Buzz
With the growing burden of student loans, many students are becoming more financially aware when selecting a college. The New York Times offers a calculator that estimates potential student debt based on the university attended.
Here’s how they describe their tool:
Choosing how to fund your education is one of the most significant decisions for incoming college students. For over two-thirds of bachelor’s degree candidates, this means taking on debt. The calculator below helps clarify the borrowing situation at different schools and provides insight into what repayment might look like after graduation.
Enter your university’s name, and the tool will automatically display the percentage of students who graduate with debt, along with the average debt amount. They rely on data from the Department of Education.
It’s an interesting tool, but the calculator is primarily designed to give you an estimate of what your student loan repayment might look like. Naturally, it includes the standard debt calculator: you can modify your payments to see how quickly you can pay off your loan and the total interest you’ll pay.
Beyond the university search feature, it has an additional unique function: It calculates the minimum income you would need for your debt payments to make up 20% of your discretionary income.
Click the link to try out the calculator for yourself.
Photo by Adam Fagen.
