(Nelnet Student Loans) Pointer

(Nelnet Student Loans) Pointer is an independent guide and calculator for people repaying federal student loans serviced by Nelnet. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to Nelnet, the U.S. Department of Education or any government body, and it cannot sign you in, show your balance or change your repayment plan. Federal student loan repayment changed more in 2026 than in any recent year, and this app explains those changes in plain English, then does the arithmetic with you.

What the app does

The Repayment Simulator opens already filled in - no empty form and no Calculate button. Move any of the four sliders (balance, rate, term, extra monthly payment) and the months, the interest and the balance curve move with it. It compares paying the minimum against paying a little more, then states the difference in months and in dollars.

Ten calculators run offline:

• Daily interest - the published formula, (balance times rate) divided by 365.25, with the working shown.
• Capitalisation - what a deferment or forbearance adds to the balance you come back to.
• Tiered Standard - your balance decides your term: 10, 15, 20 or 25 years.
• RAP payment - the sliding scale from 1% to 10% of adjusted gross income, less $50 per dependent.
• IBR, PAYE and ICR - discretionary income against the 2026 poverty guidelines.
• Standard plan payment - level payments over any term you name.
• Auto debit saving - what the temporary 1.00% rate reduction is worth against the standard 0.25%.
• Extra payment - the months and the interest an extra $50 a month actually buys.
• Loan fee - what reaches the school after the 1.057% or 4.228% fee, and what you still repay.
• PSLF countdown - where you are in the 120 qualifying payments, and what would be left.

Twelve chapters written from the published rules cover who actually holds your loan, what you borrowed and what it costs, how interest is really calculated, the fixed-payment plans, the plans that follow your income, what changed in 2026, the auto debit discount and its deadline, when you cannot pay, delinquency and default, and forgiveness, discharge and consolidation. Alongside them sit every repayment plan with who qualifies, twenty-six deferments, forbearances and discharges with their time limits, fifty-one questions and answers across seven topics, fifty-seven glossary terms, every published figure on one screen, and one search across all of it.

What it does not do

It is not a lender, not a servicer and not a broker, and it cannot process or check an application, accept a payment, disburse funds, see a balance or reach any account of yours. There is no login, no account and no server of ours, and there never will be. The app requests no runtime permissions - no contacts, no SMS, no call log, no photos, no location - and what you type stays on your device. It will never ask for your FSA ID, your password or a one-time code, because no calculation here needs them.

Key facts about the programme

• SAVE ended by court order, so it is no longer a plan you can choose or stay on.
• Two new plans arrived on 1 July 2026, and the app models both of them.
• A single date - when your loans were first disbursed - now decides which options you may choose from.
• Interest follows the published daily formula, (balance times rate) divided by 365.25, so a balance accrues every day rather than once a month.
• Public Service Loan Forgiveness is counted in 120 qualifying payments.

Every figure is an estimate worked out from published federal rules and the numbers you enter; the app knows nothing about your actual loans and says so on every screen. Where no formula is published - the Graduated plan, for instance - it describes the plan and computes nothing rather than inventing a figure. Manage your loans only through your own servicer and StudentAid.gov, and confirm every figure with them first. Nelnet, the U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid and FAFSA are the property of their respective owners and are used here descriptively. Not financial, tax or legal advice.