Logo

Combined Loan Calculator

Add together all of your undergraduate and postgraduate loan balances to see your total outstanding student debt, a blended interest rate, and how much interest is added each year.

Enter your loan balances by plan

This tool focuses on loan balances and interest only. For monthly PAYE deductions, use the Combined Repayment Calculator.

Plan 1 (Pre-2012)

Approx. interest 1.5% per year (adjust if needed)

Plan 2 (2012–2023)

Approx. interest 4.5% per year (adjust if needed)

Plan 4 (Scotland)

Approx. interest 1.5% per year (adjust if needed)

Plan 5 (2023 onwards)

Approx. interest 7.5% per year (adjust if needed)

Postgraduate Loan

Approx. interest 5.5% per year (adjust if needed)

Combined balance summary

Total outstanding student loan balance

£50,000

This adds together all plans you've ticked above.

Blended interest rate

4.7%

Weighted by each plan's share of your total balance.

Interest added per year (approx.)

£2,370

Before any repayments you make through PAYE or Self Assessment.

How to use this with other calculators

Why look at your combined loan balance?

Student loan repayments in the UK are based on your income, not your balance. But understanding your total debt and the blended interest rate can still be helpful for long‑term planning, especially when you're comparing student loans to other financial goals like saving for a house deposit or investing.

This calculator gives you a clear snapshot of how large your combined balance is, roughly how much interest is being added each year, and how expensive your loans are compared to alternatives. You can then take that information into our other tools to explore different strategies.

Related calculators

Frequently asked questions

Do UK student loans ever need to be "paid off" like normal debt?

Not necessarily. For most borrowers, student loans behave more like a time‑limited graduate tax: you repay a percentage of income above the threshold for a fixed number of years, and any remaining balance is written off. A higher balance doesn't always mean you will repay more in total, especially on Plan 2 and Plan 5.

What's the point of knowing my blended interest rate?

The blended rate tells you the average interest across all your loans, weighted by balance size. It's useful when comparing student loans to other decisions like overpaying your mortgage, investing, or increasing pension contributions. In many cases, especially for Plan 2 and Plan 5, the effective cost of the loan can still be low even if the nominal interest rate looks high.

Should I use this instead of the Combined Repayment Calculator?

Use this calculator when you want a big‑picture view of your balances and interest. Use the Combined Repayment Calculator to model how much will actually be deducted from your pay each month based on your income.

How accurate are the interest rates shown here?

The default percentages are reasonable approximations based on recent policy, but real rates can change with inflation and government rules. If you know your current rate from the Student Loans Company, you can override the defaults for a more tailored view.