College Debt Model
Step through career, school, where you want to live, car, and lifestyle—then tune every budget line (BLS-informed defaults, reading and alcohol omitted). Progress is saved in this browser. Loan payoff runs when spending is at or below your modeled take-home pay.
Use the tabs in order or jump back anytime. Housing and transportation defaults come from metro price levels (BEA-style RPP) and the vehicle list inspired by Car and Driver’s 2025 U.S. bestsellers (illustrative MSRP and monthly bundles).
College & Borrowing
Your college costs
Enter the numbers your school publishes. Annual total cost of attendance covers tuition, housing, food, books, and fees for one year.
Cost of Attendance & Loan Principal
For schools in our list, numbers load from published cost data. Tuition and fees grow 3.5%/year; other cost-of-attendance lines stay flat year to year in the model. Amount borrowed = full 4-year cost minus your out-of-pocket total (below).
Career & Salary
Pick the role you want after graduation. Salary is projected four years out at 3%/yr for the payoff model.
Where You Want to Live
Metro areas are sorted alphabetically. Pick one to model rent from real price levels, or choose "Other" to enter your own monthly rent.
Car & Commute
Economy = Toyota, Honda, Chevy, Ford, Kia bestsellers; mid adds VW, Acura, Hyundai, Tesla; premium = Mercedes-Benz, Audi, BMW, Lexus, Rivian. MSRP in data is rounded; monthly bundle is illustrative.
Vehicle MSRP: —. Payment assumes a 7% APR auto loan, $1,000 down, and a 60-month term on amount financed (MSRP − down). Fuel, insurance, and parking are approximated from the BLS transportation bundle.
Entertainment After You Graduate
Rough habit check—the entertainment line on the budget tab updates automatically from these choices.
What sounds like you? (adds to the estimate)
Illustrative entertainment (feeds budget tab): $0/mo
Clothing
Seeds the clothing line on the budget table. Adjust any line directly on step 6.
Personal Care
Haircuts, toiletries, grooming — seeds the personal care line on the budget table. Leave blank to use a BLS-shaped default.
Monthly Budget & Taxes
All lines are editable. Reading and alcohol are omitted from the BLS template. “Education and Loan Repayment” is where your student loan payment lives.
| Category | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Total spending | $— | $— |
| After-tax income (take-home from role) | $— | $— |
| Monthly balance (after-tax income − total spending) | $— | |
When monthly balance is positive, use a button to allocate it to loan payments or cash savings. Everything recalculates as you edit the table.
—
Loan Balance, Payments & 401(k) Projection
Yearly view — hover the chart for amounts.
Amortization Schedule
Month-by-month loan breakdown. Appears once the budget balances.
| Month | Payment | Principal | Interest | Total paid | Balance |
|---|