Student Loan Consolidation Calculator
The loans you would combine
Your result will appear here
Fill in the fields on the left and this updates as you type.
Know what this estimate is based on
- Jurisdiction
- General mathematical model
- Scope and limitations
- Educational estimate only. Confirm the assumptions, current rules, fees, and rounding that apply to your situation before making a decision.
- Source links checked
- Jul 30, 2026
Built and regression-tested by Smart Tools Lab. It has not been individually reviewed by a licensed financial, tax, or legal professional.
How to use
- 01
Enter the balance and interest rate for each loan you would combine, using as many of the four rows as you need and leaving the rest at zero. The example combines $18,000 at 4.99%, $14,000 at 6.54% and $9,000 at 7.54%.
- 02
Enter the term you would choose for the consolidation loan. The example uses twenty years. A longer term lowers the payment and raises the total interest substantially.
- 03
Enter the qualifying payments you have already made toward forgiveness. The example uses 48. This is used to show what carries over to the new loan.
- 04
Read the consolidation rate at the top. It is the weighted average of the rates you entered, rounded up to the nearest eighth of one percent, and the stat below shows the raw average before rounding so you can see what the rounding costs.
- 05
Compare the interest on the consolidated loan with the interest on the same balances kept apart, then read the insights on forgiveness progress and on the rules that now apply to any consolidation loan made from 1 July 2026.
Formula
Consolidation rate (20 U.S.C. 1087e(g)): 1. Weighted average = the sum of (each balance x its rate) divided by the sum of the balances. 2. Rate = that average rounded UP to the nearest one-eighth of one percent. Because the statute says 'nearest higher one-eighth', the rounding only ever moves the rate up. New payment = amortizing payment on the combined balance at the consolidation rate over the term you choose. The comparison against keeping the loans apart prices each loan separately at its own rate over the same term and adds the interest together, so the only difference between the two totals is the averaging and the rounding. Forgiveness carry-over (34 CFR 685.219(c)(3)): the qualifying payments that transfer to the consolidation loan are the WEIGHTED AVERAGE of the qualifying payments made on the underlying loans, weighted by balance, not the highest count and not zero.
Example
A borrower combines three loans: $18,000 at 4.99%, $14,000 at 6.54% and $9,000 at 7.54%, for a total of $41,000, choosing a twenty-year term and carrying 48 qualifying payments. Those balances are 43.9%, 34.1% and 22.0% of the total, giving a weighted average of 6.079%. Rounded up to the nearest eighth, the consolidation rate is 6.125%, so the rounding adds 0.046 of a percentage point. The new payment is $296.70 a month, against $296.13 for the three loans paid separately over the same term. Total interest is $30,208 on the consolidated loan against $30,070 keeping them apart, so consolidating costs $138 more. The 48 qualifying payments carry over rather than resetting, because the loans are of equal standing. As a separate check of the rounding rule, combining $10,000 at 6.52% with $10,000 at 8.07% gives a weighted average of 7.295%, which rounds up to 7.375%.
Definitions
- Direct Consolidation Loan
- A federal loan that pays off one or more existing federal loans and replaces them with a single loan. The loans stay federal and the rate is set by statute rather than quoted by a lender.
- Weighted average
- An average in which each rate counts in proportion to its balance. A $40,000 loan influences the result four times as much as a $10,000 loan, which is why a large high-rate loan dominates the outcome.
- Nearest higher one-eighth
- The statutory rounding rule for the consolidation rate. An average of 6.079% does not round to 6.000% or to the nearest eighth; it rounds up to 6.125%, so the rounding always works against the borrower.
- Qualifying payment carry-over
- The rule that the weighted average of qualifying payments already made transfers to the consolidation loan. It protects a borrower whose loans have equal counts and penalises one whose counts are uneven.
- Refinance
- A private lender replacing your federal loans with a new private loan at a quoted rate. Unlike consolidation it can lower the rate, and unlike consolidation it permanently ends access to federal plans, waivers and forgiveness.
