Student Loan Calculator UK

Plan by plan

Four plans cover the vast majority of UK borrowers. Which one applies depends on where a student lived when they started their course and the year they began.

Plan 1

For English and Welsh students who started before September 2012, and for all Northern Ireland borrowers. Repayment threshold: £24,990. Interest is the lower of RPI or the Bank of England base rate plus 1% (currently 3.2%). Any balance is written off 25 years after the April a graduate became liable to repay, or at age 65 for older borrowers, whichever comes first.

Plan 2

For English and Welsh students who started between September 2012 and July 2023. Repayment threshold: £27,295. Interest is on a sliding scale by income, from RPI (3.2%) at or below the threshold up to RPI plus 3% (6.2%) at incomes of £49,130 or more, with linear interpolation between. Written off after 30 years.

Plan 5

For English students who started on or after 1 August 2023. Repayment threshold: £25,000. Interest is RPI only (currently 3.2%) at every income level. Written off after 40 years, the longest term of any UK plan. The combined effect of the lower threshold and the longer term is that Plan 5 borrowers typically pay for around a decade longer than Plan 2 borrowers at the same income.

Postgraduate Loan

For master’s and doctoral students in England and Wales. The Postgraduate Loan runs alongside any undergraduate loan, not in place of it. Repayment threshold: £21,000. Rate is 6% of income above the threshold rather than 9%. Interest is RPI plus 3% (6.2%) regardless of income. Written off after 30 years.

How the monthly repayment is calculated

On Plan 1, Plan 2, and Plan 5, monthly repayments are 9% of the amount by which earnings exceed the plan threshold. On a £35,000 salary with Plan 2 (£27,295 threshold), the annual repayment is 9% × £7,705 = £693, or roughly £58 a month. On a £60,000 salary with the same plan, it rises to around £246 a month.

For borrowers with both an undergraduate and a Postgraduate Loan, the two are collected together at the same time: 9% above the undergraduate threshold plus a separate 6% above £21,000 for the postgrad. Employees have the deduction taken directly from gross salary through PAYE, alongside Income Tax and National Insurance. Self-employed borrowers pay through Self Assessment.

How interest accrues

Interest starts from the moment the first loan instalment is paid, not from graduation. For a three-year degree at maximum tuition and maintenance loans, the balance at graduation is typically £3,000 to £8,000 higher than the amount actually borrowed.

Plan 5 and Plan 1 apply a flat RPI-linked rate at every income level. Plan 2 uses a sliding scale, so the headline 6.2% rate only reaches higher earners. The Postgraduate Loan is fixed at RPI plus 3%. All rates are updated each September and published on gov.uk.

When the loan is written off

Every UK student loan has a fixed lifetime. Any balance remaining at the end of the term is cancelled, does not pass to a graduate’s estate, and is not sold on to a debt collector. The term depends on the plan: 25 years for Plan 1, 30 years for Plan 2 and Postgraduate, and 40 years for Plan 5.

Whether a specific borrower reaches write-off with a balance still outstanding depends on their earnings across the full term. Department for Education projections suggest around half of Plan 2 borrowers reach the 30-year write-off without clearing the balance, rising to roughly 70–80% of Plan 5 borrowers over the 40-year term. The calculator shows both the year-by-year balance and the wipe-out point for the current inputs.

Voluntary overpayments

One-off and regular voluntary payments can be made directly to the Student Loans Company through a graduate’s online loan account. The effect on total lifetime cost depends on whether the projected balance reaches zero before the write-off term. The Overpay slider on the calculator above shows both scenarios side by side at the current inputs.

Where the figures come from

Repayment thresholds, interest rates, and write-off periods are taken directly from gov.uk and the House of Commons Library briefings. Income tax bands, National Insurance rates, and pension auto-enrolment thresholds are HMRC’s published figures for the current tax year. The disclaimer at the foot of the page states which tax year the figures apply to.

For questions on specific scenarios, moving abroad, mortgage applications, credit reports, disability write-off, and how the Postgraduate Loan stacks with an undergraduate loan, see the student loan FAQ.