Use this interactive calculator to determine the following:

• How much you can afford to borrow in student loan funds based on your future expected earnings.
• The salary you will need in order to afford your student loan payments.

If you enter the salary you anticipate earning upon graduation, the calculator will calculate the maximum amount of student loan debt you should borrow. If you enter the current amount borrowed in student loans and the amount you anticipate borrowing throughout your college career, the calculator will return the salary required to make payments on this debt. You can update the interest rate to reflect the interest rate of your loans, if it is not 6.8 percent. Click here for a chart with Direct Loan interest rates.

Note: This calculator is based on the recommendation that your student loan payment be no more than 8 percent of your gross earnings. The calculations do not take into consideration a high amount of credit card or other debt.