NEW
OBBB-compliant, Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) is live in the simulator
What will your student loans really cost?
Compare every repayment plan and estimate college aid, free, with the same verified engine advisors use. Updated for the July 1, 2026 rules.
Compare your repayment options
See Standard, RAP, IBR, PAYE and ICR side by side: monthly payment, lifetime cost, forgiveness timing, and the tax bill that can come with it.
Estimate your Student Aid Index (SAI)
Your FAFSA Student Aid Index, computed with the 2026-27 federal formula. Colleges that use the CSS Profile or their own methods can count things the FAFSA does not, such as home equity.
Like what you see? Keep your plan.
Create your free account to save your results, track your loans as your balances change, and get matched with an advisor who can build your repayment plan.
Estimates for education only, not financial advice. Powered by Finology Software.
Compare two plans side by side
Each comparison below has its own page with a verified table of payments, lifetime cost and forgiveness, computed by the same engine as the calculator above.
- RAP vs IBR calculator: which is cheaper monthly, which is cheaper overall, and where the two cross.
- RAP vs Standard plan calculator: the Standard payment ignores your income and RAP tracks it.
- IBR calculator: the IBR payment by income, forgiveness at month 240, and the tax that follows.
- Discretionary income calculator: what IBR, PAYE and ICR each protect, and why RAP does not use it.
- Weighted average interest rate calculator: your blended rate, and the consolidation rate after the federal round up.
Frequently asked questions
How does the repayment comparison work?
Enter your loan balance, interest rate, income, and household details, and the calculator projects every federal repayment path side by side: Standard, RAP, IBR, PAYE, and ICR. For each plan you see the monthly payment, total lifetime cost, payoff or forgiveness date, and any projected tax on forgiven balances. The math follows the federal rules in effect since July 1, 2026.
What is RAP?
The Repayment Assistance Plan is the income-driven repayment option created by the 2025 federal loan overhaul, available starting July 1, 2026. Payments are based on your adjusted gross income, and any balance remaining after 30 years of qualifying payments is forgiven. The calculator shows RAP next to the older plans so you can see whether it lowers your payment.
What happened to SAVE?
The SAVE plan was eliminated by the 2025 law and is being wound down. Borrowers who were on SAVE are moving to other plans, and RAP is the main income-driven option going forward. The comparison above models the plans you can actually enroll in today.
What is the Student Aid Index (SAI)?
The SAI is the number the FAFSA produces to measure what a family can pay. Colleges use it to determine federal aid, and many use it as a starting point for their own aid. It replaced the Expected Family Contribution (EFC). Our calculator uses the 2026-27 FAFSA formula, including the income protection allowances. Under that formula, having more than one child in college no longer lowers the SAI, and the family’s primary home is not counted. Colleges that use the CSS Profile can count home equity and may treat siblings in college differently.
Are these the same numbers financial advisors use?
Yes. Both calculators run on the same verified calculation engine that powers Finology Software’s professional planning tools, and the engine is checked against published federal formulas and worked examples. What you see here is a simplified view of the same math, not a marketing approximation.
Can I just ask ChatGPT what my student loan payment will be?
You can, and millions of people do, but AI chatbots generate answers from training data and can be confidently wrong, especially about rules that changed on July 1, 2026. Their own terms of use say not to rely on them for professional advice. These calculators are different: they compute your payment deterministically from the published federal formulas, so the same inputs always produce the same, checkable answer. Ask a chatbot to explain your options, then verify the numbers here before you act.