UK Student Loan Repayment Calculator

You repay a percentage of your income above your plan’s threshold — not on your whole salary. It is 9% of the amount above the threshold on Plan 1, Plan 2, Plan 4 and Plan 5, and 6% on a Postgraduate Loan. Nothing is due on the income below the threshold, and repayments stop automatically if your income drops below it.

The annual thresholds are £26,900 on Plan 1, £29,385 on Plan 2, £33,795 on Plan 4 (Scotland), £25,000 on Plan 5, and £21,000 on a Postgraduate Loan. These are the figures GOV.UK publishes for the current tax year; they usually change each April, so check gov.uk for the year you are looking at.

Plan 1 covers English and Welsh students who started before 1 September 2012, and most Northern Irish students. Plan 2 covers English and Welsh students who started between 1 September 2012 and 31 July 2023. Plan 4 covers Scottish students. Plan 5 covers English students who started a course on or after 1 August 2023. Postgraduate Loans are separate master’s and doctoral loans. Your plan is set by where and when you studied, not by choice.

No. The percentage only applies to the part of your income above the threshold. For example, on Plan 2 (threshold £29,385) earning £39,385, you repay 9% of the £10,000 above the threshold — about £900 a year, or £75 a month — not 9% of the whole £39,385.

It depends on the plan. Plan 2 uses a variable rate of the Retail Price Index (RPI) plus up to 3% depending on income, currently capped at 6%. Plan 1, Plan 4 and Plan 5 use lower rates linked to RPI or the Bank of England base rate. Postgraduate Loans are RPI plus up to 3%. Because these rates change, the payoff estimate in this tool uses the interest rate you enter — check the current figure on gov.uk.

Any remaining balance is cancelled after a set period with no further liability. Plan 2 is written off 30 years after the April you were first due to repay; Plan 5 after 40 years; Postgraduate Loans after 30 years. Plan 1 and Plan 4 depend on when you took the loan and your age. Many borrowers never repay in full before write-off, which is why overpaying is not always worthwhile — check your own dates on gov.uk.

Your employer deducts repayments through PAYE, in the same way as tax and National Insurance, once your income passes the monthly or weekly equivalent of your annual threshold. The deductions are shown on your payslip and passed to HMRC, which forwards them to the Student Loans Company.

Yes. If you complete a Self Assessment tax return, your student loan repayment is calculated on your income for the year and paid alongside your tax bill by 31 January. HMRC works out the amount due from the figures on your return.

Yes, you repay both at the same time. You pay 9% of income above your undergraduate plan threshold and, separately, 6% of income above the £21,000 Postgraduate Loan threshold. Combined deductions can therefore reach 15% of the income above the higher threshold. This calculator estimates one plan at a time — add the two results together if you hold both.

A UK student loan does not create a US tax event: the repayments are not US-deductible, and UK loan interest does not qualify for the US student loan interest deduction, which is limited to qualifying US loans. It also does not need to be reported as a foreign account. If you are filing on both sides of the Atlantic, the interaction that actually matters is your UK and US income tax and any missed filings — which is where our cross-border team focuses.

Yes. If you leave the UK for more than three months, the Student Loans Company applies a repayment threshold for the country you move to and you arrange repayments directly rather than through PAYE. Keeping the SLC updated avoids arrears and default penalties building up while you are overseas.

It takes the income you enter, subtracts your plan’s current GOV.UK threshold, and applies 9% (or 6% for a Postgraduate Loan) to the remainder to give your annual and monthly repayment. The optional payoff estimate then projects how long your balance would take to clear at the interest rate you enter. Interest rates are variable, so the payoff figure is an estimate for orientation, not a statement of your exact balance.