Student loan repayment calculator
Student loan repayments are simpler than most people fear: a flat percentage of everything you earn above your plan's threshold, taken through payroll like tax. The complication is that there are five plans with five different thresholds, this calculator shows all of them side by side for 2026/27.
Calculator
Student loan repayment calculator
What you repay on £35,000, every plan
| Plan | Threshold | Rate | Per year | Per month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan 1 | £26,900 | 9% | £729.00 | £60.75 |
| Plan 2 | £29,385 | 9% | £505.35 | £42.11 |
| Plan 4 (Scotland) | £33,795 | 9% | £108.45 | £9.04 |
| Plan 5 | £25,000 | 9% | £900.00 | £75.00 |
| Postgraduate Loan | £21,000 | 6% | £840.00 | £70.00 |
Repayments are 9% (6% postgraduate) of everything above the threshold, not of your whole salary. Below the threshold you repay nothing.
See your full take-home with tax, NI and your plan combined →
Which plan am I on?
- Plan 1: undergraduate course started before September 2012 (England or Wales), or you studied in Northern Ireland.
- Plan 2: undergraduate course started September 2012 to July 2023 in England or Wales.
- Plan 4: you took your loan out in Scotland, whenever that was.
- Plan 5: undergraduate course started August 2023 or later in England.
- Postgraduate: a master's or doctoral loan, repaid at 6% on top of any undergraduate plan.
You can be on two at once: a Plan 2 undergraduate loan plus a postgraduate loan means 9% above £29,385 and 6% above £21,000, a combined 15% marginal deduction in the overlap.
Why Plan 5 costs more per month than Plan 2
Same 9% rate, much lower threshold: £25,000 against £29,385. A Plan 5 graduate starts repaying earlier and pays £395 a year more at any salary above both thresholds. Plan 5 loans also run for 40 years before being written off, against 30 for Plan 2.
Worth knowing
- Repayments are calculated per pay period, not annually, a bonus month can trigger a repayment even if your annual salary is below the threshold.
- They come out of gross pay after pension salary sacrifice, sacrificing salary reduces your student loan repayment too.
- Repaying nothing below the threshold is by design, not arrears. The balance is written off at the end of the loan term regardless of what is left.
2026/27 thresholds, checked 28 August 2026 by Hadi against gov.uk. Method on the about page.
How to use the student loan repayment calculator
- 1
Pick your plan: 1, 2, 4, 5 or postgraduate. The plan follows when and where you started, not what you studied.
- 2
Enter your gross salary. Repayments are taken from pay above the plan threshold, not from the whole salary.
- 3
Add a second plan if you have a postgraduate loan running alongside an undergraduate one.
- 4
Read the monthly deduction and the share of your pay it represents.
When should you use the student loan repayment calculator?
Use it when you need the monthly deduction for your plan, or when a pay rise will change what the loan takes.
Your plan is not obvious from your paperwork
Plan 5 covers courses starting from August 2023 and has the lowest threshold, so it takes the most on the same salary.
A pay rise is on the table
The repayment is 9% of everything above the threshold, so part of any rise goes straight to the loan.
You have two loans at once
A postgraduate loan is charged at 6% on its own threshold, in addition to the undergraduate 9%.
Overpaying is on your mind
Seeing the monthly figure against the balance is the honest starting point for that decision.
Where to go next
- Payslip checkerTo confirm your payslip is deducting the right plan.Open
- Pay rise calculatorTo see how much of a rise the loan takes.Open
- Salary sacrifice calculatorTo pension sacrifice reduces the pay the loan is charged on.Open
All 51 calculators share one tested engine, so a figure from the student loan repayment calculator agrees with every other page here. See the full calculator index or the pay and tax guides.