Every tool on this page is free, and the official ones come first, because the government’s own tools are the only ones that can see your actual federal loans. So they’re grouped by what you’re dealing with. Jump to your situation and skip the rest.
Our calculators
Start here if you just want a number. Then use the official tools below to check it against your real loans.
RAP Calculator
Estimates your monthly payment on the new Repayment Assistance Plan.
Use it if you’re deciding whether RAP beats your current federal plan.
Student Loan Payoff Calculator
Shows how much sooner you’re done, and how much interest you skip, when you add extra to your payment.
Good if you have a little extra each month and want to know what it buys you.
Student Loan Refinance Calculator
Compares your current payment and total cost with a new rate and term.
Mostly for private loans. Federal borrowers, read the warning in the refinancing section first.
Student Loan Consolidation Calculator
Works out the weighted average rate and new payment if you combine federal loans.
Use it before you apply for a Direct Consolidation Loan.
Start here: find your loans
You can’t pick a plan until you know what you owe and who you pay. If you’re not sure where to begin, our student loan basics guide walks through it.
My Aid on StudentAid.gov
Lists every federal loan you have, its balance, its interest rate and the servicer that handles it.
Every federal borrower, first thing. You’ll log in with your FSA ID.
Federal loan servicer list
The official list of federal servicers, with the website for each one.
Handy when you know your servicer’s name but not where to log in.
AnnualCreditReport.com
Free credit reports from all three bureaus. Private student loans usually show up here, and they’re never on StudentAid.gov.
Best if you have private loans and can’t remember the lender.
CFPB: Find advice for your student loans
Pick the situation that fits you and it points you to the next step for your loan type.
Start here if you’re not sure which problem you have yet.
Choosing a repayment plan
The plan menu changed a lot, and SAVE is gone. Read our plain-English comparison of every federal repayment plan before you switch anything.
Repayment Calculator
Compares your monthly payment and total cost on each federal repayment plan. This is the tool that used to be called the Loan Simulator.
Run it before you pick or switch a federal plan.
Income-driven repayment application
Apply for an income-driven plan, switch plans or recertify your income online.
Use it if you want a payment based on your income.
What changed in federal student loans
StudentAid.gov’s own rundown of the 2025 law: the new RAP and Tiered Standard plans, which old plans are closing, and the new loan limits.
Read it if you heard the rules changed and want it straight from the source.
Direct Consolidation Loan application
Combine federal loans into one new loan. A consolidation loan made on or after July 1, 2026 counts as a new loan, which means all your Direct Loans then have to be repaid under RAP or Tiered Standard.
Mainly for older FFEL or Perkins loans, or a pile of separate loans.
Good to know
Changing plans, consolidating and applying for forgiveness are all free on StudentAid.gov. If a company wants money to do any of it for you, walk away.
PSLF and forgiveness
If you work for a government or nonprofit employer, these are the tools that matter most. Our PSLF guide covers who qualifies, and the full list of forgiveness programs covers the rest.
PSLF Help Tool
Fills out your PSLF form, checks your employer and sends it to your employer to sign electronically.
Use it every time you certify a job or apply for forgiveness.
PSLF Employer Search
Look up an employer to see whether it’s on record as qualifying for PSLF.
Check a job here before you take it, and before you file the form.
Temporary Expanded PSLF (TEPSLF)
Explains the second-chance path for months you paid under a plan that doesn’t count for regular PSLF, and how to ask for it.
Worth a look if you were on the wrong plan for part of your 10 years.
PSLF Buyback
Lets you pay for months spent in certain deferments or forbearances so they count. It’s only open if you already have 120 months of qualifying employment.
Only matters if you’re close to the finish line with gaps in your count.
Teacher Loan Forgiveness
Up to $17,500 forgiven after five complete, consecutive years teaching at a low-income school, depending on what you teach.
Teachers at qualifying elementary and secondary schools.
Total and Permanent Disability Discharge
How to qualify through the VA, Social Security or a medical professional, and how to apply.
Read it if a disability keeps you from working.
Behind on payments or in default
Being behind is fixable, and every fix below is free. Our guide to getting out of default walks through which route fits you.
Defaulted Loans Support Center
Apply online to rehabilitate or consolidate a defaulted federal loan, sign the paperwork and make payments.
Go here if your federal loans are already in default.
Deferment and forbearance options
Every way to pause or lower payments for a while, with who qualifies for each.
Best if you’re behind but not in default yet.
FSA Ombudsman
A neutral office at Federal Student Aid that helps settle disputes over your federal loans.
Try it once you’ve hit a wall with your servicer.
FSA Feedback Center
File a complaint about a servicer, a collection agency or a school, or report a scam.
Use it when a problem needs to be on the record.
CFPB complaint portal
Send a complaint about a servicer or private lender. The CFPB forwards it to the company and you can track the reply.
Works for federal and private loans alike.
Refinancing private loans
Refinancing can cut the rate on private loans. It’s a much bigger call for federal loans, so read whether you should refinance first, then our refinancing guide.
Before you refinance federal loans
Refinancing federal loans into a private loan is permanent. You give up income-driven plans like RAP and IBR, PSLF and other forgiveness, federal deferment and forbearance, and federal discharge options. Is a lower rate worth all of that? For a lot of federal borrowers, it isn’t.
NerdWallet refinance calculator
Put in your current balance, payment and rate, then a new rate and term, and it shows the change in your monthly payment and total cost.
Good when you have a private refinance offer in hand.
Bankrate refinance calculator
Same idea, with room to test a longer or shorter term so you can see what a lower payment really costs.
Use it to test whether a lower payment is actually a better deal.
CFPB student loan resources
Plain explainers from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on private loans, servicers and your rights as a borrower.
Read it before you sign anything with a private lender.
Paying off faster
Extra payments are the one move that works on any loan, federal or private. Our guide to paying off student loans has the strategy, and these let you run the numbers.
Bankrate student loan calculator
Add extra payments to see how much time and interest they save.
Good if you can throw a little extra at one loan.
Calculator.net student loan calculator
Simple payment and payoff math, with an option for extra payments.
Fast and plain, with nothing to sign up for.
Calculator.net debt payoff calculator
Lists all your debts and uses the avalanche method, highest rate first, with extra payments built in.
Best when you’re juggling several loans plus credit cards.
Budgeting while you repay
Finding an extra $100 a month starts with a budget. See our picks for budget apps, and if the budget’s already tight, here are ways to earn more toward your loans.
IRS Interactive Tax Assistant: student loan interest
Answer a few questions and it tells you whether you can deduct the student loan interest you paid.
Use it at tax time if you paid student loan interest.
IRS Topic 456: Student loan interest deduction
The IRS’s short page on who qualifies for the deduction and how it’s figured.
Handy if you do your own taxes.
NerdWallet 50/30/20 budget calculator
Enter your take-home pay and it splits it between needs, wants and savings, with debt payments counted as savings.
Good when you want a starting budget in a minute.
Calculator.net budget calculator
A line-by-line budget: income on one side, every expense on the other, and what’s left.
Use it to see exactly where the money goes.
Still in school or paying for a kid’s college? The Federal Student Aid Estimator gives a rough idea of the federal aid a student could get, and our Paying for College section picks it up from there.
How we picked these
We opened every link on this page and checked that it lands on the working tool itself, not a dead page or a sign-up form. All of them are free. The government tools that show your own loans make you log in with your FSA ID, which is normal and safe.
But here’s what we left out on purpose: anything run by a company selling “student loan relief” or debt settlement, and lender forms dressed up as calculators. NerdWallet and Bankrate show lender offers near their calculators. You don’t have to click any of them to get your answer.