Many families get buried in huge college debt and massive monthly loan payments that they didn’t expect after graduation. Unfortunately, that can greatly impact both the student who took out loans and their family members. This applies to both the time spent in college and well into the student’s future.
College Affordability
One of the reasons that we created College Raptor was to help make college more affordable for everyone. But even with our tool, many students and families will have to take on loans to pay for college costs.
The key to avoiding over-the-top student loan payments is to understand how much you’ll need to borrow throughout your college career and how much it will cost you once you start repayment.
College Raptor’s Calculator
College Raptor has a built-in debt burden calculator. It helps you see a quick approximation of how much debt you’ll accrue while in school. It also shows how manageable that debt will be upon graduation. We assign debt burden scores to every school, as you can see here:
The higher the debt burden (the more bars that are filled in), the more difficult it will be for the student to repay their loans and live comfortably after graduation.
This is an estimate based on the net price of each college, the amount that the student and family indicated they could afford to pay out of pocket each year, and an estimated first-year salary of around $45,000.
Hovering over the dollar sign icon next to the debt burden indicator will show you a breakdown of your estimated debt level:
Although your starting salary may be different from our prediction, this scale is still useful. You see how colleges stack up against one another in terms of how much debt you’ll have to take on. It helps make college costs more understandable and transparent. By finding out your debt burden, students and their family can make an informed decision about how much to borrow and their ability to repay the loan.
| Lender | Rates (APR) | Eligibility | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
5.50%-16.12%* Variable
3.99%-15.61%* Fixed
|
Undergraduate and Graduate
|
VISIT CITIZENS |
 |
5.54% - 15.70% Variable
3.99% - 15.49% Fixed
|
Undergraduate and Graduate
|
VISIT SALLIE MAE |
 |
4.63% - 17.99% Variable
3.49% - 17.99% Fixed
|
Undergraduate and Graduate
|
VISIT CREDIBLE |
 |
6.00% - 13.75% Variable
3.99% - 13.75% Fixed
|
Undergraduate and Graduate
|
VISIT LENDKEY |
 |
5.66% - 14.72% Variable
3.69% - 14.56% Fixed
|
Undergraduate and Graduate
|
VISIT ASCENT |
 |
3.70% - 8.75% Fixed
|
Undergraduate and Graduate
|
VISIT ISL |
 |
5.62% - 16.85% Variable
3.69% - 16.49% Fixed
|
Undergraduate and Graduate
|
VISIT EARNEST |
 |
5.00% - 14.22% Variable
3.69% - 14.22% Fixed
|
Undergraduate and Graduate
|
VISIT ELFI |
