Student loans from Student Finance England, such as Tuition Fee Loans, Maintenance Loans and Master’s Loans, must be repaid. Only grants and bursaries are free and do not have to be repaid.
This page gives more information about the Student Finance loan repayment Plan 5 for courses starting after August 2023 (including the academic year 2025/26 and 2026/27), and Plan 2 for courses started before August 2023.
If you have applied to Student Finance in Wales and Northern Ireland, or to Student Awards Agency Scotland, or you started your course before 1 September 2012, go to the Student Finance Repayments page to read more about Repayment Plan 1 and Plan 4.
How student loan repayments work
Note that the amount of your student loan repayments depends on how much you will earn, and not on how much you borrowed. You will start repaying your student loans only when your salary exceeds the threshold set by Student Finance.
Students are liable to repay Student Finance loans even if they do not complete their course or if they leave the course early.
Student loan repayments for courses starting after August 2023 (Plan 5)
If you are a new student starting a course in 2025/26 or 2026/27, you’re on Plan 5, the repayment plan which includes all courses starting after August 2023.
When do student loan repayments start?
If your course starts after 1 August 2023, you will be liable for repayments of your Student Loan starting from April 2026.
Your student loan repayments do not last forever. The debt will expire after 40 years from the completion of your course, even if you don’t fully repay it.
How much will you repay?
As stated by the UK Government website, “You will repay 9% of your income over the repayment threshold”, which is £25,000 a year for all courses starting after 1 August 2023.
So, you will not make any repayments if you earn up to £25,000 a year. If you earn more than that, your monthly repayments will be nine per cent of your monthly income over the threshold.
Any changes to your monthly salary will be reflected in the amount of repayment due to the Student Loan Company, whether your salary increases or decreases.
Monthly repayments for courses starting from 1 August 2023
In the following table, you can check some examples of monthly repayments based on graduate earnings.
| Income each year before tax | Monthly income before tax | Approximate monthly repayment |
| £25,000 | £2,083 | £0 |
| £25,500 | ££2,125 | £4 |
| £27,000 | £2,250 | £15 |
| £29,000 | £2,416 | £30 |
| £31,000 | £2,583 | £45 |
| £33,000 | £2,750 | £60 |
Example:
This is how to calculate your monthly repayment if you earn £29,000 per year, or £2,416 per month after your studies:
- £2,416 – £2,083 (monthly repayment threshold) = £333.66
- £333.66 x 9% = £30
This means that if you’re going to earn £2,416 per month, the monthly repayment on your student loan will be £30,00.
Student loan repayments for courses started between 1 September 2012 and 31 July 2023 (Plan 2)
Students who started a course between 1 September 2012 and 31 July 2023 are on Plan 2, which applies the following repayment conditions:
- Repayment start date – you will be liable for repayments from the April after course completion, or after leaving the course earlier.
- Repayment threshold – You’ll start repaying your loan when you earn over £28,470 a year. Your monthly repayment will be nine per cent of your income over the monthly threshold.
For more information on tuition fees, and Student Finance loans read our guide on Student Finance for EU students.
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