Good to know
A rate set by formula, not by a lender
A Direct Consolidation Loan is often confused with a refinance, and the difference starts with how the interest rate is decided. A private refinance involves a lender assessing your credit and quoting a rate, which may be better or worse than what you hold. A federal consolidation involves no assessment and no quote. The statute at 20 U.S.C. 1087e(g) fixes the rate as the weighted average of the interest rates on the loans being combined, rounded to the nearest higher one-eighth of one percent. Weighted means weighted by balance, so a large loan pulls the average toward its own rate more than a small one does. The example on this page combines $18,000 at 4.99%, $14,000 at 6.54% and $9,000 at 7.54%. Those balances represent 43.9%, 34.1% and 22.0% of the $41,000 total, and the weighted average works out at 6.079%. The rounding rule then takes over. Because the law rounds to the nearest higher eighth rather than to the nearest eighth, the rate can only move up: 6.079% becomes 6.125%, adding 0.046 of a percentage point. On this balance over twenty years that rounding costs $138 in additional interest. That is a small number here and a larger one on a bigger balance or a longer term, but the direction is what matters. Consolidation cannot lower your interest rate. It is arithmetically incapable of it. A borrower hoping that combining a 7.54% loan with a 4.99% loan will produce something better than 4.99% has misunderstood what an average is, and the rounding then adds insult to it. This single point is the most common misconception about federal consolidation, and it is worth being blunt: if lowering your rate is the goal, consolidation is not the instrument. A private refinance can lower a rate, at the cost of every federal protection attached to the loan, which is a serious trade and a separate decision.
What consolidating does to forgiveness progress
The widespread belief that consolidating resets your forgiveness count to zero is not what the regulation says, and the difference matters enormously to anyone part-way through a long count. The rule at 34 CFR 685.219(c)(3) is specific: when a borrower consolidates one or more Direct Loans into a Direct Consolidation Loan, the weighted average of the qualifying payments made on the underlying loans carries over and counts as qualifying payments on the new loan. The count is transferred, not erased. The mechanism is the same weighted average used for the interest rate, and that is where the real risk sits. If every loan you are combining has the same number of qualifying payments behind it, the weighted average is simply that number, and you lose nothing. The example assumes 48 payments across loans of equal standing, and the new loan begins at about 48. But if the counts differ, the average pulls toward the larger balances. A borrower who has made 100 qualifying payments on a small loan and none at all on a large one will find the weighted average sits much closer to zero than to 100, because the large balance dominates. That borrower has effectively surrendered most of a decade of progress by combining the two. The practical rule that follows is to look at the counts and the balances together before consolidating anything. Where progress is uneven, consolidating only the loans that share a similar count preserves what you have built, and leaving a well-advanced loan out of the consolidation is often the right move. This is also an area where guessing is expensive and checking is free. Your servicer holds the official tally of qualifying payments for each loan, and studentaid.gov displays it. Ask for the count on each individual loan, not just the total, and ask the servicer to confirm in writing what count the consolidation loan would start with before you sign anything.
The one-way door, and the new rules after 1 July 2026
Consolidation is irreversible. When the new loan disburses it pays off the old ones, and those loans cease to exist. There is no unwinding, no separation and no return to the previous arrangement. Everything that was attached to the individual loans goes with them, and some of those attachments are valuable. A single loan at an unusually low rate is averaged away into the whole. A grace period still running is generally ended. In-school status, if any loan still has it, is lost. None of that can be recovered. Since 1 July 2026 there is a further and much larger consequence, and it catches borrowers who are consolidating for entirely sensible reasons. Public Law 119-21 added a paragraph to section 455(g) providing that a Direct Consolidation Loan offered on or after that date may be repaid only under a plan described in the standard plan or Repayment Assistance Plan provisions. In plain terms, the consolidation loan is a new loan governed by the new rules, and Income-Based Repayment is not available to it. A borrower with older loans that currently qualify for IBR, who consolidates them for the convenience of a single monthly payment, permanently gives up IBR for that debt. For someone counting on IBR's 240-payment forgiveness horizon rather than RAP's 360, that is a very expensive convenience. This is now frequently the strongest argument against consolidating, and it has nothing to do with interest rates or payment counts. Before combining any loan made before 1 July 2026, establish what plans it currently qualifies for and what it would qualify for afterwards. The questions worth asking your servicer are simple and specific: which of my loans were made before 1 July 2026, which repayment plans is each one eligible for today, and which plans would the consolidation loan be eligible for. Get the answers before you apply rather than afterwards.
