RAP Student Loan Payment Calculator
How much does the Repayment Assistance Plan actually take off a student loan each month?
On $50,000 of adjusted gross income the RAP payment is $166.67 a month — but a $40,000 balance at 6.5% falls by only $50.00 that month: $0.00 from the payment itself plus a $50.00 principal match, with the interest the payment did not cover waived rather than added on. Left at that, $22,000.00 would still be outstanding at payment 360, and that is the amount written off.
United States · federal Direct Loans · Repayment Assistance Plan (34 CFR 685.209)
The Repayment Assistance Plan sets your payment from a table of adjusted gross income, waives the monthly interest your payment does not cover, and tops up small principal reductions with a match. Because of that, the payment you make and the amount your balance falls are two different numbers — usually very different. Put in your own figures and see both.
Your situation
The figure from your federal return. The plan reads it against a table, and each step of that table applies its percentage to the whole of your income — not only to the part above the step.
Each dependent takes a fixed amount off the monthly payment. That reduction is applied before the minimum payment, so it can lower what you owe to the floor but never below it.
The rate on your Direct Loans. The plan waives whatever monthly interest your payment does not cover, so the rate changes how much of your payment reaches the principal — but it can never make the balance grow.
Your plan
The whole plan, month by month
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Payments made | — |
| Total paid over the plan | — |
| Of that, interest | — |
| Of that, principal | — |
| Principal match added on top | — |
| Total the balance fell | — |
| Interest waived, never added to the balance (not paid by you) | — |
| Balance forgiven at the last payment | — |
One dollar of income, either side of every step
| Income boundary | Payment at it | One dollar above | The jump |
|---|
- Whether a forgiven balance is taxed. That was not checked against a primary source for this page, so nothing is claimed about it either way.
- How payments made under this plan count towards Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Not verified here, so not asserted here.
- Interest capitalisation on leaving the plan, the rules for spouses who file separately, and annual income recertification.
- State and private loans. This plan covers federal Direct Loans only.
Sources: 34 CFR 685.209 — the base-payment table, the monthly calculation, the minimum payment, the principal match and forgiveness — and the U.S. Department of Education fact sheet on simplifying student loan repayment. The regulation states no day count for interest, so this page divides the annual rate by the same twelve it uses for the base payment, and says so rather than implying a convention it cannot cite.
This is a calculator, not advice. It applies the plan rules to the figures you typed and to nothing else; your loan servicer decides what you actually owe and when. Check anything that matters with them, or with someone qualified to advise you.
- Debt snowball vs avalanche calculator — for the debts that are not student loans, and the order to clear them in.
- Emergency fund calculator — how much cushion your own income swings call for, before anything extra goes to the loan.
A repayment plan reads your adjusted gross income, so the number that sets your payment is a number your tax return produces. The workbook is where that number gets built:
- A whole year of self-employment income and expenses, with the federal tax on it worked out line by line.
- Adjusted gross income shown as its own figure — the one every income-driven repayment plan reads.
- Quarterly estimated payments, so a tax bill never lands on top of a loan payment.
- Every constant carries the IRS document it was read from and the date it was checked.
How the plan works
It starts from a table of adjusted gross income. The first step is a flat $120.00 for the year for income up to $10,000; above that, each step charges between 1% and 10% of income. That percentage applies to the whole of your income, not to the part above the step — which is why the payment jumps at every boundary in the table above.
The yearly figure is divided by 12 to get a monthly one, and then the reduction for dependents comes off — $50.00 each. If what is left is under $10.00, the payment is $10.00: the floor is applied after the dependent reduction, not before, so a large family can reach the floor but cannot bring the payment to nothing.
Two rules then decide what the payment actually achieves. Any monthly interest the payment does not cover is waived rather than added to the balance, so the balance can never grow. And if the payment reduced the principal by less than $50.00, the shortfall is made up: the principal falls by the lesser of $50.00 or the payment made. So a payment swallowed whole by interest still takes its own value off the principal, up to $50.00.
After 360 qualifying monthly payments whatever is left of the balance is forgiven. That is the figure in the third card above — what you would still owe on the last day of the plan.
Questions people actually ask
Why can one extra dollar of income raise the payment so much?
Because each step of the table applies its percentage to your entire income rather than to the part above the step. At $20,000 the payment is $16.67 a month; at $20,001 it is $33.34 — 100.00% more for one dollar earned. Every boundary in the table works the same way, and the effect is largest at the bottom.
Why does my balance barely move even though I pay every month?
Because the payment covers interest first. If the monthly interest is larger than the payment, none of the payment reaches the principal, and the balance falls only by the match — capped at $50.00 a month. The rest of the interest is waived, so the balance does not grow either. Over 360 payments that match alone can be worth more than everything the payments themselves repay.
Is there a minimum payment?
Yes — $10.00 a month. Each dependent takes $50.00 off the calculated payment and the floor is applied afterwards, so a payment can be reduced to the floor but never below it. A final payment can be smaller, because it only has to clear what is left.
How long does the plan run?
Up to 360 qualifying monthly payments. Anything still outstanding at that point is forgiven. Whether that forgiven amount is taxed is not modelled here and is not claimed either way on this page.
Does this calculator store my numbers?
No. Everything is worked out in your browser. Nothing is sent to us, saved, or shared.
