Law school debt estimator

The law school debt estimator turns your total debt at graduation into a monthly payment, total interest, and a year-by-year payoff timeline. Enter your debt, an interest rate assumption, and a repayment term. All figures are estimates from plain loan amortization, not financial advice. Real loans accrue interest during school, and income-driven plans change the numbers.

Enter your total debt at graduation, an interest rate assumption, and a repayment term. You get an estimated monthly payment, total interest, and a year-by-year payoff timeline.

All figures are estimates. This is a plain loan amortization, not financial advice. Real loans accrue interest during school, and federal repayment plans (income-driven, PSLF) change the numbers.

How the estimate works

• Monthly payment: standard amortization. Monthly rate = your annual rate divided by 12; the payment is sized so the loan hits zero at the end of the term.
• Total interest: monthly payment times number of payments, minus the original debt. Longer terms mean much more interest.
• Payoff timeline: the remaining balance at the end of each year if you pay the estimated amount every month, starting now.
• What this leaves out: interest that accrued while you were in school, origination fees, income-driven repayment, and loan forgiveness programs. All of those can move the real numbers.

Before you borrow

• Compare scholarship offers line by line before you sign for debt. A school that costs $30k more per year is $90k plus interest.
• Run the same numbers with a longer term to see what the extra years cost in interest.
• See the full picture: true cost of law school calculator.

Last updated October 12, 2026