RAP student loan calculator

The Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) sets a federal student loan payment from adjusted gross income alone: a rate between 1% and 10%, chosen by which $10,000 band the AGI falls in, less $50 a month for each dependent, with a $10 minimum. The tables below are that formula, as Coastline's engine applies it — first the full AGI ladder, then three thirty-year projections that show what the formula does to a real balance: the payments, the band creeping up with raises, the balance shrinking under the interest waiver, and the forgiveness at year 30 with the tax on it.

RAP monthly payment by AGI and dependents

The rate is the number of full $10,000 steps below the AGI: $50,000 sits at the top of the 4% band, $50,001 starts the 5% band. AGI of $10,000 or less pays the $10 minimum. The dependent reduction is $600 a year each; the engine counts children aged 0–23.

Thirty years on RAP: three balances at a $75k salary

Three things the ladder cannot show. The payment climbs with income and jumps at each band edge. The balance never grows — unpaid interest is waived — and falls by at least $50 a month (the payment itself, if less) even while the payment is below the interest: the plan's principal match. And whatever is left after 30 years is forgiven and taxed as income in that year, which the last row of each table and its heading report.

$50k on RAP — Paid off at 38, $71,941 in all; nothing is forgiven.

$100k on RAP — Paid off at 47, $185,840 in all; nothing is forgiven.

$200k on RAP — $73,013 is forgiven at 58, taxed as income that year ($16,476 of extra tax); $396,146 paid in all, $412,622 with the tax.

Whether RAP beats the standard 10-year plan at a given balance and income — and by how much once the forgiveness tax is counted — is on which repayment plan is best; the comparison with IBR for older loans is on RAP vs IBR, and the public-service version on best repayment plan for PSLF.

Why Coastline's version is different

Most free calculators hand you a single headline number with the assumptions hidden. Coastline is built the opposite way:

• Real tax math, not a flat rate. It applies federal and state income tax, long-term capital-gains rules, and account-by-account treatment (taxable, traditional, Roth) — in both your working years and retirement.
• The whole journey. It models accumulation (saving and investing) and drawdown (spending it down), so you see how the plan connects end to end, not just one half.
• The math is shown. Every figure has a click-through breakdown of how it was computed — a level of transparency even paid tools rarely expose.
• All 50 states and DC, itemized deductions, IRMAA, ACA credits, 72(t) and student-loan forgiveness tax — modeled with the published rules. Each is the actual rule on inflation-indexed thresholds, applied in the year it lands, so a Roth conversion at 63 shows up as a Medicare surcharge at 65 and a forgiven loan balance shows up as that year’s tax bill.
• Free, no signup. No account needed, no account-linking.

Educational, not advice. The ladder is the engine's RAP formula at a given AGI; the three projections use one persona — single filer in Texas, 28 years old, income growing 4% a year, 6.5% federal loans taken in 2026, run through age 60 so a 30-year RAP term and its forgiveness tax fall inside the window — and a different income path, state or rate changes them. The engine figures each payment on last year's AGI, after the student-loan-interest deduction, proxies RAP dependents by children aged 0–23, and taxes a non-PSLF discharge as ordinary income in the forgiveness year. Program rules change; verify current terms with your servicer and studentaid.gov.

Common questions

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