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See what the numbers mean. Learn how the comparison works. Leave with a wider view of the decision.
Enter your numbers for both paths. We project each year's earnings, tax, tuition and loan costs over your career, then account for the time value of money.
Grad School vs Working is a decision-making model, not a financial aid calculator. It estimates the relative real-terms value of each path over your chosen career horizon, using published earnings and loan data plus clearly stated modeling assumptions.
⚠ Estimates only, not financial advice — see the note below the results for details. US only for now.
Repayment term isn't an input — it's set automatically by the federal Tiered Standard Repayment Plan, based on your loan balance at graduation.
Estimate only — not financial, legal, or investment advice.
Each line already includes every adjustment above it — this isn't a list to add up. Compare using the bottom line only.
Estimates only, not financial advice. Uses 2026 federal tax brackets, employee FICA payroll tax, plus an approximate state rate. Tuition and living costs during school are financed with a federal Direct Unsubsidized loan up to its annual limit for graduate students ($20,500/year); any amount above that is treated as an out-of-pocket cost, since this tool doesn't model private loans or Grad PLUS. Loan interest capitalizes at graduation and is then repaid starting the year after graduation on the federal Tiered Standard Repayment Plan (for loans first disbursed on or after July 1, 2026): the term is set automatically by your graduation balance — 10 years under $25,000, 15 years for $25,000-$49,999, 20 years for $50,000-$99,999, and 25 years for $100,000+. Stage 4 converts each year's net cash flow to its future value at your investment return rate — money earned earlier has more time to grow, which is why the timing of income matters as much as the amount.
Grad School vs Working projects both paths year by year over your chosen career horizon, then runs the totals through four stages to estimate which one leaves you with more estimated real-terms value.
Working sums your salary with annual raises for every year of the horizon. Grad school sums any income during the program (often $0 for full-time study) plus your post-degree salary with its own raises, for the years after you graduate.
Each year's earnings are taxed using current federal brackets, plus employee FICA payroll tax (Social Security and Medicare) and an approximate state rate for your city, then summed across the horizon.
Tuition and living costs during the program are financed with a federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan, up to its annual limit for graduate students ($20,500/year for loans first disbursed July 2026 onward). Any cost above that limit is assumed to come out of pocket, since this tool doesn't model private loans or Grad PLUS. Interest accrues while you're in school and capitalizes at graduation, then the loan balance is repaid starting the year after you graduate on the federal Tiered Standard Repayment Plan, which sets the term automatically (10-25 years) based on how large the balance is. Those loan payments — and any out-of-pocket costs — are subtracted from the years they're actually incurred.
A dollar earned in year one can compound for the rest of the horizon; a dollar earned in year ten can't. We convert each year's net cash flow to its future value at your investment return rate, so the final number reflects not just how much each path pays, but when.
A few terms worth knowing before you compare — this site is built to help you see the fuller picture, not just crunch numbers.
Quick check
Think you've got these 4 terms down?
A few more angles worth exploring — the numbers above are only part of the full picture.
No. Grad School vs Working gives a directional estimate to help you think through a decision, not a substitute for a financial advisor. Real outcomes depend heavily on your field, school, and career path in ways a general calculator can't capture.
We currently support a set of major US cities for the state tax approximation. Use the "View supported cities" button at the top of the page for the full list. This calculator is US-only for now.
Grad school usually means one or more years of little or no income, plus tuition and loan interest — and money you don't earn or invest in your twenties has decades less time to compound than money you do. A meaningful salary bump can still take a long time to close that gap, which is exactly what this tool is built to show.
The example uses the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' "Education Pays" data: median annual earnings of about $80,236 for bachelor's degree holders and roughly $95,680 for master's degree holders, both from BLS's 2024 Current Population Survey figures.
That's the official federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan rate for graduate and professional students for loans first disbursed between July 1, 2026 and June 30, 2027, as set by the U.S. Department of Education. It's a fixed rate for the life of the loan, though your actual rate depends on when you borrow.
Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans for graduate students are capped at $20,500 per year. If your tuition plus living costs exceed that, this calculator treats the difference as an out-of-pocket cost in the year it's incurred — it doesn't model private student loans or Grad PLUS loans, which are being phased out for new borrowers starting July 1, 2026.
Your inputs are only used in your browser to calculate a result. If you use the "Copy shareable link" button, your inputs are encoded directly into that URL — nothing is stored on a server.
Rate data: 2026