Same thing really if we are talking the typical repayment method of 10 years at a fixed monthly rate. Only difference would be the interest rate The thought process is if you had extra money would it be better to pay off more of your loan or invest it? If your loan interest rate is 4%, but I could invest it and get a 7.5% return technically you would be better off financially investing and just paying the minimum on your student loan. In the end I would be gaining 3.5% on that extra money. Of course, in my opinion, this theory doesn't make a ton of sense to me unless you have some incredible loan amounts to pay back and you have a lot of extra money. Because if you only have $30k in loans or so you really aren't going to be gaining much. I would rather make my credit look nice and have the loans gone faster than make an extra grand or two.