What can I afford

Determine your income - One way to determine the amount of debt you can reasonably handle is to estimate your earnings once you're out of school and in the workplace. Be conservative, since it's difficult to predict the job market and how long it will take to land the job of your dreams. For help determining average earnings for specific careers, consult the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics^*.

Set a Budget - How much you should borrow really depends on how much you will be able to pay when the loan is due. Here's our guideline: your monthly student loan payment should not be more than 8% of your monthly salary. Another reminder: when you calculate your income and what you'll have available for bill paying, be sure to factor in other debts (e.g., credit cards) as well as your day-to-day living expenses. To estimate your monthly budget, input your estimated income and expenses in our monthly budget helper.

Borrow wisely - To assist you in planning how much you could borrow, check out our loan repayment calculator. Note that most student loans allow you 120 months to repay your loan. By changing your total debt amount you can see how your monthly payments would change.

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