RAP Student Loan
Calculator 2026

RAP takes a sliding-scale percentage of your annual adjusted gross income (AGI) and divides it by 12. The percentage rises one point for every $10,000 of AGI: it is a flat $10/month for AGI of $10,000 or less, 1% of AGI in the $10,001–$20,000 band, 2% in the $20,001–$30,000 band, and so on up to 10% of AGI once income passes $100,000. Crucially the percentage applies to your WHOLE AGI, not just the amount inside the band, so there are small jumps at each $10,000 line. From that monthly figure you subtract $50 for each dependent you claim on your tax return, and the result can never fall below the $10/month minimum. Example: $55,000 AGI lands in the 5% tier → $2,750 a year → about $229/month before dependents; with two dependents it drops to $129/month. This is different from older income-driven plans, which used discretionary income (AGI minus a poverty-line allowance) rather than a percentage of full AGI. Source: P.L. 119-21 (2025); U.S. Department of Education / studentaid.gov.

RAP has two subsidies that older plans did not combine. First, an interest waiver: if your monthly payment is smaller than the interest that accrued that month, the government forgives the leftover interest instead of charging it — so your balance never grows from unpaid interest the way it did under old plans where debt ballooned. Second, a $50 monthly principal match: if your payment doesn't push your principal balance down by at least $50 in a month, a federal subsidy tops it up so the balance falls by at least $50 every single month. Together these mean a low-income RAP borrower with, say, a $10/month payment still sees the loan shrink by $50 a month while all accruing interest is waived — the balance moves in only one direction. This is the single biggest structural improvement in RAP versus SAVE, IBR or PAYE, and it is why the plan can retire a balance for many borrowers who would otherwise have watched it grow. Source: P.L. 119-21; studentaid.gov RAP guidance.

Any balance still outstanding after 30 years of qualifying payments — 360 monthly payments — is forgiven, and the same 30-year clock applies whether your loans paid for undergraduate or graduate study. That is longer than the 20- or 25-year forgiveness under the older income-driven plans, and it is one of the trade-offs of RAP: lower or more predictable monthly payments, but a longer road to forgiveness for anyone who never clears the balance outright. Months you spend in the tiered standard plan, or (for existing borrowers) prior qualifying IDR payments, may count toward the timeline under transition rules — check your payment count on studentaid.gov. Note the tax treatment of forgiven balances: the federal exclusion for discharged student debt under the American Rescue Plan runs through the end of 2025, so amounts forgiven later may be taxable federally unless Congress extends the exclusion — and this calculator does not model any tax on a forgiven balance. Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) is separate and still forgives after 120 qualifying payments (10 years); RAP payments can count toward PSLF. Source: P.L. 119-21; studentaid.gov.

For anyone who takes out their first federal Direct Loan on or after July 1, 2026, the only repayment choices are RAP or the new tiered standard plan — SAVE, PAYE and ICR are not available to them. Borrowers who already had loans before that date keep more options during a transition: they can generally still use IBR until the older plans are fully phased out (ICR and PAYE are slated to end by July 1, 2028), and many are being moved off SAVE. RAP is only for Direct Loans; Parent PLUS loans cannot enroll, and a Direct Consolidation Loan that repaid a Parent PLUS is also shut out. Defaulted loans must be rehabilitated or consolidated back into good standing before enrolling. If you have older FFEL or Perkins loans, consolidating them into a Direct Consolidation Loan is usually what makes them RAP-eligible — but consolidating can reset progress toward forgiveness, so weigh it carefully. Source: P.L. 119-21; U.S. Department of Education.

It depends on your income relative to your balance. The standard 10-year plan clears your debt fastest and usually costs the least in total dollars, because you attack principal aggressively — it's the better choice if the fixed payment fits your budget and you want to be debt-free quickly. RAP shines when the standard payment is unaffordable or when your balance is large relative to your income: your payment is capped at a slice of AGI, the interest waiver stops the balance from snowballing, and the $50 principal match guarantees forward progress even in lean years. The trade-off is time and total interest — stretching payments over up to 30 years generally means paying more overall unless a chunk is forgiven at the end. A common playbook: start on RAP for cash-flow safety, then pay extra toward principal (there is no prepayment penalty) in good years to shorten the timeline. This calculator shows both payments side by side so you can see the monthly-affordability-versus-total-cost trade directly. Source: P.L. 119-21; studentaid.gov; U.S. Department of Education.

Yes — significantly, because RAP is driven by AGI. If you file jointly, RAP counts your combined household AGI, which usually raises the payment; if you file married-filing-separately, your spouse's income is generally excluded and only your own AGI drives the payment. That MFS lever can lower a RAP bill substantially, but it comes with costs elsewhere on the tax return — you typically lose the student-loan-interest deduction, certain education and child credits, and favorable brackets — so it only pays off when the repayment saving beats the extra tax. Dependents also matter directly: each dependent you claim cuts the monthly payment by $50, so a family with three kids trims $150 a month off the RAP figure. Because RAP recalculates every year from your latest tax return, a raise, a new baby, a marriage or a switch in filing status all flow through at the next annual certification. Run the numbers both ways — this tool lets you toggle AGI and dependents — before you pick a filing status purely for the loan. Source: P.L. 119-21; studentaid.gov; IRS filing-status rules.