Can you travel while you’re paying off student loans? Yes. You just can’t pay for it with your loan payment, your emergency fund or a credit card.
The money has to come from a travel fund you build on purpose, a little every month, until you hit a number you picked ahead of time. Here’s how that works, plus what to set up with your loans before you leave.
The short answer
- Estimate the whole trip first: flights, a place to stay, getting around and day-to-day costs.
- Divide that by the months until you go. That’s your monthly travel savings.
- Keep paying your student loans in full while you travel. Turn on autopay and know your recertification date before you leave.
- Spend less on the trip itself with cheap places to stay, so the money goes to experiences.
1. Research where you want to go and what it costs
Pick the place, then price it. Flights, where you’ll stay, getting around and what it costs to live there day to day. You don’t need an exact number, just a rough estimate you can save toward.
For example, when I did my South America research I estimated that I could live there for a month for about $500. I ended up averaging about $600 a month. I was $100 off, but it wasn’t a radical difference that made any serious impact.
On the flip-side, I underestimated how much my road trip with some college buddies would cost and was rather shocked that I spent about $300 more in just one week!
So pad your estimate. Short trips with friends are where the budget usually blows up.
2. Set a budget and a date
Once you have a number, decide how long you’re willing to save for it. Six months? A year? A target date tells you how much has to go aside each month.
If you’ve got savings and your loans are on track, this part is easy. If you’re just starting out, don’t put the trip on a credit card.
Instead, I would suggest putting aside a certain amount of money every month. Do so until you meet your goal and can travel without leaving yourself exposed.
Example: an $800 trip in 6 months
- Trip estimate
- $800
- Months to save
- 6
- Travel savings per month
- $133.33
How we got it: $800 divided by 6 months is $133.33 a month.
3. Fit it into your monthly budget
Say you take home $2,000 a month after tax and you want to keep paying your student loans and saving like normal. Here’s one way the month could look:
| Monthly budget | Amount |
|---|---|
| Take-home pay | $2,000.00 |
| Student loans | ($800.00) |
| Regular savings | ($300.00) |
| Rent | ($500.00) |
| Misc | ($166.67) |
| Fun | ($100.00) |
| Travel savings | ($133.33) |
| Left over | $0.00 |
There are many ways to slice the pie, but this sample version allows us to do a bit of everything. I always list savings as a negative value even though you are still keeping the money in your name. The reason I do this is by putting money aside for your savings, you are taking away from your salary and not using it for regular monthly expenses.
Live at home and don’t pay rent? You can hit the travel goal faster, or put the extra toward your loans. Your loan payment and regular savings stay put either way.
For the line-by-line version of this, our vacation budget guide walks through a summer trip, and our budget app picks can track the travel fund for you.
Before you leave: set up your student loans
The worst souvenir is a missed payment. A few things to do before you go:
- Turn on autopay. Your payment goes out even if you’re on a beach with no Wi-Fi, and federal Direct Loan borrowers on autopay get a temporary 1% interest rate cut through June 30, 2028.
- Leave enough in checking to cover the payment for every month you’ll be gone, plus a cushion.
- Check your recertification date if you’re on an income-driven plan. On RAP, missing it switches your payment to the 10-year Standard amount, which can be a lot higher.
- Make sure your servicer has your current email and phone number, so you see any notice while you’re away.
Don’t pause your loans to pay for a trip
Interest keeps building on all federal loans in forbearance, so a skipped payment comes back bigger. Our vacation budget guide shows the math on what a two-month pause can cost.
Not sure which plan you’re on, or whether a lower payment is possible? Our guide to student loan repayment plans explains each one.
4. Travel cheap once you’re there
Go and enjoy it. Just keep the daily costs low so the fund lasts.
Hostels are one of the easiest ways to stretch it. You’re basically in a dorm with a bunch of bunk beds and little privacy, but it frees up money for excursions, and you meet a lot of people. A shared rental split with friends works too.
Bottom line: plan it, price it and save for it on a schedule, and you can take a trip or two a year while you’re still paying off your student loans.
Next stepWant the trip fund to fill faster? A side gig for a few months can do it. SavingLoop has a long list of earning ideas, and these side hustles for paying off student loans fit around a full-time job.
Sources (3)
We use primary sources wherever we can: Federal Student Aid, the U.S. Department of Education, the IRS, federal regulations and each company’s own site.
- Federal Student Aid. Income-driven repayment plans. studentaid.gov. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Federal Student Aid. Student loan deferment and forbearance. studentaid.gov. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- U.S. Department of Education. Department extends enrollment period for student loan interest rate reduction. ed.gov. Accessed October 22, 2026.
