About
A calculator that will sometimes tell you not to refinance should be willing to say who wrote it and how it pays for itself.
Who I am
I built and maintain this calculator. I am not a licensed financial advisor, and nothing here is financial advice. Every figure the tool produces is derived from published federal rules, which are cited on every page, and the formulas are written out in full on the methodology page so you can check them against the regulations yourself.
I am not a licensed financial advisor, and I am not your advisor. Nothing on this site is financial advice, and it cannot be, because a page has no idea what else is going on in your life. Your loan servicer holds your actual records and this site does not.
No credentialed financial professional has reviewed this content. Sites in this space often carry a "reviewed by" line next to a certification. This one does not, because that review has not happened. When and if it does, the reviewer will be named here with their credential and the date, and the schema markup on each page will say so too.
Why this exists
Every student loan refinance calculator I could find answers one question: how much will you save? For a borrower holding only private loans that question is complete. For a borrower holding federal loans it is not, because refinancing federal loans into a private loan permanently forfeits forgiveness, income-driven repayment, deferment, and death and disability discharge.
That framing is not a small omission. I tested one competitor's calculator with a $200,000 balance and the box ticked that says "I am currently pursuing PSLF". It displayed a warning that refinancing would end PSLF eligibility, and directly beneath that warning, unchanged, it displayed "You Save $27,461" in green. The tool knew the borrower was on a forgiveness track and still reported a saving from the thing that would end it, because its arithmetic had no way to account for what was being given up.
This calculator asks for the inputs that make the other side of that ledger computable: loan type, disbursement date, income, household, employer sector, and qualifying payments made. Then it puts both sides on the screen and is willing to conclude that refinancing is a mistake.
How it was built
Every policy constant in the code carries a citation to the regulation it came from and the date I read it. The federal rules changed substantially in 2025 and 2026, so nothing here was written from memory or from secondary summaries. I read 34 CFR 685.208, 685.209 and 685.219 directly, and the current Federal Student Aid pages, and where two sources conflict the site says so rather than picking one quietly.
The calculation engine has an automated test suite that runs on every build. It checks the arithmetic against hand-worked examples and against the Department's own published figures, and it also enforces behavioural rules: that a defaulted borrower is never told they have no federal option, that the verdict never uses the phrase "you should", and that a partner link cannot appear on a result that points away from refinancing. Everything is written out on themethodology page, including the limitations.
What it cannot do
- It cannot see your loans. Everything depends on what you type in.
- It cannot tell you whether your employer qualifies for PSLF. That is your assessment, and the Department has a tool for checking it.
- It cannot predict interest rates, your income, or your health.
- It does not know your state's tax rules and does not pretend to.
How the site makes money
This site carries no lender links today. Where any appear, they will be paid partner links, and I may earn a commission if someone refinances through one. Two rules constrain that, and they are enforced in code rather than by good intentions:
- A partner link is never rendered on a result where the numbers point away from refinancing, or where the comparison is too close to call. Not moved down the page, not made smaller. Absent from the page.
- Commercial relationships never change what the calculator computes. The engine has no knowledge that partners exist.
I also do not publish lender rate tables, which is the most common way sites in this niche earn. Advertised ranges usually require autopay and excellent credit, I cannot verify what any particular person would be offered, and a stale rate table is worse than none.
Keeping it current
Policy pages are re-checked against primary sources monthly, and immediately whenever the Department of Education publishes a change. The calculation engine is re-verified quarterly.
Several federal rules are in active litigation or have unresolved readings. Those are listed honestly on the sources page with a status against each, rather than presented as settled.
Corrections
If you find something wrong, tell me. Include the inputs you used if it is a calculation issue. Corrections are logged with dates on theeditorial policy page.