When consolidating is worth it anyway
Given everything above, it would be easy to conclude that federal consolidation is never worth doing, and that would be wrong. It has several genuine uses, none of which is saving money on interest. The first is escaping default. Consolidation is one of the two ways out of a defaulted federal loan, and it is much the faster one: it can be completed in weeks, where rehabilitation requires nine qualifying payments across ten consecutive months. A borrower who needs the default resolved immediately, perhaps to restore eligibility for federal student aid in time for a term that is about to start, may have no realistic alternative. The trade is that consolidation leaves the default on the credit report, where rehabilitation would have had it removed. The second use is access. Certain loan types must be consolidated into the Direct Loan programme before they can be repaid under particular plans or count toward public service forgiveness at all. Older FFEL loans are the usual example. For a borrower in that position, consolidation is not an optimisation but a prerequisite, and the weighted-average rate is simply the entry fee. The third use is administrative, and it is not trivial. Several loans mean several balances, potentially several servicers, and several opportunities to miss a payment. One loan means one due date and one statement. A borrower who has genuinely struggled to keep track, and for whom a missed payment is a live risk, may be better off with a simpler arrangement that costs a little more. What consolidation should never be chosen for is a lower rate, which it cannot deliver, or a lower payment achieved purely by stretching the term, which raises the total cost substantially. If the payment is the problem, an income-based plan addresses it directly without extending the loan or surrendering anything. Your servicer can tell you which of these situations applies to your particular loans.
Frequently asked questions
How is the consolidation interest rate set?
By formula, not by a lender. 20 U.S.C. 1087e(g) fixes it as the weighted average of the rates on the loans consolidated, rounded to the nearest higher one-eighth of one percent. Weighted means weighted by balance, so a large loan pulls the average toward its own rate. In the example the weighted average is 6.079% and the rate becomes 6.125%.
Can consolidating lower my interest rate?
No. An average of your existing rates cannot be lower than the lowest of them, and the rounding rule then moves it up rather than to the nearest eighth. In the example the rounding adds 0.046 of a percentage point, which costs $138 over twenty years. If lowering your rate is the goal, a private refinance is the only instrument that can do it, at the cost of every federal protection.
Does consolidating reset my forgiveness count to zero?
No, and this is the most common misconception about it. Under 34 CFR 685.219(c)(3) the weighted average of the qualifying payments made on the underlying loans carries over to the consolidation loan. In the example, with 48 payments across loans of equal standing, the new loan starts at about 48.
So is there any risk to my payment count?
Yes, when the counts differ between loans. The carry-over is a weighted average, so a large balance with no qualifying payments drags the average down toward zero. A borrower with 100 payments on a small loan and none on a large one would lose most of that progress by combining them. Ask your servicer for the count on each individual loan, not just the total, before consolidating.
What changed for consolidation loans made from 1 July 2026?
Public Law 119-21 provides that a Direct Consolidation Loan offered on or after that date may only be repaid under the standard plan or RAP. It is a new loan under the new rules, so Income-Based Repayment is not available to it. If the loans you are combining were made before that date and currently qualify for IBR, consolidating gives that up permanently.
Can I undo a consolidation?
No. When the new loan disburses it pays off the old ones and they cease to exist. Anything attached to them goes with them, including an unusually low rate on a single loan, a grace period still running, or in-school status.
When is consolidating worth doing?
For escaping default quickly, for gaining access to plans or programmes that require loans to be in the Direct Loan programme, and for the genuine administrative simplicity of one loan and one due date. It is not worth doing for a lower rate, which it cannot deliver, or for a lower payment achieved purely by stretching the term.