Can you afford this degree?

Pick a path: a four-year degree, community college, a two-year career degree or a trade. See the real pay, then what your loans would cost under the federal rules that started July 1, 2026.

Pay: U.S. national figures from the Bureau of Labor StatisticsUpdated for RAP and Tiered StandardNo sign-up. Nothing you enter in the calculator is stored.
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Pick a path

A four-year college isn't the only way to a good job. Try more than one.

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Pick a job it leads to

Estimated starting pay, then median pay for everyone in the job, and how fast the job is growing. U.S. figures; your state may differ.

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How will you pay for it?

What you and your family would borrow for the whole program, by type of loan.

Not sure how much? Work it out from what college costs
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Find the yearly cost on the college's financial aid offer or its Net Price Calculator, which every college has on its website. The amounts here are examples.

If federal loans don't cover it, the rest comes from

Fills in the loans below. You can still change them.

EXAMPLEGovernment · in your name
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Subsidized loans, start year and raises

Subsidized loans are for students with financial need. The government pays their interest while you're in school (up to $3,500, $4,500, $5,500 and $5,500 a year). Your financial aid offer says if you have them.

Fall of this year. Repayment starts the January after you finish.

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Used for RAP, where your payment follows your income, and for the 10-year comparison.

Compare two paths

Put two paths side by side

Each side uses its own loan amount. The 10-year figure is take-home pay minus your own loan payments, counted from the year you start school or training.

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Your two federal options

Fixed payment or income-based?

Federal student loans taken out on or after July 1, 2026 can use only these two plans. Parent PLUS and private loans are shown below them on their own fixed payments.

Tiered Standard: a fixed payment

The same payment every month, like a car loan. Your balance sets how long: under $25,000 is 10 years, $25,000–$49,999 is 15, $50,000–$99,999 is 20, and $100,000 or more is 25. Your income doesn't change it. You know the end date on day one, and it usually costs the least interest.

RAP: a payment based on income

The Repayment Assistance Plan charges 1% to 10% of your income, with higher earners paying a higher percentage, and at least $10 a month. It drops $50 a month for each child you support. If your payment doesn't cover the interest, the rest is waived, so your balance can't grow. Anything left after 30 years is forgiven. Safer when pay is low; it can mean paying for decades.

Tiered StandardRAP

What you owe over time

Dollars still owed at the end of each year after graduation.

Did this help with a real decision?

For teachers and counselors

A 15-minute student loan activity

Built for personal finance and economics classes in the 30 states that now require the course. Works on Chromebooks and phones. Students don't log in and nothing they type is stored.

The lesson, minute by minute

  1. 0–2Ask: "How much do you think a nurse, an accountant and a graphic designer earn in their first year?" Take three guesses.
  2. 2–8Students open classroom mode, pick their own path and job, and set federal loans to $27,000, the most a dependent student can borrow over four years.
  3. 8–12Add $20,000 as Parent PLUS, then as private loans instead. Compare who owes it, the monthly cost and the warnings.
  4. 12–15Exit ticket: "Name one choice that would move your debt-free year earlier."

Give students this page's link and tell them to tap "Open classroom mode".

Get slides and rule updates

The lesson plan is ready now. Slides and an answer guide are in the works, and we'll email them when they're done, plus a note whenever loan rules change. Teachers only.

How it works

Sources, assumptions and privacy

Loan rules last reviewed October 7, 2026.

Where the numbers come from

  • Two-year careers and trades: pay is the May 2025 U.S. median and growth is the 2025–2035 projection, from the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook. The 20 majors still use the previous release (2024–2034 projections) and will be updated.
  • Program lengths are typical and editable. BLS gives 4 to 5 years for electrician and plumber apprenticeships, about 1 year for practical nursing, and 6 months to 2 years for HVAC programs. Other lengths are our estimates; check the program.
  • Apprentice pay: apprentices usually start at about 40–50% of a fully trained worker's wage and get raises as they progress (Illinois apprenticeship wage guide). We estimate training pay at half of the job's median in the first year, rising to three-quarters in the last.
  • All pay figures are U.S. national. Pay in your state, especially in high-cost states like New Jersey, may be higher or lower. State figures are planned.
  • Job pay is the median annual wage for everyone in the job, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics via O*NET OnLine (2025 data). Job growth is the Bureau's 2024–2034 projection.
  • Starting pay is what employers projected for bachelor's graduates in the class of 2025, from the NACE Winter 2025 Salary Survey. It leans toward companies that recruit on campus. We adjust it for the job you pick: up or down by how that job's median pay compares with the major's other jobs, by up to 10% higher or 20% lower. The job picked first for each major is the one closest to the major's typical pay, or, where the survey has no figure, the job with the most openings. Where a major isn't in the survey, or the job needs a graduate degree, we use 75% of the job's median. Every estimate is labeled.
  • Loan rules: Tiered Standard terms, RAP payments and the Parent PLUS caps follow the One Big Beautiful Bill Act changes effective July 1, 2026, as summarized by James Madison University, the National Consumer Law Center and studentaid.gov.
  • Interest rates: 6.52% for undergraduate Direct Loans and 9.07% for Parent PLUS loans disbursed on or after July 1, 2026, both set by federal law and the same in every state. Private loan rates are whatever you enter.
  • Cost helper: borrowing need is the yearly cost after grants and scholarships, minus what the family and student can pay, for each year of the program. Federal loans fill each year first up to that year's limit; the rest goes to Parent PLUS (up to $20,000 a year and $65,000 in all, then private) or to private loans.
  • Federal loan limits for dependent undergraduates: $5,500, $6,500 and $7,500 a year, $31,000 in total, and less for programs shorter than an academic year, from the Federal Student Aid Handbook.

What we assume

  • Take-home pay is about 78% of gross pay.
  • The 10-year comparison adds up take-home pay from the year you start, minus your own loan payments on the fixed plan. The longer-career line runs the same math for 30 years with the same yearly raise for every job, so it's a rough guide. It counts pay while training only for paid apprenticeships and on-the-job training, not part-time work during school.
  • Federal student loans and private loans are the student's debt, so both count toward the share of take-home pay. Parent PLUS loans are the parent's debt and are shown separately.
  • Parent PLUS uses the same Tiered Standard terms as student loans. Private loans use a simple fixed payment over the term you choose.
  • Tiered Standard: 10 years under $25,000, 15 years to $49,999, 20 years to $99,999, 25 years at $100,000 and up.
  • RAP: 1% of income from $10,001 to $20,000, rising 1% for each $10,000 band to 10% above $100,000; $10 a month at $10,000 or less,we assume no children (each one lowers the payment by $50 a month). Unpaid interest is waived, the government adds up to $50 a month toward principal when your payment covers less, and anything left after 30 years is forgiven.
  • Interest builds up from each year's loan until repayment starts: unsubsidized federal loans, Parent PLUS and private loans all grow during school. Subsidized federal loans don't, if you tick that box. We use simple interest and assume nothing is paid during school.
  • Repayment starts in the January after graduation, so a 15-year plan starting in 2031 ends in 2045. Income for RAP is your gross pay, rising by the yearly raise you set.
  • The guideline used for the verdict: loan payments under 10% of take-home pay are comfortable, and total borrowing should stay at or below your first-year pay.

Privacy

  • Everything you type stays on your screen and disappears when you close the page.
  • We never ask for names, schools, Social Security numbers or account numbers from students.
  • If you send feedback or one of the request forms, we keep only what you put in that form.
  • We count anonymous events, like "someone finished a degree check", to learn what's useful. They include the major and a rounded loan amount, never who you are.