Federal Student Aid Estimator
The Federal Student Aid Estimator is an excellent tool for figuring out how much federal aid (grants and loans) you may get under the new FAFSA. It’s simple and quick to use and it gives you clear information about how much and what types of federal aid you’re likely to receive.
Try the Federal Student Aid Estimator
Explanation of the Federal Student Aid Estimator
Our friends at understandingfafsa.org put together this explanation of how to use the Federal Student Aid Estimator, as well as other helpful tools for estimating your college costs.
Read the article.
At-a-glance loan cost estimator
If you find you need to take out loans, it's important to know what those loans will cost you, and if you'll be able to afford them over time. The two charts below can help you estimate that.
One gives you a rough estimate of what your monthly payments would be on different loan amounts, assuming a 5.5% interest rate on a ten year loan. The other shows you what type of salary you'd need to earn to comfortably make those payments. (Note: the $28,000 amount is the most you can borrow in Federal student loans over 4 years in college. Any amounts over that are calculated at 9% interest, to represent the cost of borrowing from a private lender.)
Interest rate on first $28,000 = 5.5%
Interest rate on any amount over $28,000 = 9%
"Safe amount" is 10% of salary per year
10 Year payback
Interest rate on first $28,000 = 5.5%
Interest rate on any amount over $28,000 = 9%
"Safe amount" is 10% of salary per year
10 Year payback