About Us

Beat Student Loans is the plain-English guide to paying off your student loans. If you’re behind, stuck choosing a plan, chasing forgiveness or just want the balance gone sooner, this site is built to get you to the right answer fast.

What you’ll find here

1. Guides organized by your situation. Start on the home page and pick what fits: behind on payments, choosing a repayment plan, PSLF and forgiveness, Parent PLUS, refinancing private loans, paying off faster, budgeting or side income.
2. The current rules, in everyday words. Federal student loan rules changed a lot. SAVE is over, RAP is new, and the rules for new loans are different from the rules for old ones. We read the official sources (StudentAid.gov, the Department of Education and the Federal Register) and explain what they mean for you.
3. Free calculators. Run your own numbers with the RAP calculator, the payoff calculator, the refinance calculator and the consolidation calculator, plus the best free official tools on our tools page.

How we write the guides

When we rebuild a guide, we check every rule against the official source and show the math behind each example so you can follow it. When a lender is involved, we read the lender’s own site. If something can’t be confirmed, it doesn’t go on the page.

We also say when something isn’t worth it. Refinancing federal loans, for example, gives up federal protections like income-driven plans and forgiveness for good, so we tell you that right next to any refinancing option.

Who’s behind it

Beat Student Loans was founded in 2018. The guides are written and updated by Brian Meiggs.

I paid off about $30,000 in student loans within 12 months of graduating. I shared how I did it with Business Insider.

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Have a question or spot something that needs fixing? Get in touch.