Student Loans Calculator

Practical tools for dentists and students. No signup. No fluff.

Student Loan Repayment Comparison Calculator

Compare RAP, PAYE, New IBR, Old IBR, Standard 10-Year, Refi, and PSLF-style outcomes. Designed for dentist debt planning with household-aware inputs.

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Disclosure

This is an educational planning model, not legal, tax, or individualized financial advice. Small date and rate changes can move projected cost by tens of thousands of dollars before your first real payment.

Results depend on graduation timing, repayment timing, filing status, interest accrual, and whether you take any new Direct Loan first disbursed on or after July 1, 2026.

Calculator mode

Simple mode shows the core borrower and household inputs. Advanced mode exposes timing overrides, manual income paths, refinance assumptions, and edge-case borrower flags.

Simple Advanced

Borrower Profile

Family size

Key dates

Most borrowers only need their graduation date and the month repayment actually begins. The calculator auto-models a typical dental-school first disbursement unless you override it.

Graduation month JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecember Graduation year

Repayment begins month JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecember Repayment begins year

Repayment start matters for both pre-repayment interest and the July 1, 2028 PAYE transition timing.

Override the auto-modeled first disbursement date

First disbursement month JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecember First disbursement year

RAP qualifying dependents

RAP is modeled with a $50 monthly reduction per qualifying dependent. This is broader than only children under 17.

Borrower takes any new Direct Loan first disbursed on/after July 1, 2026

If checked, the calculator models the whole Direct Loan bucket as RAP plus the new tiered standard term. CRS and federal summaries treat new post-Jul 1, 2026 borrowing as collapsing legacy IDR access for that borrower.

Borrower federal student debt (at first disbursement)

Private loan layer (optional) Private student loan balance (at first disbursement) Private loan APR (%) Private loan term (years) Manual private monthly override (optional)

Borrower AGI (current year) Average federal loan interest rate (%) Expected investment return (%) Future marginal tax rate on forgiveness (%)

Planning for 10+ years PSLF-eligible employment

Borrowed federal loans before July 1, 2014 Borrowed federal loans before October 1, 2007

Household + Assumptions

Marital status Single Married Tax filing status Married filing jointly Married filing separately

Spouse AGI (current year) Spouse federal student debt (at repayment start)

Refi assumption Auto (Conservative: 7.25%, 10 years) Manual

Auto mode uses a conservative high-rate stress baseline for refinancing scenarios.

Refi interest rate (%) Refi term length (years) 5 7 10 15 20

Borrower income growth Auto (3% annual growth) Manual (enter next 10 years)

Borrower AGI 2026 Borrower AGI 2027 Borrower AGI 2028 Borrower AGI 2029 Borrower AGI 2030 Borrower AGI 2031 Borrower AGI 2032 Borrower AGI 2033 Borrower AGI 2034 Borrower AGI 2035

Spouse income growth Auto (3% annual growth) Manual (enter next 10 years)

Spouse AGI 2026 Spouse AGI 2027 Spouse AGI 2028 Spouse AGI 2029 Spouse AGI 2030 Spouse AGI 2031 Spouse AGI 2032 Spouse AGI 2033 Spouse AGI 2034 Spouse AGI 2035

Notes: This planning model is educational. It uses simplified assumptions and should not be treated as tax, legal, or individualized financial advice.

Borrower Snapshot (Year 1)

AGI

$0

Federal debt at repayment start

$0

Private debt at repayment start

$0

Timeline modeled

N/A

Federal accrual before repayment

0 years

Private accrual before repayment

0 years

Total debt-to-income

0%

Household Snapshot (Year 1)

Household AGI

$0

Combined debt at repayment start

$0

Combined debt-to-income

0%

Repayment Basis (Year 1)

IDR income used

$0

Filing status used

Single

Standard monthly (modeled term)

$0

Private monthly payment

$0

Double-whammy monthly (Std + Private)

$0

Plain-English Readout

Use this first. The full comparison table and year-by-year math are still below.

Lowest Total Cost

N/A

Enter debt and income to compare modeled total cost.

Lowest Year-1 Payment

N/A

Enter debt and income to compare the first year payment stack.

Earliest Exit

N/A

Enter debt and income to compare the earliest modeled finish.

Biggest Pressure Point

N/A

Enter debt and dates to see the main constraint this scenario creates.

Repayment Strategy Summary

Plan	Total Paid	Forgiven Balance	Tax on Forgiven Debt	Total Cost	Present Value	Year Forgiven/Paid Off	Save/Month for Tax Bomb	Year 1 Federal + Private Monthly	Year 1 Double-Whammy Annual Outflow

Year-by-Year Payments and Balances

Detail range 10 years 20 years 30 years Plan focus All plans RAP (30-Year) PAYE (20-Year) New IBR (20-Year) Old IBR (25-Year) Standard Refi Private Only PSLF (10-Year IDR)

Monthly payment by year

Double-whammy monthly (Federal + Private)

Ending balance by year

Private Loans Only Annual Chart

OnlyDentists.org

OBBBA Quick Policy Snapshot (Updated March 2026)

For federal loans first disbursed on or after July 1, 2026, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Public Law 119-21) makes material changes to loan limits and repayment options.

• Professional programs (including Dentistry D.D.S./D.M.D. under current ED consensus language) are generally modeled at a $50,000 annual and $200,000 aggregate federal limit.
• Graduate non-professional programs are generally modeled at $20,500 annual and $100,000 aggregate.
• Parent PLUS limits are tightened to $20,000 annual and $65,000 lifetime per dependent student.
• The law also sets an overall lifetime federal borrowing cap of $257,500 across federal loan types for a single borrower (excluding Parent PLUS borrowed as a parent).
• Repayment options for new loans are simplified to Standard + RAP on the statutory rollout timeline.
• If a borrower takes any new Direct Loan first disbursed on or after July 1, 2026, this calculator models the whole Direct Loan bucket as Standard + RAP only under current federal summaries.

For timeline details, transition rules, and methodology assumptions, see the calculator methodology and legislation watch.

Model Notes and Benchmarks

This calculator is a planning model and not tax/legal advice. For assumptions, benchmark scenarios, and known limitations, see the calculator methodology page.

Default borrower AGI is set to $208,000 as a dentist-income benchmark (using ADA 2024 average net-income data as a proxy for planning AGI).

Credits + Policy Tracking

Keep Going

Before You Take the Loans

Use the calculator after reading the upstream borrowing-risk brief for future dental students.

Dental Pipeline Crisis

See how debt, policy volatility, and reimbursement pressure connect at the profession level.

Disability Insurance

Pair repayment planning with income-protection planning if clinical capacity ever drops.