Postgraduate Loan Calculator
This postgraduate loan calculator works out what you repay on a Master's or Doctoral Loan: 6% of income above £21,000 a year (£1,750 a month) in 2026-27, collected through PAYE alongside any Plan 1, 2, 4 or 5 deduction. Enter your salary and loan size to see monthly, annual and lifetime figures.
For the full threshold, interest and write-off rules, see postgraduate loan repayments.
About Postgraduate Loans
Postgraduate loans apply to Master's and Doctoral students in the UK. You repay 6% of income above £21,000 a year, alongside any undergraduate loan deduction.
Outcome: written off
Written off
£3,089 cancelled in April 2053
You would repay £23,708 of it first — 88% of everything that ever falls due. In today's money the write-off is worth about £1,390.
Your repayment summary
Monthly repayment
£45.00
6% above £21,000, 2026-27
Annual repayment
£540
2026-27 tax year
Total you would repay
£23,708
Before the April 2053 write-off
Interest charged
£15,796
Modelled month by month, not a flat multiple
How this is worked out
(£30,000 − £21,000) × 6% ÷ 12 = £45.00
Postgraduate Loan, 2026-27. Interest this year: 6.0%.
Write-off date
April 2053
30 years after April 2023, the April after a 2022 course ends — not 30 years from today[source].
Interest rate now: RPI + 3%, capped at 6% total[source]
Rates, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Postgraduate Loan | £21,000[source] | 6% | 7.1%, capped at 6% for 2026-27[source] | 30 years[source] | Uprated annually — no freeze announced |
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
- Salary growth
- 2.5% a year
- RPI after the published rate period
- 3.0% (assumption)
- Repayments start
- April 2023
- Balance modelled from
- £11,000 today
Growth, inflation and long-run interest figures are assumptions, not published rates. Change them and the projection changes.
Combined Loan Repayments
With both undergraduate and postgraduate loans, your total monthly repayment would be approximately £45.00.
Undergraduate Loan (9%)
£4.61/month
Postgraduate Loan (6%)
£45.00/month
That's a total of 15% of your income across the relevant portions above each threshold. For more details, try our Combined Repayment Calculator.
How Does the Postgraduate Loan Calculator Work?
This calculator shows what leaves your payslip for a Master's or Doctoral Loan, based on your salary and loan size. The loan itself is one sum paid to you for fees or living costs; there is no separate maintenance loan for a master's. For whether to borrow, how the loan stacks with an undergraduate plan and whether to overpay, see our postgraduate loan strategy guide.
Have multiple student loans?
If you have both undergraduate and postgraduate loans, try our combined calculator to see your total repayments.
Try Our Combined CalculatorRelated student loan calculators
The postgraduate loan calculator 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.
- combined repayment calculator: the stacked deduction when you hold an undergraduate plan and a Postgraduate Loan
- loan write-off checker: when the 30-year Postgraduate Loan write-off falls for your course end date
Next step
- Postgraduate Loan rules - Covers the Postgraduate Loan rate and threshold, and how it stacks with an undergraduate plan.
- repayment thresholds for every plan - A plan-by-plan table of the income above which you start repaying.
- how interest is charged on your loan - Shows the current rate for each plan and how it is set.
- student loan write-off checker - Enter your plan and course end year to get the month your balance is cancelled.