Student loans: what you'll repay, and is overpaying worth it?

Last updated: 29 October 2026

If you have a student loan, two numbers on your statement probably make your stomach drop: the balance, and how fast it’s growing. It’s natural to want to throw money at it. But a student loan doesn’t work like a credit card or a mortgage, and for most graduates the balance isn’t the number that matters.

What matters is how much you’ll pay in total before the loan either clears or is written off. For a lot of people, overpaying doesn’t change that at all. For some, it makes it bigger. For a smaller group, it does save money. This guide explains how to tell which group you’re in, and the calculator works it out for your own numbers.

Information, not advice. We don’t recommend products or providers. Check the official source linked below before you act.

How student loan repayments actually work

You don’t repay a student loan based on what you owe. You repay based on what you earn.

Each plan has a yearly threshold. You pay 9% of everything you earn above it, or 6% on a Postgraduate Loan. Earn under the threshold and you pay nothing, whatever the balance. For the 2026/27 tax year the thresholds are:

Example: on a £32,000 salary on Plan 2, you repay 9% of £2,615 (£32,000 minus £29,385). That’s £235 a year, or about £20 a month.

If you’re employed, your employer takes this through PAYE, the same way it takes income tax, and it shows as its own line on your payslip. Our guide to how to read your payslip shows where to find it. Your tax code doesn’t affect it. Student loan deductions are worked out from your gross pay, not your tax-free allowance.

If you have both an undergraduate loan and a Postgraduate Loan, you repay both at the same time: 9% above your plan’s threshold, plus 6% above £21,000.

Which plan are you on?

Your plan depends on where you lived and when your course started:

• Plan 1: England or Wales, courses started before 1 September 2012, and all Northern Ireland students.
• Plan 2: England, courses started from 1 September 2012 to 31 July 2023. Wales, undergraduate courses from 1 September 2012, including after 2023.
• Plan 4: Scotland (Student Awards Agency Scotland), all courses.
• Plan 5: England, courses started on or after 1 August 2023.
• Postgraduate Loan: Master’s and doctoral loans in England or Wales.

Your first repayment is due the April after you leave your course, at the earliest.

Interest: why the balance keeps growing

From 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027, the Student Loans Company set these rates:

• Plan 1, Plan 4 and Plan 5: 4.1% (the RPI figure used).
• Plan 2: 4.1% if you earn up to £29,385, rising on a sliding scale to 6% at £52,885 or more. While you’re still studying it’s 6%.
• Postgraduate Loan: 6%.

Plan 2 and Postgraduate rates would have been as high as 7.1% (RPI plus 3%). The government capped them at 6% for this academic year only, in a statement on 13 April 2026.

When is it written off?

This is the date that changes everything. Whatever is left at this point is cancelled, and you never have to pay it.

• Plan 1: 25 years after the April you were first due to repay. If your first loan was before 1 September 2006, it’s written off when you’re 65 instead.
• Plan 2: 30 years after the April you were first due to repay.
• Plan 4: 30 years. If your first loan was before 1 August 2007, it’s at 65 or after 30 years, whichever comes first.
• Plan 5: 40 years.
• Postgraduate Loan: 30 years.

Loans are also cancelled if you die, and may be cancelled if you get certain disability benefits.

See what you’ll actually repay

Enter your plan, balance and salary. The calculator works through each year until your loan clears or is written off. Add an overpayment to see what it changes. Open the year-by-year working to check the maths.

Why overpaying can make no difference at all

Here’s what surprises most graduates. If you’re never going to clear the loan, every extra pound you pay just shrinks the amount that gets written off. Your total doesn’t go down. It goes up by exactly the amount you overpaid.

Example: Plan 2, a £45,000 balance, first due to repay in April 2020, a £32,000 salary rising 3% a year. On today’s rules, the calculator shows about £15,400 repaid in total before the loan is written off in April 2050, with around £85,000 still outstanding. Make a one-off £5,000 overpayment and the loan is still written off in April 2050. Your compulsory repayments are exactly the same. You’ve simply paid £5,000 more. The amount written off is about £12,000 lower, because the £5,000 you paid early also stops building interest, but that write-off saving goes to the government, not to you.

The same happens with regular top-ups. In that example, an extra £100 a month until the write-off date adds £28,800 to what you pay, and the loan is still written off.

On Plan 5 the effect is bigger. The 40-year term and the lower £25,000 threshold mean more people pay for longer, but many still won’t clear the balance. A new graduate with a £50,000 Plan 5 balance, first due in April 2027 and starting on £30,000, would on these assumptions pay about £34,900 over 40 years. Adding £100 a month would add £49,200 to that, and the loan would still be written off in 2067.

The one thing not to miss: the size of your balance isn’t the number that matters. What matters is whether you’d clear it before the write-off date. If you wouldn’t, overpaying doesn’t save you money. It just means you pay more.

When overpaying can make a difference

Overpaying reduces your total when you’re on track to clear the loan anyway. Usually that means a high salary, a smaller balance, or both. In that case, paying it off sooner means less interest builds up.

Example: the same £45,000 Plan 2 loan, but on a £70,000 salary. On today’s rules it clears in 2040/41 after about £68,900 of repayments. A £5,000 overpayment now brings that forward to 2038/39 and cuts the total to about £62,900. That’s around £6,000 less overall, including the £5,000 you put in.

Example: a Plan 1 borrower with £8,000 left, on £40,000. The loan clears in 2033/34 either way before its 2037 write-off. Adding £100 a month clears it in 2029/30 and saves about £490 in interest.

The hardest cases are in between. On £55,000, our £45,000 Plan 2 borrower would be written off with about £8,800 left. A £5,000 overpayment now tips them into clearing it in 2047/48, and they’d pay around £5,700 less overall. A few thousand pounds of salary either way can flip the answer, so treat any result as a range, not a promise.

What the calculator can’t know

The calculator models a steady career with pay rising the same amount every year. Real life usually isn’t like that. Career breaks, parental leave, part-time years, moving abroad, a big promotion and future changes to the rules can all move you from one side of the line to the other. It also counts pounds as they’re paid, without adjusting for inflation. A pound repaid in 2045 is worth less than a pound today, which tends to weaken the case for overpaying further.

Other things are worth weighing too. If you overpay, you can’t get that money back, even if you later need it for an emergency, a deposit or to pay off more expensive debt. And if your income drops below the threshold, compulsory repayments stop on their own. Money you’ve overpaid stays paid.

If you’re self-employed

If you’re self-employed, nobody takes your repayments through payroll. HMRC works out what you owe from your Self Assessment tax return, based on your whole-year income above your threshold, and you pay it with your tax bill. If you’re also employed, anything already taken through your payslip is deducted. Our self-employed money basics guide covers setting money aside for the January bill. Put your student loan in that pot too.

Did the October 2026 Budget change anything?

No. The Budget on 28 October 2026 didn’t announce any new student loan measures. The change to know about was announced the year before: the Plan 2 threshold is frozen at £29,385 from April 2027 for three years, to 2029/30. The Budget 2026 document notes this freeze as part of the government’s student loan figures, but doesn’t add anything new. Other thresholds normally rise each April. Plan 1 goes up to £28,005 from April 2027.

A frozen threshold means anyone on Plan 2 who gets a pay rise will repay a bit more each year. That brings some borrowers closer to clearing their loan. The calculator includes the freeze.

Things worth checking today

• Are you on the right plan? If your payslip shows the wrong plan, you’ll repay the wrong amount. Tell your employer, and the Student Loans Company if needed.
• Did you earn under the threshold last tax year? If repayments were taken but your income for the whole year was below the threshold, you can ask for a refund once the tax year ends.
• Do you know your write-off date? It’s in your Student Loans Company account, and it’s the single most useful number for deciding about overpaying.

You can find the salary calculator and all our other free tools on the tools page.

Student loans: your questions answered

Is it worth overpaying my student loan?

It depends on whether you would clear the loan before it’s written off. If you wouldn’t, overpaying usually just adds to the total you pay. If you’re on track to clear it, overpaying can cut the interest. A year-by-year calculation of your own numbers shows which side you’re on.

When is a Plan 2 student loan written off?

30 years after the April you were first due to repay. Plan 5 loans are written off after 40 years, Postgraduate Loans after 30, Plan 4 after 30 (or at 65 for some older loans), and Plan 1 after 25 (or at 65 if your first loan was before 1 September 2006).

What is the Plan 2 repayment threshold for 2026/27?

£29,385 a year, or £2,448 a month. You repay 9% of what you earn above it. It’s frozen at that level from April 2027 for three years.

What is the interest rate on my student loan?

From 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027: 4.1% on Plans 1, 4 and 5. Plan 2 is 4.1% to 6% depending on your income, and Postgraduate Loans are 6%. The Plan 2 and Postgraduate rates are capped at 6% for that year.

How do self-employed people repay a student loan?

Through Self Assessment. HMRC works out what you owe from your tax return, based on your income for the whole year, and you pay it with your tax bill.

Can I get extra student loan repayments back?

No. Voluntary extra repayments can’t be refunded. You can only get back compulsory repayments taken by mistake, for example when your income for the year was below your threshold.

Last checked 29 October 2026 for the 2026/27 tax year. Thresholds and write-off rules come from GOV.UK. Interest rates are those set from 1 September 2026. Calculator results are illustrations based on today’s rules and the assumptions shown, not predictions.

Just so you know: this guide is information and journalism, not financial advice, and we don't recommend specific financial products. Your circumstances are your own — if you need personal advice, speak to a suitably qualified adviser. Information was correct at the "last updated" date above but things change; always check the linked primary sources.

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