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Beat Student Loans
The plain-English guide to paying off your student loans
Pick your situation below. You'll get the current federal rules in plain English, the math worked out, and free calculators.
Built by someone who paid off about $30,000 in student loans within 12 months of graduating. As featured in
What's your situation?
Start with the guide that matches where you are right now.
Overwhelmed? Start here
Five steps to get your loans under control
- See every federal loan you have. Log in to StudentAid.gov and list each loan, its balance and its rate. Private loans show up on your free credit report. The basics, step by step
- Find out who you pay. Your servicer is listed in your StudentAid.gov account, and it's who you call about plans, autopay and problems. Student loan servicers
- Check your repayment plan. If you were on SAVE, you need a new plan. Compare your options with the official Repayment Calculator or our RAP calculator.
- Turn on autopay. Federal loans cut your interest rate when you pay automatically through your servicer. How the autopay discount works
- Can't pay? Don't go quiet. An income-driven plan can drop the payment to as little as $10 a month on RAP, and there's a free way out of default too. Behind on payments
Big rule changes to know
What's different now
- SAVE is over. Former SAVE borrowers have to pick a new plan or get moved to one. What to do
- RAP and Tiered Standard are the new plans. Loans made on or after July 1, 2026 can only use these two. Compare plans
- One new loan changes everything. A new federal loan or consolidation on or after July 1, 2026 moves all your Direct Loans to RAP or Tiered Standard. Consolidation rules
- Forgiveness and taxes. Income-driven forgiveness is generally federally taxable again for discharges from 2026 on. PSLF stays tax free. Forgiveness programs
- Parent PLUS. Parent loans made or consolidated on or after July 1, 2026 get Tiered Standard only, with no income-driven plan and no PSLF. Parent PLUS repayment
How fast could you be done?
Put in your balance, rate and payment, then try an extra amount each month.
Student loan payoff calculator
Debt free in6 years, 11 monthsLast payment around September 2033
Total interest$7,321.30
Total you'll pay$37,321.30
Required payment$350.00
Your extra payments save you $3,118.03 in interest and get you out 2 years, 9 months sooner. Without them, you'd pay for 9 years, 8 months and $10,439.33 in interest.
Without the extra, your required payment wouldn't even cover the interest. The extra is what gets this loan paid off.
Add an amount under Extra each month or a one-time payment to see how much interest you'd save.
Estimates only. Your servicer or lender sets your actual payment.
Our toolRAP calculator
Estimate your payment on the new Repayment Assistance Plan, next to IBR and Standard.
Our toolPayoff calculatorSee your payoff date and how much interest extra payments save.
Our toolRefinance calculatorCompare your current loan with a new rate and term, fees included.
Our toolConsolidation calculatorFind the federal consolidation rate, rounded up the way the rule says.
Official links to bookmark
Free, from Federal Student Aid. Nobody should charge you for any of these.
OfficialYour loans and servicerLog in to see every federal loanOfficialRepayment CalculatorCompare plans with your real loansOfficialIncome-driven plan applicationApply for RAP or IBR, or recertifyOfficialPSLF Help ToolCertify employment and track PSLFOfficialPSLF employer searchCheck if your employer qualifiesOfficialServicer contact listPhone numbers and websitesOfficialDefaulted Loans Support CenterGet out of default for freeOfficialFSA OmbudsmanWhen your servicer will not fix it
Plain-English terms
The words your servicer uses, translated.
- Servicer
- The company that sends your bill and handles your plan. The Department of Education owns federal loans; the servicer manages them.
- Income-driven repayment (IDR)
- Plans like RAP and IBR that set your payment from your income and family size, with forgiveness of what's left after the plan's term.
- RAP
- The Repayment Assistance Plan. Your payment is 1% to 10% of income, at least $10 a month. Unpaid interest is waived, and what's left is forgiven after 360 payments.
- Tiered Standard
- A fixed payment over 10 to 25 years depending on how much you owe. It never counts for PSLF.
- Consolidation vs refinancing
- Consolidation combines federal loans into a new federal loan. Refinancing replaces loans with a private loan and gives up federal protections for good.
- Deferment and forbearance
- Pauses on payments. Interest may still build, and most months do not count toward forgiveness.
- Default
- When a federal loan goes at least 270 days without a scheduled payment. It hits your credit, and there are free ways out.
- Capitalized interest
- Unpaid interest that gets added to your balance, so you pay interest on it from then on.
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