There is a simple rule of thumb you can use to determine how much student loan debt you can afford to repay after graduation. If your total student loan debt at graduation, including capitalized interest and loan fees, is less than your annual starting salary, you can afford to repay your student loans in ten years or less.
The rule of thumb is based on two assumptions. The other is that it is reasonable to expect borrowers to spend half of the increase in average after-tax income from a college degree on repaying their student loans. This corresponds to having monthly loan payments that are about 10% of gross monthly income. Læs mere One is that 10 years is a reasonable amount of time for repaying student loans