PSLF or Refinance After Residency? 2026 Calculator
This calculator compares the cost of completing PSLF after residency against refinancing your student loans once your attending salary begins. Enter your balance, residency payment count, current IDR payment, projected post-residency income, and a private refinance offer. The income jump changes the math because higher IDR payments reduce the amount ultimately forgiven.
Estimated tax on the forgiven balance
On forgiven — an effective of the amount written off.
- Federal taxat the marginal rate you entered
- State tax
- Total bill
- Set aside each monthstarting now, no interest assumed
- Debt written off, after tax
Put aside every month — about a week — and the bill is covered when it lands.
The American Rescue Plan Act's exclusion for forgiven student debt expired on 31 December 2025, so income-driven forgiveness is federally taxable again from 2026. Public Service Loan Forgiveness and total and permanent disability discharge are treated differently. States set their own rules. This is a marginal-rate estimate, not tax advice — confirm with a tax professional.
How the Post-Residency Income Jump Changes PSLF
During residency, income-driven repayment plans produce low monthly payments because your salary is modest relative to your debt. Those payments count toward the 120 qualifying payments required for PSLF, and the years of low payments maximize the eventual forgiven balance. Once you transition to an attending salary, your IDR payment recalculates at the next annual recertification and can rise substantially.
Higher payments mean you pay more of the principal and interest before reaching forgiveness, which shrinks the forgiven amount and therefore the financial benefit of PSLF. If the post-residency payments approach or exceed the standard repayment amount, PSLF may save little compared to simply paying the loan in full at a lower rate through refinancing. Enter your projected attending income to see how the recalculated payment shifts the total cost of completing PSLF versus refinancing. The answer hinges on how many qualifying payments you have already banked and how large the remaining forgiven balance would be.
The Residency-to-Attending Decision Window
The transition from residency to attending practice is the single best moment to evaluate this choice. You now have a concrete payment count, a known post-training salary, and rate offers that reflect your improved creditworthiness. Waiting adds little clarity and costs daily interest at your current rate.
If you have accumulated 48 or more qualifying payments during residency and your employer qualifies for PSLF, the remaining 72 payments even at a higher attending-level IDR amount may still cost less than full private repayment. If you have fewer payments logged or plan to move to a non-qualifying employer, refinancing locks in a lower rate and eliminates the risk of losing PSLF eligibility mid-track. Converting federal loans to a private loan permanently removes access to IDR, PSLF, forbearance, and disability discharge. For a broader view of the PSLF cost comparison without the residency-specific angle, see the PSLF-vs-refinance calculator.
Income and payment examples are illustrative. IDR recalculation occurs at annual recertification. Confirm your qualifying payment count with your servicer before making a decision.
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Sources
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Sources: ed.gov PSLF program requirements; IRC Section 108(f)(1) (PSLF tax exclusion); OBBBA P.L. 119-21; r/PSLF residency-to-attending discussions.
- Federal Direct Consolidation Loan interest rate — the weighted average of the loans being consolidated, rounded up to the nearest one-eighth of one percent (Federal Student Aid, studentaid.gov, Loan Consolidation).
- Amortisation, daily interest accrual and payoff arithmetic — standard loan mathematics; every figure on this page is computed from the numbers you enter.