Your college plan
Pressure-test your borrowing before you commit
See the full program cost, how interest grows while you're in school, and what different repayment strategies really mean month to month.
No linked plan
4-year undergraduate program · 4-year program · 4-year cost
Estimated need: Enter your own number
Showing
That is $6,250 per year across 4 years.
Graduate borrowers can pair Direct Unsubsidized loans with Grad PLUS or private borrowing.
Repayment snapshot
Federal debt at 6.53% and private debt at 8.50% produce a blended picture that updates live below.
Defaulted to the undergraduate federal rate.
Suggested range: 5% to 13%. A cosigner can lower the effective rate.
Repayment term
Repayment mode
Build my plan
These defaults are tuned to your audience and program shape, but you can still override the inputs to model your exact situation.
What you'll actually owe
Interest starts building before graduation
You borrow $25,000 across the program, but interest accrues while you're still in school.
You borrowed
$25,000
Interest added
+$4,779
Balance at grad
$29,779
That's $4,779 in interest before you make your first payment.
Standard payoff path
Fixed payments from start to finish
Standard repayment keeps monthly payments predictable and typically minimizes total interest compared with stretching the loan longer.
My scenarios
Save and compare borrowing strategies
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Award letter check
Got your award letter in hand?
Decode it first so you can separate real gift aid from loans and work-study before modeling repayment.
Decode my award letter →Methodology. Standard repayment uses amortized monthly payments. Income-driven comparisons model IBR, PAYE, and RAP on the federal portion only, with private loans repaid on the standard term.
Graduate borrowers should treat Grad PLUS as a separate federal option at 9.08% APR. This calculator shows that context, but it does not model ICR or consolidation-specific behavior yet.
Monthly payment
$227/mo
for $25,000 over 15 years at 7.12% blended rate
Starts about 6 months after graduation (Dec 2030)
Total interest paid
$15,786
63% of principal
Total cost at payoff
$40,786
$25,000 borrowed + $15,786 interest
Payment vs. salary
5%
Based on $55,000 annual income (your estimate)
Comfortable
This fits a typical early-career budget more comfortably than most borrowing plans.
Calculations are estimates based on current published rates. For your specific eligibility and benefit amounts, contact a VA Education and Career Counselor or your service branch education office.