Student Loan Repayment Calculator for Medical School

Medical School Student Loan Repayment Calculator

Estimate how much you may pay each month, how long repayment could take, and how much interest may accumulate on your medical school student loans. Enter your loan balance, interest rate, repayment date, and preferred monthly payment. You can also test the effect of making additional payments toward your principal.

Your Estimated Medical School Loan Repayment

This calculator provides an educational estimate. It does not determine your eligibility for a federal repayment plan, loan forgiveness, refinancing, deferment, or forbearance.

I want to be a

I will pay off loans starting

Student loan debt

Average student loan debt: view source for Medical School

Salary (before tax)

After-tax salary uses a 35% federal tax rate. Take-home estimate: $0

Direct Unsubsidized Loan Rate

I want my monthly payments to be

15% of $0 take-home pay

Payment target

15%

How to Use the Medical School Student Loan Calculator

Start by entering the total amount you currently owe. Include the principal balance and any unpaid interest that has already been added to your principal.

Enter Your Balance

Include the principal balance and any unpaid interest already added to your principal.

Set Your Interest Rate

Federal student loans have fixed rates based on disbursement date. Private loans may have fixed or variable rates.

Choose Repayment Start & Term

Pick when repayment begins, then calculate by term or estimate a payoff date from a monthly payment.

Test Extra Payments

See how paying more each month may reduce total interest and shorten your repayment period.

Average Medical School Debt in 2026

$215K

Median education debt
(class of 2025)

$298K

Public med school COA
(class of 2026)

$408K

Private med school COA
(class of 2026)

The Association of American Medical Colleges reports that the median education debt for the medical school class of 2025 was $215,000.

The reported median four-year cost of attendance for the graduating class of 2026 was approximately $297,745 for public medical schools and $408,150 for private medical schools.

Your own debt may be considerably lower or higher. Tuition, living expenses, scholarships, family contributions, undergraduate debt, residency costs, and the type of school you attend can all affect the final amount.

Use your expected personal balance rather than relying only on a national figure.

How Medical School Student Loan Interest Accumulates

Most medical students who use federal loans borrow through Direct Unsubsidized Loans. Interest on an unsubsidized loan generally begins accumulating after the loan is disbursed.

This means your balance can grow while you are attending medical school, completing residency, or using an eligible period without required payments.

For graduate and professional Direct Unsubsidized Loans first disbursed between July 1, 2026 and June 30, 2027, the fixed federal interest rate is 8.07%.

Loans issued in other years may have different rates. Review each loan in your Federal Student Aid account or loan-servicer account before entering an interest rate.

If you have several loans, calculate a weighted average interest rate or run each loan separately.

Repayment Strategies for Physicians

Paying Medical School Loans During Residency

Resident salaries are usually much lower than attending-physician salaries. A payment that is manageable after training may not be affordable during residency.

When estimating repayment, run at least two scenarios:

A residency-income scenario using your expected resident salary.
A post-training scenario using a conservative expected attending salary.

Do not assume that you will immediately earn the highest reported salary for your specialty. Location, employer, schedule, specialty, benefits, taxes, and years of experience can substantially affect actual income.

Residents with federal loans should also review income-based repayment options and Public Service Loan Forgiveness requirements before making a long-term decision.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness for Physicians

Public Service Loan Forgiveness may discharge the remaining balance on eligible Direct Loans after a borrower makes the required number of qualifying payments while working full time for an eligible public-service employer.

A hospital’s nonprofit status, ownership, and employment arrangement can affect eligibility. Working inside a nonprofit hospital does not always mean the physician is directly employed by a qualifying organization.

This calculator does not estimate PSLF forgiveness. Borrowers pursuing PSLF should confirm their loan types, repayment plan, employer eligibility, and qualifying-payment count through Federal Student Aid.

How Extra Payments Affect Medical School Debt

An additional payment usually reduces principal faster, provided the loan servicer applies it correctly.

Reducing principal can:

Shorten the repayment period
Lower total interest
Move the payoff date forward
Reduce future monthly interest charges

Before sending extra money, confirm how your servicer applies overpayments. You may need to request that the additional amount be applied to the loan’s current principal rather than advancing the next payment due date.

Keep emergency savings, employer benefits, possible forgiveness, and other high-interest debt in mind before committing all available cash to student loan repayment.

Using the Calculator for Multiple Student Loans

Medical school graduates often have several loans with different balances and interest rates.

The most accurate method is to enter and calculate each loan separately. You can then add the estimated payments together.

A faster alternative is to calculate a weighted average interest rate:

Weighted average rate = Total of each loan balance multiplied by its rate ÷ Total loan balance

Do not use a simple average when the loan balances differ significantly. A small loan with a high rate should not receive the same weight as a much larger loan with a lower rate.

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Medical School Student Loan Repayment Calculator

Your Estimated Medical School Loan Repayment

Results for Physicians

Balance over time

Monthly payment breakdown