 years, 2 months, saving $3,363.82 of interest.
How fast does the balance fall?
What does every payment look like?
The results are estimates for information only. They are not financial, tax, or legal advice. Check the numbers with your lender or a qualified professional before you decide. Terms of use
How to calculate
Computes how many months a student loan takes to pay off at the current payment plus extra monthly payments or a lump sum, and the interest and time the extra saves.
Example with the default inputs (Loan balance $30,000.00, Interest rate 6.5%, Monthly payment now $340.00, Extra each month (optional) $100.00, First payment month October 2, 2026) on the example date Friday, October 2, 2026: Paying $340.00 plus $100.00 a month clears $30,000.00 in 7 years, 2 months, saving $3,363.82 of interest.
Method: Each month, interest = balance × rate ÷ 365.25 × (365.25 ÷ 12) = balance × rate ÷ 12; the payment (current + extra) pays the interest first, then the balance; the last payment is what is left.
- Interest is simple daily interest, balance × rate ÷ 365.25 a day, as federal student loan servicers charge, over months of equal length (365.25 ÷ 12 days).
- Each payment goes to the interest that built up first, then to the principal. No unpaid interest is capitalized.
- The lump sum is paid today, before the first monthly payment; the first payment is one month later.
- The rate stays fixed. Several loans can be entered as one balance at their weighted average rate.
- Income-driven plans, forgiveness, autopay discounts and fees are not included.
Worked examples
Each example is checked against the calculator on every build.
- Loan balance $30,000.00, Interest rate 6.5%, Monthly payment now $340.00, Extra each month (optional) $100.00 gives Months to pay it off 86, Total interest $7,545.21, Months at the current payment 121, Months saved 35, Interest saved $3,363.82.Source: Federal Student Aid servicer MOHELA, Student Loan Interest: balance × rate ÷ 365.25 a day, payments to interest first (https://mohela.studentaid.gov/DL/resourceCenter/StudentLoanInterest.aspx, retrieved 2026-10-01)
- Loan balance $10,000.00, Interest rate 0%, Monthly payment now $250.00, One-time payment now (optional) $2,000.00, First payment month 2026-11-01 gives Months to pay it off 32, Total interest $0.00, Months at the current payment 40, Months saved 8, Interest saved $0.00, Last payment 2029-06-01.Source: Federal Student Aid servicer MOHELA, Student Loan Interest (https://mohela.studentaid.gov/DL/resourceCenter/StudentLoanInterest.aspx)
- Loan balance $25,000.00, Interest rate 6.8%, Monthly payment now $287.71 gives Months to pay it off 120, Total interest $9,523.63, Months at the current payment 120, Months saved 0.Source: Federal Student Aid servicer MOHELA, Student Loan Interest: $25,000 at 6.8% accrues $4.65 a day (https://mohela.studentaid.gov/DL/resourceCenter/StudentLoanInterest.aspx)
How it works
With B the balance today, L the one-time payment now (0 when left empty), R the yearly rate in percent, P the current monthly payment and E the extra each month (0 when left empty):
- The balance after the lump sum is B − L.
- Each month, interest = balance × R ÷ 100 ÷ 365.25 × (365.25 ÷ 12) = balance × R ÷ 1,200. This is federal simple daily interest over months of equal length.
- The payment P + E pays that interest first, then lowers the balance. The last payment is whatever is left (interest plus the remaining balance), so it is usually smaller.
- Months to pay it off: the number of payments until the balance is 0. Time to pay it off: those months as years and months. Last payment: the month of the last payment, counting from the first payment month.
- Total interest: all the monthly interest added up. Total paid = B + total interest.
- Months at the current payment: the same steps with P alone, no extra and no lump sum. Months saved = months at the current payment − months to pay it off. Interest saved = interest at the current payment − total interest.
Values are not rounded between months; money is rounded half up to the cent for display only.
Rules
- The balance is more than $0 (up to $10,000,000), the rate from 0% to 30%, and the payment more than $0.
- A one-time payment as large as the balance has no answer: the loan is already paid off.
- A payment that does not cover the first month’s interest has no answer, because the balance never goes down.
- A payoff longer than 600 months (50 years) has no answer.
- When the current payment alone never pays the loan off within 50 years, the comparison outputs are left out.
Worked examples by hand
$30,000 at 6.5%, $340 a month plus $100. The first month’s interest is 30,000 × 6.5 ÷ 1,200 = $162.50, so $440 − $162.50 = $277.50 lowers the balance to $29,722.50. Repeating month by month, the balance reaches 0 at payment 86, with $7,545.21 of interest. At $340 alone it takes 121 payments and $10,909.03 of interest, so the extra saves 35 months and $3,363.82.
$10,000 at 0%, $250 a month, $2,000 now, first payment November 2026. (10,000 − 2,000) ÷ 250 = 32 payments, the last in June 2029. Without the lump sum, 10,000 ÷ 250 = 40 payments, so it saves 8 months and no interest (there is none).
$25,000 at 6.8%, $287.71 a month. The 10-year level payment is 25,000 × r ÷ (1 − (1 + r)^−120) = $287.7008 with r = 0.068 ÷ 12; rounded up to $287.71 it repays the loan in 120 payments with $9,523.63 of interest.
Other questions people ask
How much faster will extra payments pay off my student loan?
Every extra dollar goes to principal once the month’s interest is paid, so the balance falls faster and less interest builds up. $30,000 at 6.5% paid at $340 a month takes 121 months; adding $100 a month cuts it to 86 months and saves $3,363.82 of interest.
How is student loan interest calculated?
Federal student loans charge simple daily interest: balance × interest rate ÷ 365.25 for each day. $25,000 at 6.8% builds up $4.65 a day. The calculator uses months of equal length (365.25 ÷ 12 days), so a month’s interest is balance × rate ÷ 12.
Where do my extra payments go?
Servicers apply a payment to the interest that has built up first, then to the principal. Because the calculator pays each month’s interest in full, the whole extra amount lowers the principal. Ask your servicer to apply extra payments to principal and not to advance your due date.
Is a lump sum or a monthly extra better?
A lump sum paid now lowers the balance at once, so it saves more interest than the same total spread over later months. Try both: enter the lump sum in the one-time box and compare.
Can I enter several student loans?
Add the balances and use the weighted average rate: each loan’s rate × its balance, added up, divided by the total balance. To decide which loan to pay first, the debt payoff calculator can order them by rate.
Is there a penalty for paying off student loans early?
Federal student loans have no prepayment penalty. Check the terms of a private loan.
Does this include income-driven repayment or forgiveness?
No. It assumes a fixed payment and a fixed rate until the loan is repaid. Payments under income-driven plans change with your income, and forgiveness rules depend on the plan.