Student Loan Forgiveness Calculator
Estimate your savings from Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) or income-driven repayment forgiveness.
Compare repayment strategies.
Student loan forgiveness programs cancel part or all of your remaining loan balance after you meet specific requirements. The two main paths are Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) and Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) forgiveness.
Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF): After making 120 qualifying monthly payments (10 years) while working full-time for a qualifying employer (federal, state, or local government, or a 501(c)(3) nonprofit), the remaining balance is forgiven completely tax-free.
Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) Forgiveness: After 20 or 25 years of income-driven payments (depending on your plan), any remaining balance is forgiven. However, the forgiven amount may be treated as taxable income, creating a potential “tax bomb.”
How IDR payments are calculated:
Monthly Payment = (AGI - 150% of Poverty Line) × Payment Percentage / 12
Where:
- AGI = your Adjusted Gross Income
- Poverty Line = the federal poverty guideline for your family size (2025: $15,650 for a single person in the 48 contiguous states, plus $5,500 per additional family member). HHS reissues these each January, so a stale figure quietly inflates your payment estimate.
- Payment Percentage = 10% for SAVE/PAYE plans, 15% for IBR
IDR Plan Comparison:
| Plan | Payment Rate | Forgiveness Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| SAVE/REPAYE | 10% of discretionary income | 20-25 years |
| PAYE | 10% of discretionary income | 20 years |
| IBR | 15% of discretionary income | 25 years |
Practical Example: Loan balance: $80,000 at 6% interest. Income: $50,000. Family size: 1. Poverty line (2025): $15,650. 150% = $23,475. Discretionary income: $50,000 - $23,475 = $26,525. Monthly income-driven payment: $26,525 x 10% / 12 = $221/month Standard 10-year payment would be about $888/month, so the income-driven plan frees up $667/month while stretching the repayment period.
Key question: Will you pay less total through forgiveness (payments plus any tax on the forgiven amount) than by paying off the loan under the standard 10-year plan?
Tips:
- PSLF forgiveness is tax-free, making it significantly more valuable than IDR forgiveness
- Submit your PSLF Employment Certification Form annually to track qualifying payments
- File taxes as “married filing separately” if your spouse’s income would increase your IDR payment significantly
- Watch the tax treatment of IDR forgiveness. The American Rescue Plan Act made forgiven balances federally tax-free through the end of 2025; absent new legislation that relief has lapsed, which is why this calculator applies an estimated 22% tax to non-PSLF forgiveness. Some states tax it regardless.
- The plan landscape keeps moving. SAVE has been tied up in litigation and the income-driven menu has been reshuffled more than once, so confirm which plans you can actually enrol in at studentaid.gov before planning around one.
How we build and check this calculator
This calculator runs entirely in your browser, so the numbers you enter stay on your device. The math behind it is written by hand and tested against worked examples and standard references before the page goes live.
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