Fafsa student loan guide and calculator set for the FAFSA form and U.S. federal student aid Unofficial. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid, or StudentAid.gov. It cannot submit, check or change any application.

The rules changed on 1 July 2026, and most guides have not caught up. A lifetime borrowing cap of $257,500 now exists and nothing reopens it. Grad PLUS loans closed to new borrowers. Parent PLUS is limited to $20,000 a year and $65,000 per child. And anyone with a loan disbursed from that date repays under one of exactly two plans. This app explains all of it in plain language and does the arithmetic with your own.

START WITH THE SIMULATOR

Open it and it is already filled in — a $31,000 balance on a $48,000 income, at the 2026–27 undergraduate rate. Two plans sit side by side: the Repayment Assistance Plan and the Tiered Standard Plan. Move four sliders and both recalculate instantly, along with a chart of what you would still owe each month.

The answer is rarely obvious. On the default scenario, the income-driven plan asks $110 less every month, but keeps you in repayment fifteen years longer and costs $8,932 more overall — with $9,268 written off at the end. One sentence under the numbers tells you which is which, in words.

NINE CALCULATORS, ONE QUESTION EACH

• How much am I allowed to borrow? Annual, aggregate and lifetime ceilings, and which one bites first
• What is left after my aid offer? Cost of attendance against your Student Aid Index
• What would my income-driven payment be? The RAP band, the dependent credit, the $10 floor
• What does the default plan cost? The term your balance is assigned, and the total
• What is this loan costing me each day? Daily interest, and what capitalisation adds
• How much will actually reach my school? The origination fee taken off the top
• What do the six months after graduation cost? Grace period interest, subsidized against unsubsidized
• How far am I from forgiveness? Progress toward the 120 payments PSLF requires

Every one opens already filled in, recalculates as you move a control, and states the assumption behind the answer. There is no Calculate button anywhere.

TWELVE CHAPTERS

What the FAFSA form actually is · Accounts, contributors and the consent rule that quietly disqualifies people · Who is eligible · Dependent or independent, and the twelve questions that decide it · Filling out the form section by section · Federal, state and school deadlines · From SAI to an aid offer · Grants and work-study · Subsidized and unsubsidized loans · Borrowing limits after 1 July 2026 · PLUS loans · Repayment, RAP, Tiered Standard and PSLF.

ALSO INSIDE

• Deadlines for all 73 states, territories and listed provinces for the 2026–27 form, searchable and filterable
• An application checklist of 22 steps, with the ones people get wrong flagged, saved as you tick them
• 31 questions and answers
• A glossary of 57 terms
• Direct links to 15 official pages, opened in your own browser

WHERE THE NUMBERS COME FROM

Every rate, limit and rule was taken from studentaid.gov in August 2026 and applies to the 2026–27 award year: 6.52% undergraduate, 8.07% graduate, 9.07% PLUS, fees of 1.057% and 4.228%, a maximum Pell Grant of $7,395. Figures are stamped with the award year they belong to, and where the Department publishes no formula — the Student Aid Index, the Pell payment schedule — this app declines to invent one and asks you for the number instead.

WHAT IT DOES NOT DO

It has no account, no sign-in and no server of its own. It cannot submit a FAFSA form, check a status, or see your aid record. It does not lend money, arrange loans or accept applications. Nothing you type into a calculator is stored or sent anywhere — those figures live only while the screen is open.

Apply for federal student aid only at studentaid.gov, which is free.

FAFSA is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Education.