Student Loan Planner Printable

Student loans can be confusing and stressful. But you don’t have to be overwhelmed. It’s time to get organized and create a payment plan with this printable student loan planner.

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Go to college. Get a degree. Find a job. Pay off your student loans. That’s the plan, right? But if you have student loans then you know it isn’t that easy.

I’m not a financial pro and everything I know about student loans is based on my personal experience. Yours is probably different. Consult a pro for personalized help.

Our student loan story

The beginning

My husband and I both have two degrees. Our first ones were covered by scholarships and grants… which were exhausted by the time we got our second ones. We both took out student loans and graduated in the spring of 2009 – right in the middle of the Great Recession.

To make a long story short, we applied for Income-Based Repayment and ended up paying less than the interest for about eight years (With a few exceptions where we used a lump sum to pay a big chunk.) Our loans started at just under six figures, which was bad enough before almost a decade of compounded high interest.

I had spent a lot of time assuming we would never pay them off, but then I used a loan calculator at https://unbury.me/ and it confirmed that we definitely wouldn’t – even in 100 years! – unless we started paying much more than the minimum.

At the end of 2017, I started to panic about the fact that (A) federal loans under the Income-Based Repayment Plan are forgiven after 25 years and then you owe taxes on whatever that giant number is and (B) my kids would be in college in less than 10 years.

What I’m doing now

At first, I just added student loans as a line item on my monthly budget and made small payments over the minimum here and there. Then I got really serious and worked on increasing our income and decreasing our expenses to pay as much as possible twice per month. In 2018 we put about 30% of our gross income towards student loans.

It is easier now that our income is higher than it was when we were making minimum payments, but it is not easy. My husband gets a single monthly paycheck, which is what we live on. My biweekly paycheck goes towards our loans. I have other income that’s variable, so it goes to a variety of irregular expenses.

At our current rate, we will have them paid off in another 9 years. Using the calculator at unbury.me that I mentioned above, I can see exactly how much our payments need to be to pay them off in 5 years, exactly to the month when our youngest will graduate. That isn’t attainable right now, but it’s still my goal.

It takes some time, but I recommend you create a free account and put all your loan info into the unbury.me calculator. I’m not affiliated with them in any way, I just think its the best free tool I’ve found.

Student loan information and payment tracker

The printable student loan planner includes two pages:

1. The first page is for student loan information. It’s divided into sections for each loan servicer. There’s room to include the lender name and contact info. Below that, there’s space to list details for each individual loan with that servicer.
   • Loan type – Stafford, Direct, PLUS, etc. / subsidized or unsubsidized
   • Loan number
   • Original amount – Before any interest has been capitalized.
   • Interest rate
2. The second page is student loan payment information. You’ll need one of these for each of the individual loans, or at least loan servicers. At the top, there’s space for all the details on one loan.
   • Starting balance and date – This might be your original amount if you’re making payments right away, but it’s the total amount you owe on that loan on the date you’re starting tracking.
   • Loan servicer
   • Loan number
   • Website, username, and password for making payments
   • Due date each month
   • Payoff date – Based on your loan statements or a loan calculator if you’re paying more than the minimum.

How to use the planner

It’s easy for student loans to be overwhelming, so I recommend you use one of two methods. The terms were coined by Dave Ramsey, but the concepts are pretty universal.

Fill out the loan information page with all of your loans. Then fill out a loan payments page for each one of them. Then start with one of the two methods.

The Snowball Method

Put your loan payment pages in order from the smallest dollar amount to the largest dollar amount. Pay the minimum on all of the loans, but pay as much extra as your budget allows towards that smallest one. You should be able to pay it off relatively quickly. Put that total amount towards the next loan on your list.

Choose this method if you feel overwhelmed and need to see progress faster to stay on track.

The Avalanche Method

Put your loan payment pages in order from biggest interest rate (and probably dollar amount) to smallest. Use the same method as the snowball. Make minimum payments on all loans but putting as much extra towards the big ugly one first. When that one is paid off, move on to the next biggest.

Choose this method if you are making small payments and it will take you a long time to pay off your loans.

The loan calculator I used will let you put in all your info and then toggle back and forth to see which one is better. With what I’m paying now on each loan the snowball would cost me about $800 more.

If I was only able to pay half what I’m paying now (still more than the minimum), the snowball would cost me over $100,000 more in interest. It would also take me 30 years to pay it all off. If I could pay them off in less than 9 years, the amount would go down because there would be less interest paid.

One last thought. We have a mortgage and two car payments that we pay monthly, but I’m not including them in our debt avalanche.

Interest is calculated different on these types of loans and our rates are much lower than the student loans. If you have any other debt (house, car, credit card, etc.) you may want to include it in your avalanche if the interest rate is higher.

Student loan planner download

I made several versions of this planner for my own use over the years, but finally created a version that’s really practical and also matches all my other printables. I hope that you find it helpful in your own student loan journey.

Can’t see the Gumroad form below? Unsure how to print? For troubleshooting tips and frequently asked questions, read the Printables FAQ Help Guide.

Check out some other fun and creative ideas on One Mama’s Daily Drama:

• The 52-week budget: how to plan for a whole year
• Lemonade coloring savings tracker
• Free printable yearly bill planner