- Joined
- Aug 1, 2007
- Messages
- 7,853
- Reaction score
- 3,637
I looked around the internet for a good monthly payment calculator so I could see what each school was really going to cost me years from now. However, I couldn't find one that was complex enough to account for the different kinds of loans (Stafford subsidized and unsubsidized, Grad PLUS, others), their differing amounts, and their differing rates, so I made my own in Excel!
The spreadsheet is set up to accept amounts from Stafford subsidized (probably $34,000), Stafford unsubsidized ($128,000, or the Cost of Attendance (CoA) - subsidized), and Grad PLUS loans if your schools are really expensive. Plug the numbers in, and you should get the monthly payment over a 10-year period. Also, it calculates the total you pay over those 10 years so you can see how much interest you've paid for each school's education. I've listed my own numbers with a school to add as a guide.
You should be able to get on each school's website and find their CoA. Multiply that times four, subtract any scholarship funds, and allocate the loans accordingly. If you don't need a loan (like the Grad Plus), just delete that row, and it should work fine. You can also add other loans, but make sure you tweak the monthly payment function to include that amount. Not planning on paying over a 10-year period? Change 120 months to 240, 360, or whatever.
Another interesting way to look at these numbers is to subtract the living expenses first and only do this with school expenses (tuition + fees + books). My wife will be working, and the schools that I have been accepted to have similar costs of living, so by removing that factor entirely, I have a better measure of what we will be paying down the road.
A little disclaimer...this isn't absolutely perfect because I excluded tuition increases as well as interest that accrues during medical school. I excluded that interest because many students go ahead and pay it before they graduate anyways. Still, this works way better to me than simpler online calculators because they only accept one amount with one rate, while this helps us gauge the portfolio of loans some of us take out.
The spreadsheet is set up to accept amounts from Stafford subsidized (probably $34,000), Stafford unsubsidized ($128,000, or the Cost of Attendance (CoA) - subsidized), and Grad PLUS loans if your schools are really expensive. Plug the numbers in, and you should get the monthly payment over a 10-year period. Also, it calculates the total you pay over those 10 years so you can see how much interest you've paid for each school's education. I've listed my own numbers with a school to add as a guide.
You should be able to get on each school's website and find their CoA. Multiply that times four, subtract any scholarship funds, and allocate the loans accordingly. If you don't need a loan (like the Grad Plus), just delete that row, and it should work fine. You can also add other loans, but make sure you tweak the monthly payment function to include that amount. Not planning on paying over a 10-year period? Change 120 months to 240, 360, or whatever.
Another interesting way to look at these numbers is to subtract the living expenses first and only do this with school expenses (tuition + fees + books). My wife will be working, and the schools that I have been accepted to have similar costs of living, so by removing that factor entirely, I have a better measure of what we will be paying down the road.
A little disclaimer...this isn't absolutely perfect because I excluded tuition increases as well as interest that accrues during medical school. I excluded that interest because many students go ahead and pay it before they graduate anyways. Still, this works way better to me than simpler online calculators because they only accept one amount with one rate, while this helps us gauge the portfolio of loans some of us take out.
