Student Loan Calculator¶

Practice using variables, arithmetic operators, and input to calculate student loan payments.

Your Task¶

Create a student loan calculator that helps students understand the cost of borrowing for college:

Ask for yearly tuition cost
Ask for yearly housing cost
Calculate total borrowing needed (4 years of tuition + housing)
Calculate federal loan amount (based on dependency status)
Calculate private loan amount (remaining balance)
Calculate monthly payments for both loan types

Federal Student Aid Limits (Given Information)¶

Federal Loan Limit: $31,000 total federal loans
Federal loan interest rate: 5.5%
Loan term: 10 years (120 months)

Example Output¶

Enter yearly tuition: 25000
Enter yearly housing: 12000
Total tuition (4 years): $100,000.00
Total housing (4 years): $48,000.00
Total cost: $148,000.00
Federal loan payment: $334.49
Private loan payment: $1,448.95
Total monthly payment: $1,783.44

Helpful Formulas¶

Simple monthly payment calculation¶

$$M = P \cdot \frac{r(1+r)^n}{(1+r)^n - 1}$$

Where:

$M$ = Monthly payment
$P$ = Principal loan amount
$r$ = Monthly interest rate (annual rate ÷ 12)
$n$ = Total number of payments (months)

Your Turn!¶

Write your student loan calculator below.

Bonus Mode¶

If you get the above working, here's a twist. Independent students can take out $57,500 total federal loans. Ask the student if they're independent or dependent and change the formula appropriately.

In [ ]:

# Here's some code to help you get started
yearly_tuition = float(input("Enter yearly tuition: "))
yearly_housing = float(input("Enter yearly housing: "))

total_tuition = yearly_tuition * 4
total_housing = yearly_housing * 4
total_cost = total_tuition + total_housing

print(f"Your total cost over 4 years will be ${total_cost})