Student Loan Plan & Cohort Finder
Find your exact student loan plan and repayment terms based on where and when you studied. Essential for understanding your repayment obligations and planning your finances.
Why the month matters
Two of the plan boundaries fall mid-year. An England course starting 31 July 2023 is Plan 2; one starting 1 August 2023 is Plan 5, with a £25,000 threshold instead of £29,385 and 40 years to write-off instead of 30.
Plan 1, Plan 2 or Plan 5 depending on when your course started
Bachelor's degree (BA, BSc, etc.)
Successfully completed course
Plan overview (2026-27 thresholds)
Plan 1: before September 2012, and all of Northern Ireland — £26,900, 25 years
Plan 2: England Sep 2012 to Jul 2023, Wales Sep 2012 onwards — £29,385, 30 years
Plan 4: anyone funded by SAAS — £33,795, 30 years
Plan 5: England from 1 August 2023 — £25,000, 40 years
Postgraduate: Master's and doctoral loans — £21,000, 30 years, and it runs alongside your undergraduate plan
Outcome: written off
Plan 2, written off in April 2054
Your England course started between 1 September 2012 and 31 July 2023, which is the Plan 2 cohort. Whatever is still outstanding in April 2054 is cancelled — 28 years from now.
30 years counted from April 2024, the April after your course ends — not from the course end date itself.
Your student loan plan
Repayment threshold
£29,385
2026-27, 9.0% of anything above it
Loan becomes repayable
April 2024
The April after a 2023 course end
Written off
April 2054
30 years after repayments become due
Years still to run
28
From today
How this is worked out
2023 + 1 + 30 = 2054
Course ends 2023, repayments become due the April after (2024), and Plan 2 writes off 30 years later. Counting from the course-end year instead would put write-off a year early.
How this is worked out
(£39,385 − £29,385) × 9% = £900
What Plan 2 takes from someone earning £39,385 in 2026-27, before any other plan you also hold.
Plan 2
England courses starting 1 September 2012 to 31 July 2023, and Wales courses from 1 September 2012 onwards
Key dates for you
How interest is set on Plan 2
RPI up to £29,385, sliding to RPI + 3% at £52,885, capped at 6% for 2026-27
Next steps
Work out your repayments
Now you know your plan, put your salary into the repayment calculator.
Plan 2 repayment calculatorCheck your write-off date
The write-off checker takes your exact course dates rather than the typical course length assumed here.
Loan write-off checkerRates, assumptions and sources
Every figure below is the 2026-27 published figure, read from this site's single source of truth at page-render time[source]. The 6% Plan 2 and Postgraduate interest cap covers the 2026/27 year only and is not assumed to continue[source].
| Plan | Threshold | Rate | Interest | Written off | Threshold freeze |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan 2 | £29,385[source] | 9% | 4.1% to 7.1% by income, capped at 6% for 2026-27[source] | 30 years[source] | Frozen at £29,385 until April 2030 |
Write-off is counted from the April after the course ends, not from the course-end date itself, and the Plan 2 interest bands (£29,385 lower, £52,885 upper) are frozen alongside the Plan 2 repayment threshold.
This calculator also assumes
- Tax year for the thresholds
- 2026-27
- Rule that decided your plan
- Your England course started between 1 September 2012 and 31 July 2023, which is the Plan 2 cohort.
- Course length assumed
- 3 years for a undergraduate
- Write-off counted from
- April 2024, the April after the course ends
Growth, inflation and long-run interest figures are assumptions, not published rates. Change them and the projection changes.
All plans compared (2026-27)
| Plan | Threshold | Rate | Write-off | Interest | Applies to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan 1 | £26,900 | 9.0% | 25 years | The lower of RPI and Bank Rate + 1% (4.1% at most today) | England or Wales courses starting before 1 September 2012, and every Northern Ireland course |
| Plan 2Your plan | £29,385 | 9.0% | 30 years | RPI up to £29,385, sliding to RPI + 3% at £52,885, capped at 6% for 2026-27 | England courses starting 1 September 2012 to 31 July 2023, and Wales courses from 1 September 2012 onwards |
| Plan 4 | £33,795 | 9.0% | 30 years | The lower of RPI and Bank Rate + 1% (4.1% at most today) | Anyone funded by SAAS in Scotland, whatever year they started |
| Plan 5 | £25,000 | 9.0% | 40 years | RPI only, with no income-related addition (4.1% today) | England courses starting on or after 1 August 2023 |
| Postgraduate Loan | £21,000 | 6.0% | 30 years | A flat RPI + 3% at every income — not the Plan 2 sliding scale — capped at 6% for 2026-27 | Postgraduate Master's and Doctoral Loans in England and Wales; it is repaid alongside any undergraduate plan, not instead of it |
Understanding Student Loan Plans
Why Plans Differ
- • Government policy changes over time
- • Different terms for different regions
- • Course type affects eligibility
- • Start date determines which rules apply
- • Plans designed to balance affordability and sustainability
Regional Differences
- • England: Plan 1, Plan 2 then Plan 5, split on 1 September 2012 and 1 August 2023
- • Scotland: Plan 4 for everyone funded by SAAS, whatever year they started
- • Wales: Plan 1 then Plan 2 — Wales never adopted Plan 5
- • Northern Ireland: Plan 1 only, unchanged
- • Your plan follows the agency that funded you, not where you studied
Important Notes
Your student loan plan is determined by where you normally live (your home region) when you apply for student finance, not where you study. If you moved between regions, the rules can be complex.
This tool provides guidance based on typical scenarios. For complex situations (such as transferring between courses, studying abroad, or having multiple loans), contact your student finance agency for definitive information.
Always verify your plan details with your annual student loan statement or by logging into your student finance account online.
Ready to Calculate Your Repayments?
Now that you know your student loan plan, use our specialized calculators to understand your repayment obligations and plan your financial future.
Related student loan calculators
The student loan plan cohort finder answers one specific question. For the full picture, start with our UK student loan calculator on the homepage, work out what leaves your payslip each month with the monthly repayment calculator, or check what you can borrow with the student finance calculator. Every tool on the site is listed in the UK student loan calculator directory.
- monthly repayment calculator: the monthly deduction taken from your payslip on any plan
- student loan write-off date checker: the exact month your remaining balance is cancelled
- regional comparison calculator: how repayments differ across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland