Tuition fee and maintenance loans are available to help you cover the cost of your course. You do not have to start repaying your undergraduate student loans until after you have left the course and your income is over the threshold amount for your repayment plan. The threshold amounts are subject to change.
Repaying your loan quick facts
- Repayments are based on what you earn, not what you owe.
- You will not start to make repayments until after you have left your course and your income is over the threshold amount for your repayment plan.
- If your income falls below the threshold your repayments will stop until you start earning above this again.
- You repay 9% of your income above the threshold.
- All your tuition fee and maintenance loans are added together and a single repayment will be deducted from your salary, normally through the PAYE tax system.
- Any outstanding balance will be written off after a repayment term of 40 years (this repayment term is subject to change).
The table below shows approximately how much you would be expected to repay at various annual salary levels on repayment plan 5. All amounts are based on the threshold in place at the time of writing and are subject to change:
| Annual income before tax | What you will repay each year | Amount you will repay each month |
|---|
|
£20,000
|
£0
|
£0
|
|
£30,000
|
£450
|
£37.50
|
|
£40,000
|
£1,350
|
£112.50
|
|
£50,000
|
£2,250
|
£187.50
|
|
£60,000
|
£3,150
|
£262.50
|
|
£70,000
|
£4,050
|
£337.50
|
MoneySavingExpert.com has designed a student finance calculator which enables you to change variables such as tuition fee level, maintenance loan level and likely starting salary, to get an idea of what you'll pay back and for how long.
Rates of interest
You will be charged interest from the day your first payment is made until your loan is repaid in full. Interest is added to the total amount you owe every month.
The interest rate is based on the UK Retail Price Index (RPI) and will vary depending on your repayment plan.
For further details and the current interest rates please visit the GOV.uk website.