UK Student Loan Repayment Calculator
Find out if you'll ever repay your UK student loan. See monthly repayments, total paid over your lifetime, and how much gets written off at the end of your loan term.
You will never repay your full loan.
Based on your current salary and 3% annual growth, you'll repay £63,321 over 30 years, then £220,211 will be written off. Your loan acts more like a graduate tax than a traditional debt.
Year-by-Year Projection
Interest rates are approximate and based on 2025/26 figures. Actual repayments depend on your exact income each year. This is an estimate only.
How to Use UK Student Loan Repayment Calculator
- Select your loan plan based on when you started university.
- Enter your current loan balance (check your Student Loans Company account).
- Enter your current annual salary before tax.
- Set an expected salary growth rate (3% is a common estimate).
- See your monthly repayment, total repaid, and whether your loan will be written off.
How UK Student Loan Repayment Works
UK student loans work very differently from commercial debt. You do not repay based on how much you borrowed; you repay a percentage of your income above a certain threshold. If your income never exceeds the threshold, you make no repayments at all. After a set number of years, any remaining balance is written off completely, with no impact on your credit score or finances.
This structure means student loans behave more like a graduate tax than a traditional loan. For many graduates, particularly those on Plan 2, the total amount repaid is not determined by the loan balance but by how much they earn over their working life. Higher earners will repay more and may clear their loan; lower and average earners are likely to have a significant portion written off.
UK Student Loan Plan Summary (2025/26)
| Plan | Who it applies to | Threshold | Rate | Write-off |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan 1 | Started before Sep 2012 | £24,990 | 9% | 25 years |
| Plan 2 | Sep 2012 to Jul 2023 | £27,295 | 9% | 30 years |
| Plan 4 | Scottish students | £31,395 | 9% | 30 years |
| Plan 5 | Aug 2023 onwards | £25,000 | 9% | 40 years |
| Postgrad | Masters/PhD | £21,000 | 6% | 30 years |
Should You Overpay Your Student Loan?
For most Plan 2 and Plan 5 graduates, voluntary overpayments are rarely financially beneficial. If you are unlikely to repay the full balance before it is written off, every extra pound you pay voluntarily is a pound that would have been written off for free. The main exception is very high earners who are certain they will repay in full before the write-off date, where overpaying can save on interest.
Use this calculator to project whether your loan will be fully repaid or written off. If the projection shows a write-off at the end, overpaying is generally not recommended. Instead, those extra funds could be better invested in a pension, ISA, or other savings vehicle.
See your full take-home pay after student loan deductions with our UK Take-Home Pay Calculator.