Student Loan Repayment Planner
Plan your student loan repayment: see every installment with principal and interest split apart, pick a monthly due date, and export reminders to your calendar. Compare equal-payment and equal-principal plans.
How to Plan Your Student Loan Repayment
A monthly payment number alone does not tell you how each installment splits between principal and interest, or when each payment is due. This planner lays out the full schedule so you can see every payment, the running balance, and the true cost of the loan.
- Enter your loan amount, annual interest rate, and repayment term in years.
- Pick the date of your first payment โ for US federal loans this is usually 6 months after you leave school (the grace period).
- Choose the day of the month your payment is due (the 1st, the 15th, etc.). Months without that day roll back to the last day of the month.
- Pick a method: Equal Payment keeps the monthly payment flat (interest falls, principal rises each month); Equal Principal keeps the principal flat so the payment shrinks over time.
- Read the schedule for principal, interest, and balance per installment. Export a PNG to keep the plan, or export to Calendar (.ics) to get a reminder the day before each payment.
How the Repayment Math Works
Each month, interest accrues on the remaining balance at the monthly rate (annual rate รท 12). Your payment first covers that interest; whatever is left goes to principal and reduces the balance. Because the balance shrinks, the interest portion falls month over month while the principal portion rises โ even though the total payment stays the same under Equal Payment.
Equal Principal fixes the principal at loan รท term, so each payment is principal plus that month's interest. As the balance drops, the interest (and therefore the payment) drops too. Equal Payment instead solves for a fixed payment that fully repays the loan by the end of the term, which is the standard for most US student loans.
FAQ
Are principal and interest shown separately for each installment?
Yes. Every row of the schedule shows how much of that payment goes to principal, how much to interest, and the remaining balance after โ so you can see exactly how much borrowing actually costs you month by month.
What happens if my due day does not exist in a month?
If you pick the 31st but a month has only 30 (or 28 in February), the payment rolls back to the last day of that month. The schedule handles this automatically so every installment has a real date.
What is the difference between Equal Payment and Equal Principal?
Equal Payment (the US student-loan standard) keeps your monthly payment the same โ interest falls and principal rises each month. Equal Principal keeps the principal the same each month, so the payment starts higher and shrinks as you pay down interest. Equal Principal costs less total interest but is harder at the start.
Does this match my real loan servicer's bill?
It is a close estimate using the standard amortization formula. Real bills can differ by a few cents due to rounding, day-count conventions, or fees. Use it to plan and compare, then confirm exact figures with your servicer.
Will my inputs be saved?
Yes โ your inputs are stored in your browser's local storage and reappear after a refresh on the same device. Nothing is sent to a server, and clearing your browser data wipes it.