Loan Cost Calculator for Students

As the name suggests, a loan cost calculator works out the costs that fall due for a loan you take out. The loan amount paid into your account sometimes differs enormously from the amount you have to repay later. To get an overview before you borrow, it makes sense to have the costs shown to you by the loan cost calculator. Many factors play a role in the cost of a loan. For students in particular, on top of the usual factors you also have to factor in funding, which can greatly reduce the costs.

The principle is quite simple. If you multiply the term of the loan by the monthly installments and add one-time payments at the beginning or end of the loan, you get the amount you have to repay. This contains the amount you received plus all the costs you have to pay for the loan. If you then subtract the loan's payout amount from this figure, you get the pure cost of the loan over the entire term. If you want the monthly cost, you can also divide the amount by the term.

What should I look for with a loan cost calculator?

For students in particular, the terms of a loan often differ greatly from those of a normal loan. Some loans are interest-free or even subsidized, for example. If the loan is subsidized, as with BAföG for example, a calculation would give you negative costs. In principle that is correct, because with this type of loan you really are given money as a gift for completing your degree program. With other loans for students, it is often the case that no interest and therefore usually no costs are incurred. If neither interest nor costs apply to the loan, you can also save yourself the calculation with the loan cost calculator. Using a loan cost calculator makes the most sense when you want to compare two loans with each other. That way you can quickly find out which of the two loans would have the lower costs by the end of the term. So you can find the loan that suits you personally relatively quickly.