Standard College Loan Repayment ProgramThe college loan repayment program that is the standard one for all federal loans (including student loans consolidation) has 120 payments. These are equal payments and the interest is figured so that it is compounded monthly. If you do not choose a payment plan by the time your repayment period starts, you will be assigned to this one. If you want to accelerate paying off your student loans, use this plan and just add more to the minimum payment whenever you can. If you are planning to become a public employee, this 10 year college loan repayment program will qualify you for federal student loan forgiveness in ten years, but it's a moot point since your loan will be entirely paid off in that time frame anyway. Your monthly payment is required to be at least $50. If the balance would be paid off earlier than the 10 years at $50 per month, then your federal loan repayment term will be less than the normal 10 years, but the payment will never drop below $50. This is considered to be the standard program because it results in the lowest total interest paid of any of the plans. (The government school loans extended repayment plan has smaller monthly payments, but a greater total amount.) You may choose a different federal school loans repayment plan with a lower monthly payment formula at any point. (All the other plans have smaller monthly payments to begin with. They will of course, take longer to pay off your balance than this one.) Use the calculator below (one of my free online calculators) to see the amount you will pay each month on the standard plan. College Loan Calculator to Figure Loan PaymentsEnter your federal interest rates and your loan amounts. If you have been deferring interest and principal while you were in school and in the grace period, your balances will include the accrued interest. It will be added to the principal when you enter repayment. There is no prepayment penalty for making higher payments with federal school loans, but overages will be applied first to fees, then interest, then principal. If you can make larger payments than required early in the repayment period, your monthly amounts will be lower later on. 
The standard college loan repayment program is the best one, if you can afford it. You will end up paying less (if you pay what you owe) than with any other plan.Some more information that you might need...  return from college loan repayment program to student loan payment formula return from standard college loan repayment program to home |
