Add your federal loans and this consolidation calculator shows the fixed rate a Direct Consolidation Loan would carry, your new monthly payment and the total interest, next to what you’d pay leaving the loans alone.
Student loan consolidation calculator
Left as they are on a 10-year schedule, these loans would cost about $441.12 a month and $13,934.84 in interest.
Before you apply: a consolidation loan made on or after July 1, 2026 can only be repaid under RAP or Tiered Standard, and it moves all your Direct Loans to those plans. Unpaid interest gets added to the new balance, and you can't undo it. Check your exact numbers in the official Repayment Calculator.
Estimates only. Your servicer or lender sets your actual payment.
How to use it
Enter each of your federal loans, up to six, with its balance and rate. You’ll find them all when you log in to StudentAid.gov. Got more than six? Combine the smallest ones, using their weighted rate.
Leave your private loans out. They can’t go into a federal consolidation loan, so they don’t change your new rate either.
Pick Tiered Standard to see the term the rules set for your balance, or 10 years to compare at the same length as a standard plan.
How the consolidation math works
The new rate is the weighted average of your loans’ rates, rounded up to the nearest one-eighth of a percent. Weighted means a bigger loan pulls the average harder than a small one.
Here’s the recipe. Multiply each balance by its rate, add those up, and divide by your total balance. Then round up to the next 0.125 point, so 6.413% becomes 6.5% and 7.341% becomes 7.375%. If your average already lands on an eighth, it stays put.
So consolidating never lowers your rate. If your monthly payment drops, it’s because you’re stretching the loan out, and you’ll pay more interest for it.
On Tiered Standard, the term depends on your total Direct Loan balance when you enter repayment:
| Total Direct Loans | Tiered Standard term |
|---|---|
| Less than $25,000 | 10 years |
| $25,000 to less than $50,000 | 15 years |
| $50,000 to less than $100,000 | 20 years |
| $100,000 or more | 25 years |
From the federal rule
The rounding rule is in 34 CFR 685.202: the weighted average, “rounded to the nearest higher one-eighth of one percent,” with no cap for applications received on or after July 1, 2013. The Tiered Standard terms are in 34 CFR 685.208. StudentAid.gov’s consolidation page still mentions terms up to 30 years, but the regulation caps Tiered Standard at 25.
Consolidating on or after July 1, 2026
If you consolidate now, your new loan can only be repaid under RAP or Tiered Standard, and it moves all your Direct Loans to those two plans. If it includes a Parent PLUS loan, you get Tiered Standard only, with no income-driven plan and no PSLF.
Unpaid interest gets added to the new balance, and a consolidation can’t be undone. If you’re working toward PSLF, your qualifying payments carry over as a weighted average.
Two examples
Example: two loans, $39,000 total
- Weighted average
- 6.413%
- Consolidation rate
- 6.5%
- Tiered Standard, 15 years
- $339.73/mo
- Left as they are, 10 years
- $441.12/mo
How we got it: $20,000 at 6.54% and $19,000 at 6.28% average out to 6.413%, which rounds up to 6.5%. At $39,000, Tiered Standard sets a 15-year term.
You’d pay $101.39 less a month. But you’d also pay $22,151.74 in interest instead of $13,934.84, so your lower bill costs you $8,216.90 more over the life of the loan. The rates are our assumption.
Example: four loans, $55,500 total
- Weighted average
- 7.341%
- Consolidation rate
- 7.375%
- Consolidated, 10 years
- $655.18/mo
- Tiered Standard, 20 years
- $442.87/mo
How we got it: $5,500 at 5.5%, $12,000 at 6.53%, $8,000 at 7.05% and $30,000 at 8.08% average 7.341%, rounded up to 7.375%.
Over the same 10 years, the rounding costs you 70 cents a month and $84.50 in total. Stretched to the 20-year Tiered Standard term, the payment drops to $442.87 but interest jumps to $50,789.23. The rates are our assumption.
Bottom line: consolidate for one bill, to get older loans like FFEL into the Direct Loan program, or to reach a plan you need. Don’t do it to save on interest, because it won’t.
Where to go next
Our student loan consolidation guide walks through who should consolidate and how to apply. Parents should read Parent PLUS loan repayment first, since consolidation changes their options the most.
Want to know what RAP would charge on the new loan? Try our RAP calculator. Thinking about a private refinance instead? Our refinance calculator compares the two, and the student loan tools page has the rest.
Next stepThe official Repayment Calculator on StudentAid.gov uses your real loan data and can show whether consolidating changes your options. Applying is free there.
Consolidation calculator FAQ
It’s the weighted average of the rates on the loans you consolidate, rounded up to the nearest one-eighth of one percent. The rate is fixed for the life of the loan, and there’s no cap on it for new applications.
No. The weighted average keeps your rate about the same, and the rounding can only push it up a little. A lower monthly payment after consolidating comes from a longer term, which means more interest overall.
A consolidation loan made on or after July 1, 2026 can use Tiered Standard or RAP. Tiered Standard runs 10, 15, 20 or 25 years depending on your total Direct Loan balance. RAP is based on income, with any balance left forgiven after 360 qualifying payments.
No. There’s no application fee for a Direct Consolidation Loan. You apply for free on StudentAid.gov, so never pay a company to do it for you.
No. Private loans can’t go into a Direct Consolidation Loan. The only way to combine private and federal loans is a private refinance, which ends the federal protections on the federal part.
Estimates only. Your servicer or lender sets your actual payment. We use fixed rates with interest figured monthly, assume no unpaid interest is added at consolidation, and apply the $50 minimum payment.
Sources (6)
We use primary sources: Federal Student Aid, the U.S. Department of Education and the Federal Register.
- Federal Student Aid. Student loan consolidation. studentaid.gov. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. 34 CFR 685.202, Charges for which Direct Loan Program borrowers are responsible. ecfr.gov. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. 34 CFR 685.208, Fixed payment repayment plans. ecfr.gov. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- U.S. Department of Education. Reimagining and Improving Student Education final regulations. federalregister.gov. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Federal Student Aid. Public Service Loan Forgiveness. studentaid.gov. Accessed October 22, 2026.
- Federal Student Aid. Repayment Calculator. studentaid.gov. Accessed October 22, 2026.