Student Loan Payoff Tracker Spreadsheet

About this template

This student loan payoff tracker puts federal, provincial and private loans at different rates into one repayment planner. It runs a twenty-year schedule month by month, so the finish line becomes a date on the calendar rather than a feeling.

Please read: This is a tracker tool only, not financial, tax, legal, medical or any other professional advice or advisory service. It records and calculates what you enter; you are solely responsible for checking all figures, rates, dates and results and for every decision you make. By purchasing, downloading or using it, you accept these terms (your statutory consumer rights are not affected).

Debt snowball or debt avalanche, worked out on your loans

Most templates give you one calculator and one answer. This one runs a full month-by-month schedule for the snowball and for the avalanche, then shows the gap between them in dollars and in months, so you choose knowing what the choice costs. The snowball rolls for real: when a debt clears, its minimum payment joins the next one automatically, and that rolling amount is part of every date in the file.

Enter each loan's balance, rate and minimum payment once. The workbook decides the order to pay them in under either strategy, shows the month each one clears, and logs what you actually pay against the plan.

Ten connected tabs

• Debts: balance, rate and minimum payment, the only things you enter
• Snowball Schedule: every month and every loan until the last one clears
• Avalanche Schedule: the same schedule, ordered the other way round
• Payoff Plan: the order to pay them in and what each will cost you
• Compare: both strategies side by side, with the difference in dollars
• Payoff Calendar: the month each one disappears and what it frees up
• Payment Log: what you actually paid, split into principal and interest
• Dashboard: six live figures, including your debt-free date
• Setup and Start Here

What this loan calculator works out

• Your debt-free date, from your own numbers
• The total interest you will pay across the whole plan
• How many months each individual debt takes to clear
• The payoff order under either strategy, set automatically
• Change the extra payment and every date moves with it
• Charts that redraw from your own numbers

A filled-in copy to learn from

You get a worked example to click through and a blank copy ready for your own loans, in Excel and in Google Sheets. It doubles as a loan tracker once repayments start, because every payment you log is split into principal and interest.

Works with

• Microsoft Excel 2016, 2019, 2021 and Microsoft 365, on Windows and Mac, and LibreOffice. No Microsoft 365 subscription needed.
• Google Sheets with a free Google account. The Google Sheets version is a real workbook, not a PDF with a link in it.
• No add-ins, no macros, no subscription and no bank connection

What you download

• The Excel workbook, filled with a worked example
• The same workbook, blank and ready for your own numbers
• The instruction guide, with one-click links to the Google Sheets versions (filled and blank)
• The terms of use as a PDF

The Start Here tab walks you through setup in a few minutes.

Your files are ready as soon as payment clears. The template is for personal use on your own devices; please do not share or resell the files. Questions before or after you buy? Use our contact page and we will help.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use it in Excel and Google Sheets?

Yes. The Excel workbook runs in Excel 2016 or later on Windows and Mac, and the instruction guide has two one-click links to the Google Sheets versions for a free Google account.

Can I track federal and private loans together?

Yes. Federal, provincial and private loans at different rates all go on the Debts tab and are planned as one.

How far ahead does the schedule run?

The schedule runs month by month for twenty years, so you get an actual debt-free date.

Which loan should I pay off first?

The workbook works out the order under both snowball and avalanche and shows the difference in dollars and months, so you can choose with the cost in front of you.

What do I need to enter?

Each loan's balance, rate and minimum payment, then the payments you make. The Start Here tab walks you through setup in a few minutes.