IBR Calculator
Estimate your Income-Based Repayment student loan payment
Frequently Asked Questions
IBR payment = Discretionary Income × payment percentage ÷ 12. Discretionary income = your AGI minus 150% of the federal poverty guideline for your family size and state. The payment percentage is 15% for 'Old IBR' (loans first borrowed before July 1, 2014) or 10% for 'New IBR' (loans first borrowed on or after July 1, 2014).
For 2026, the 48 contiguous states and D.C. use a base of $15,960 for one person, plus $5,680 for each additional family member. Alaska ($19,950 base, $7,100/member) and Hawaii ($18,360 base, $6,530/member) use their own higher guidelines.
It depends only on when you first borrowed federal student loans, not when you enrolled in the plan: 'New IBR' (10% of discretionary income, 20-year forgiveness for undergrad loans) applies if your first loan was disbursed on or after July 1, 2014. 'Old IBR' (15%, 25-year forgiveness) applies if it was before that date.
Yes — IBR is a long-standing statutory plan that continues to be available, unlike some newer income-driven plans that have been in flux. Always confirm your specific situation on studentaid.gov, since eligibility and required documentation can change.
No — this calculator uses your individual AGI and family size only. If you file taxes jointly and your spouse also has federal loans, the real IBR calculation can get more complex (joint AGI, combined family size) — this is a simplified individual estimate.
The Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP), launched July 2026, replaced SAVE as the other main income-driven option alongside IBR — it uses a different, tiered percentage-of-AGI formula rather than the discretionary-income formula IBR uses. IBR remains the only legacy income-driven plan preserved permanently by law. Since the two formulas produce different payments depending on your income and loan balance, use the official studentaid.gov Loan Simulator to compare your exact IBR estimate against RAP before choosing a plan.
Yes — PAYE (Pay As You Earn) uses the exact same 10%-of-discretionary-income formula as New IBR, so the 'New IBR (10%)' option above gives an equally accurate PAYE estimate. Note that PAYE closed to new enrollees on July 1, 2026, and existing PAYE borrowers must switch to IBR or RAP by July 1, 2028.