Inspectable Arithmetic for the Student Debt at Graduation Calculator

Version 1.1
Last verified: May 2026

Transparent arithmetic is the operating system of this calculator.

No opinions. No hidden assumptions. Just arithmetic.

Purpose

This calculator estimates projected debt at graduation by comparing total education costs against the total amount the user can fund without borrowing, across one or more programs of study.

Core formula

Projected Debt at Graduation = max(0, Total Education Cost − Total Non-Debt Funding)

Definitions

Total Education Cost = sum across all programs of (years × annual cost)
Annual cost = tuition + books/supplies/fees + living expenses + other annual costs (each non-negative; blank or invalid inputs are treated as zero)
Total Non-Debt Funding = sum across all programs of (years × annual amount funded without borrowing)

Clarifications

This calculator estimates debt at graduation only.
It does not model interest during study.
It does not model repayment after graduation.
It does not include government aid rules or loan forgiveness programs.
It assumes user-entered values are annual averages for each program.
Funding surpluses and shortfalls are pooled at the scenario level: scenario debt uses total cost minus total funding across all programs.

The live results are produced by computeStudentDebtScenario in /calculators/student-debt-at-graduation/engine.js and bound in ui.js.

If any discrepancy is identified between this documentation and the live engine, the engine’s arithmetic is the source of truth; this page should be updated to match.

Sources and References

Government of Canada — student aid program context.
Statistics Canada — education and labour market statistics.

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